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Fantastic. But, aren't we preaching to the choir? Who here isn't educated? Just sayin.
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Fantastic. But, aren't we preaching to the choir? Who here isn't educated? Just sayin.
Access to higher education, I believe, is only part of the problem. (albeit a big problem) But, most of our kids aren't even reading at grade level when the graduate from high school. Our education system is antiquated. It's not equipped to prepare kids for thinking, creating and working in this new age. If critical, creative and collaborative thinking aren't integrated into the core curriculum from a young age, then kids aren't going to be prepared to succeed in innovative higher education programs.
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In the past I have listened to some excellent audio lectures from the library by renowned history profs from Ivy league schools, so I will definitely look into this.
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Its a pretty cool offering from particularly prestigious organizations but I wonder; is a school the knowledge or the access to faculty?
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Its a pretty cool offering from particularly prestigious organizations but I wonder; is a school the knowledge or the access to faculty?
Free education is not a new thing. Libraries have been free since the days of Benjamin Franklin so in many cases, all the knowledge is available anyway. It's just now that the info is grouped in a neat package that will focus on a particular field of study. It's still up to a person to learn it and not just read it by rote, pass a few tests and say I know this, then forget it through non application.
Still, it can't be a bad thing that greater access means more opportunity. I think part of the rationale for this offering is to see how on-line learning can be developed progressively to become an effective primary tool in the delivery of education.
Does a school gain in prestige with volume of alumni or exclusivity in the acceptance of qualified people that subsequently go off and win a Nobel prize? If everyone was able to get a Harvard degree would it have the same value? Maybe that is a good thing that could come out of this. The knowledge is the value and not the brand.
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UCSD had courses in Real Estate Law, Contract Law, and our Humanities classes that were offered at a lower fee on video, however, we took our tests in a classroom at the college. It was a good way to take the classes. With the internet it will be better.
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I think it's great--we spoke about this briefly in another conversation a couple days ago. I've taken a few of the courses (MIT, Yale, Stanford)--but my understanding is not that MIT & Harvard 'will be offering many of their courses' but that it will be 5 courses per university--without overlap in order to provide the broadest curriculum possible (more to follow in future). Several uni's have offered free courses to date:
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I think it's great--we spoke about this briefly in another conversation a couple days ago. I've taken a few of the courses (MIT, Yale, Stanford)--but my understanding is not that MIT & Harvard 'will be offering many of their courses' but that it will be 5 courses per university--without overlap in order to provide the broadest curriculum possible (more to follow in future). Several uni's have offered free courses to date:
http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
If you google 'open course' with or without the name of a university you'll find them through many major campuses. There is a wealth of great education available for free.
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It's fantastic. I'm definitely considering it - there's always room for growth.
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It's fantastic. I'm definitely considering it - there's always room for growth.
Knowing things about everything > knowing everything about one thing
I, too, am interested in seeing how the playing field will change.
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I dig it. I actually bookmarked the page a few days ago when someone on here mentioned it. The courses don't technically count for anything (no college credits or anything of that nature) but considering that I have time I don't see any reason not to take advantage of this.
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I dig it. I actually bookmarked the page a few days ago when someone on here mentioned it. The courses don't technically count for anything (no college credits or anything of that nature) but considering that I have time I don't see any reason not to take advantage of this.
As to how it will change the playing field for 'higher education' at the very least I can't see any negatives. A free, at will, educational program like this will appeal to people looking for education for the sake of learning rather than education just for the sake of having a fancy piece of paper that gets them a higher salary.
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