MIT launches online learning initiative

[Murky]

MIT today announced the launch of an online learning initiative internally called “MITx.”

MITx will offer a portfolio of MIT courses through an online interactive learning platform that will:

• organize and present course material to enable students to learn at their own pace
• feature interactivity, online laboratories and student-to-student communication
• allow for the individual assessment of any student’s work and allow students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects to earn a certificate of completion awarded by MITx
• operate on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure in order to make it continuously improving and readily available to other educational institutions.

MIT expects that this learning platform will enhance the educational experience of its on-campus students, offering them online tools that supplement and enrich their classroom and laboratory experiences. MIT also expects that MITx will eventually host a virtual community of millions of learners around the world.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/mitx-education-initiative-1219.html

For anyone feeling leftout of higher-education it looks like MIT is going online so that anyone can access the courses for free and even get a certificate of completion.

Should we start a CFC: Learn something useful online challenge?

 

[GoodGame]

Question: are these accredited colleges free to all, or is it just that the accessories of the courses are free for all?

 

[Murky]

Question: are these accredited colleges free to all, or is it just that the accessories of the courses are free for all?

According to the faq, you cannot earn an accredited degree for free, no.

Will this platform offer MIT degrees?
No. MIT awards MIT degrees only to those admitted to MIT through a highly selective admissions process.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/mitx-faq-1219

 

[GoodGame]

That's well and good then, but I probably wouldn't pay it more attention than I would to any freebies given out by any other professional body.