The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University have teamed to provide online courses for free. Called edX, MIT and the Crimison will invest $60 million into the project. According to the two educational juggernauts, they “will collaborate to enhance campus-based teaching and learning and build a global community of online learners.”
What’s exciting about edX is that it’s not just online courses. They are building an open source platform that other educational institutions and even individuals can use to make programs available online. The platform is based on MITx, MIT’s online learning environment. It will enable courses featuring “video lesson segments, embedded quizzes, immediate feedback, student-ranked questions and answers, online laboratories, and student paced learning.”
While degrees will not be awarded, yet, certificates of mastery will be available for those able to demonstrate their knowledge of the course material. The first courses will be available in the fall of 2012.
According to the president of edX, online education will change the world. We couldn’t agree more!
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