Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

By On August 2, 2012 · 1 Comment

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past decade you’ll already have heard of on-line courses. Probably in the form of spam emails and banner ads. Until recently they’ve been relatively expensive and not very highly regarded.

Unis Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?Over the last few months a large number of heavyweight universities have entered the playing field in a big way. Stanford, Princeton, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Edinburgh, U.Penn, U. Michigan, U. Virginia, U. Washington, Caltech and a host of other universities have all unveiled completely free offerings using the shared Coursera platform. Harvard, MIT and now Berkeley have teamed up to unveil EDx, a suite of completely free top level courses that promise the added bonus of interactivity. The courses will obviously lack important elements for some disciplines such as lab time and one-to-one tuition however if these courses are able to capitalise on their interactive potential they could even prove to be more conducive to learning than traditional methods in many respects.

The giddying introductory video to MIT’s flagship computer science course set for launch in October:

The Edx project trailer (which the title from this piece was pinched from):

Below is a complete compiled course list for both EDx and Coursera. I must admit I’ve got exceedingly button happy myself. It’s going to be an interesting year!

EDx:

Circuits and Electronics
course image.af4982623e2d Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?
MIT Sep 05, 2012

 

Introduction to Computer Science and Programming
course image.8c98191794a4 Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?
MIT Oct 01, 2012

 

Introduction to Computer Science I
course image.36c9b8e6a8a5 Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?
Harvard Oct 15, 2012

 (If you’d like a taster, check out Harvard’s current online comp-science offering here)

Health in Numbers: Quantitative Methods in Clinical & Public Health Research
course image.e5570f792bb4 Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?
HarvardX Oct 15, 2012

 

Coursera:

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jun 11th 2012
6 weeks long

Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 1

Tim Roughgarden, Associate Professor

favicon stanford Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?STANFORD UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jun 25th 2012
8 weeks long

Vaccines

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jun 25th 2012
10 weeks long

Fundamentals of Pharmacology

Emma Meagher, MD

favicon penn Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jun 25th 2012
8 weeks long

Health Policy and the Affordable Care Act

Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD

favicon penn Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jul 13th 2012
5 weeks long

Software Engineering for SaaS

Armando Fox, David Patterson

favicon berkeley Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jul 23rd 2012
7 weeks long

Internet History, Technology, and Security

Charles Severance

favicon umich Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jul 23rd 2012
10 weeks long

Introduction to Finance

Gautam Kaul

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jul 23rd 2012
7 weeks long

Listening to World Music

Carol Muller

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Aug 12th 2012
6 weeks long

Algorithms, Part I

Robert Sedgewick, Kevin Wayne

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Aug 20th 2012
10 weeks long

Machine Learning

Andrew Ng, Associate Professor

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Aug 27th 2012
6 weeks long

Cryptography

Dan Boneh, Professor

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Aug 27th 2012
6 weeks long

Gamification

Kevin Werbach

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

September 2012
10 weeks long

Networked Life

Michael Kearns

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

September 2012
10 weeks long

Model Thinking

Scott E. Page

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

September 2012
8 weeks long

Social Network Analysis

Lada Adamic

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

September 2012
10 weeks long

Computer Architecture

David Wentzlaff

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 3rd 2012
6 weeks long

Statistics One

Andrew Conway

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 3rd 2012
5 weeks long

Securing Digital Democracy

J. Alex Halderman

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 10th 2012
10 weeks long

Modern & Contemporary American Poetry

Al Filreis

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?
Sep 17th 2012
12 weeks long

A History of the World since 1300

Jeremy Adelman

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?
Sep 17th 2012
8 weeks long

Neural Networks for Machine Learning

Geoffrey Hinton

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 17th 2012
7 weeks long

Introduction to Mathematical Thinking

Keith Devlin

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 17th 2012
10 weeks long

Networks: Friends, Money, and Bytes

Mung Chiang

favicon princeton Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
11 weeks long

Probabilistic Graphical Models

Daphne Koller, Professor

favicon stanford Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?STANFORD UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
5 weeks long

Human-Computer Interaction

Scott Klemmer, Associate Professor

favicon stanford Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?STANFORD UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012

Computer Vision: From 3D Reconstruction to Visual Recognition

Silvio Savarese, Assistant Professor
Fei-Fei Li, Assistant Professor

favicon stanford Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?STANFORD UNIVERSITY favicon umich Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
6 weeks long

An Introduction to Operations Management

Christian Terwiesch

favicon penn Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
4 weeks long

Computing for Data Analysis

Roger D. Peng

favicon jhu Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
7 weeks long

Learn to Program: The Fundamentals

Jennifer Campbell, Paul Gries

favicon utoronto Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
10 weeks long

Greek and Roman Mythology

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
7 weeks long

Mathematical Biostatistics Boot Camp

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
7 weeks long

Introduction to Logic

Michael Genesereth, Associate Professor

favicon stanford Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?STANFORD UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
8 weeks long

Bioelectricity: A Quantitative Approach

Roger Coke Barr

favicon duke Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?DUKE UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sep 24th 2012
12 weeks long

