These examples demonstrated real power of internet.. amazingly great classes and courses available from top schools and universities of world available for free.. If you only care about knowledge and don't care about piece of paper (degree) then you can literally do PhD.. You just need to have desire and passion and decent internet connection. off-course you need time as well (which is most common excuse for grown ups like me ;-) )
UC Berkeley joining or I should say expanding the free courses available online. I think lot of courses from lot of great universities are already available online on different platforms and locations. I know MIT, Stanford and many other great schools have superb presence online. Now a days, with iTunesU kicking in more and more courses in its portfolio.. This is great for someone studying in remote engineering colleges in India where Professor and other resources availability could be challenge (that is the best decent political correct term I can think off). In-fact those type of kids can easily attend in group setting along with their Professor or lecturers.. This can simply revolutionize quality of education across the globe..
Good Job!!! Keep it up!!
The edX experiment comes as the 10-campus UC system works to expand its own online program. The university recently began offering a handful of credit classes online to UC students and will bring non-UC students into the mix this year at up to $2,100 a class.
Faculty leaders have cautioned the university against moving too quickly with the online courses. The UC Academic Senate has said it worries about the quality and finances of the UC Online project.
In contrast, some of those most concerned about UC’s plans say they support free projects like Coursera and edX.
“I’m not at all opposed to the open-sourced courses,” said Wendy Brown, a UC Berkeley political-science professor who has criticized the university’s approach to online education. “The experiments need to happen to develop these technologies.”
The different models — UC’s own versus edX and Coursera — provide disparate benefits to students.
UC’s online program is meant to expand the reach of UC classes, and students gain college credits for completing the courses. The stakes, professors say, are higher when the UC brand on a class is so prominent.
But Coursera and edX offer only certificates, so the risk to an individual school is not as high. The programs offer free education to people who might otherwise be shut out from elite universities, said John Wilton, a UC Berkeley vice chancellor who has helped develop the school’s online partnerships.
“There’s a public-good component to this, which I think is very appealing to the universities involved,” Wilton said. Universities have an obligation to improve online education, he said. “It’s not like we cannot do this. We have to do this.” The free courses do have detractors, however. UC campuses should concentrate more on their own students, particularly in the midst of a budget crisis, before leaping into such partnerships, said Christopher Edley, the UC Berkeley law dean who has helped guide the university system’s online development.
“I worry that jumping into what our private peer institutions are doing feels a little like me-tooism rather than a vision,” he said. “Our mission has to do more with figuring out how to serve the thousands of California students who won’t fit on a UC campus.
“It risks being a distraction from the somewhat urgent need to figure this stuff out.”
Contact Matt Krupnick at 510-208-6488.
UC Berkeley joining or I should say expanding the free courses available online. I think lot of courses from lot of great universities are already available online on different platforms and locations. I know MIT, Stanford and many other great schools have superb presence online. Now a days, with iTunesU kicking in more and more courses in its portfolio.. This is great for someone studying in remote engineering colleges in India where Professor and other resources availability could be challenge (that is the best decent political correct term I can think off). In-fact those type of kids can easily attend in group setting along with their Professor or lecturers.. This can simply revolutionize quality of education across the globe..
Good Job!!! Keep it up!!
UC BERKELEY
Courses by Cal going online
Some UC faculty are worried about diluting prestige
By Matt Krupnick
mkrupnick@bayareanewsgroup.com
With some professors grumbling over the University of California’s expanding online presence, UC Berkeley is joining two of its top competitors to bring free college courses to the masses.
The university will offer two free online classes this fall as part of the edX collaboration, which also includes Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. UC Berkeley employees were told about the partnership Monday.
The edX venture is Berkeley’s latest foray into the MOOC, or massive open online course, arena. The school already offers classes with Coursera, another free program that also includes Stanford, Princeton and the University of Michigan. Together the two ventures have some 950,000 students.
Some educators have complained that free online classes could hurt UC Berkeley’s reputation. Participants are working hard to keep that from happening, said Armando Fox, a UC Berkeley computer science professor who has helped teach a Coursera class and will do the same with edX.
“We would not have agreed to do an online course if we did not think we could maintain that standard of quality,” he said. More than 100,000 students from around the world have enrolled in his Coursera classes, he said.
Courses by Cal going online
Some UC faculty are worried about diluting prestige
By Matt Krupnick
mkrupnick@bayareanewsgroup.com
With some professors grumbling over the University of California’s expanding online presence, UC Berkeley is joining two of its top competitors to bring free college courses to the masses.
The university will offer two free online classes this fall as part of the edX collaboration, which also includes Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. UC Berkeley employees were told about the partnership Monday.
The edX venture is Berkeley’s latest foray into the MOOC, or massive open online course, arena. The school already offers classes with Coursera, another free program that also includes Stanford, Princeton and the University of Michigan. Together the two ventures have some 950,000 students.
Some educators have complained that free online classes could hurt UC Berkeley’s reputation. Participants are working hard to keep that from happening, said Armando Fox, a UC Berkeley computer science professor who has helped teach a Coursera class and will do the same with edX.
“We would not have agreed to do an online course if we did not think we could maintain that standard of quality,” he said. More than 100,000 students from around the world have enrolled in his Coursera classes, he said.
The edX experiment comes as the 10-campus UC system works to expand its own online program. The university recently began offering a handful of credit classes online to UC students and will bring non-UC students into the mix this year at up to $2,100 a class.
Faculty leaders have cautioned the university against moving too quickly with the online courses. The UC Academic Senate has said it worries about the quality and finances of the UC Online project.
In contrast, some of those most concerned about UC’s plans say they support free projects like Coursera and edX.
“I’m not at all opposed to the open-sourced courses,” said Wendy Brown, a UC Berkeley political-science professor who has criticized the university’s approach to online education. “The experiments need to happen to develop these technologies.”
The different models — UC’s own versus edX and Coursera — provide disparate benefits to students.
UC’s online program is meant to expand the reach of UC classes, and students gain college credits for completing the courses. The stakes, professors say, are higher when the UC brand on a class is so prominent.
But Coursera and edX offer only certificates, so the risk to an individual school is not as high. The programs offer free education to people who might otherwise be shut out from elite universities, said John Wilton, a UC Berkeley vice chancellor who has helped develop the school’s online partnerships.
“There’s a public-good component to this, which I think is very appealing to the universities involved,” Wilton said. Universities have an obligation to improve online education, he said. “It’s not like we cannot do this. We have to do this.” The free courses do have detractors, however. UC campuses should concentrate more on their own students, particularly in the midst of a budget crisis, before leaping into such partnerships, said Christopher Edley, the UC Berkeley law dean who has helped guide the university system’s online development.
“I worry that jumping into what our private peer institutions are doing feels a little like me-tooism rather than a vision,” he said. “Our mission has to do more with figuring out how to serve the thousands of California students who won’t fit on a UC campus.
“It risks being a distraction from the somewhat urgent need to figure this stuff out.”
Contact Matt Krupnick at 510-208-6488.
1 comment:
missed some useful links:
NEW ONLINE COLLABORATION: EDX
UC Berkeley expanded its online course offerings Monday, adding two free classes this fall as part of the edX collaboration with Harvard and MIT. Here’s a snapshot of UC Berkeley’s two online programs.
EDX
Participating universities: 3
Launched: 2012
Classes: seven
Number of students in first course: 150,000 New courses: Artificial intelligence, software development
More info: www.edxonline.org
COURSERA
Participating universities: 16
Launched: 2011
Classes: 111
Total students: 800,000
More info: www.coursera.org
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