Calculus: Single Variable

Robert Ghrist

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

October 2012
5 weeks long

Community Change in Public Health

William Brieger

favicon jhu Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

October 2012
6 weeks long

Vaccine Trials: Methods and Best Practices

Karen R. Charron, Amber Bickford Cox

favicon jhu Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

October 2012
4 weeks long

Principles of Obesity Economics

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

October 2012
6 weeks long

Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 2

Tim Roughgarden, Associate Professor

favicon stanford Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?STANFORD UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Oct 15th 2012
8 weeks long

An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python

Joe Warren, Scott Rixner, John Greiner, Stephen Wong

favicon rice Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?RICE UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Oct 22nd 2012
8 weeks long

Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

November 2012
5 weeks long

Drugs and the Brain

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

November 2012
6 weeks long

Algorithms, Part II

Robert Sedgewick, Kevin Wayne

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Nov 26th 2012
12 weeks long

Think Again: How to Reason and Argue

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Ram Neta

favicon duke Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?DUKE UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Nov 27th 2012
9 weeks long

Introduction to Astronomy

Ronen Plesser

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

January 2013
10 weeks long

Computational Neuroscience

Rajesh Rao, Adrienne Fairhall

favicon uw Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

 

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

January 2013
5 weeks long

E-learning and Digital Cultures

Jeremy Knox, Sian Bayne, Hamish Macleod, Jen Ross, Christine Sinclair

favicon edinburgh Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

January 2013
5 weeks long

Contraception: Choices, Culture and Consequences

Jerusalem Makonnen, RN, MSN, FNP

favicon ucsf Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

January 2013
4 weeks long

Health for All Through Primary Care

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

January 2013

The Hardware/Software Interface

Gaetano Borriello, Luis Ceze

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

January 2013

Neuroethics

Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D.

 

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

January 2013
10 weeks long

Chemistry: Concept Development and Application

John Steven Hutchinson

favicon rice Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?RICE UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jan 7th 2013
9 weeks long

Galaxies and Cosmology

S. George Djorgovski

favicon caltech Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jan 21st 2013
6 weeks long

Cryptography II

Dan Boneh, Professor

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jan 22nd 2013
8 weeks long

Data Analysis

Jeff Leek

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jan 23rd 2013
12 weeks long

Introductory Human Physiology

Emma Jakoi, Jennifer Carbrey

favicon duke Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?DUKE UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jan 28th 2013
7 weeks long

Introduction to Philosophy

Dave Ward, Duncan Pritchard, Michela Massimi, Suilin Lavelle, Matthew Chrisman, Allan Hazlett, Alasdair Richmond

favicon edinburgh Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jan 28th 2013
6 weeks long

Clinical Problem Solving

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jan 28th 2013
5 weeks long

Critical Thinking in Global Challenges

Celine Caquineau, Mayank Dutia

favicon edinburgh Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jan 28th 2013
10 weeks long

Introduction to Computer Networks

Arvind Krishnamurthy, David Wetherall, John Zahorjan

favicon uw Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Jan 28th 2013
5 weeks long

Artificial Intelligence Planning

Gerhard Wickler, Austin Tate

favicon edinburgh Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

February 2013
7 weeks long

Introduction to Sociology

Mitchell Duneier

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

February 2013
8 weeks long

Digital Signal Processing

Paolo Prandoni and Martin Vetterli

favicon epfl Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

February 2013
5 weeks long

Analytic Combinatorics, Part I

Robert Sedgewick

favicon princeton Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Feb 25th 2013
4 weeks long

Aboriginal Worldviews and Education

Jean-Paul Restoule

favicon utoronto Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

March 2013
5 weeks long

Analytic Combinatorics, Part II

Robert Sedgewick

favicon princeton Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Mar 25th 2013
8 weeks long

Medical Neuroscience

Leonard E. White

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Mar 25th 2013
6 weeks long

A Beginner’s Guide to Irrational Behavior

Dan Ariely

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

 

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
5 weeks long

Learn to Program: Crafting Quality Code

Jennifer Campbell, Paul Gries

favicon utoronto Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
6 weeks long

Computer Science 101

Nick Parlante

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
4 – 5 weeks long

Basic Behavioral Neurology

Roy Hamilton, MD

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA

Introduction to Genome Science

John Hogenesch, John Isaac Murray

favicon penn Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

 

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
6-8 weeks long

Microeconomics Principles

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
6 weeks long

Automata

Jeffrey Ullman, Professor

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
8 weeks long

Natural Language Processing

Dan Jurafsky, Professor. Christopher Manning, Associate Professor

favicon stanford Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?STANFORD UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
10 weeks long

Compilers

Alex Aiken, Professor

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
10 weeks long

Analytical Chemistry

Vicki Colvin

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA

How Things Work 1

Louis A. Bloomfield

 

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
6 weeks long

Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Bob Barnes, Marilyn M. Lombardi

favicon duke Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?DUKE UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

 

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
8 weeks long

Control of Mobile Robots

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
8 weeks long

Rationing and Allocating Scarce Medical Resources

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D.

favicon penn Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

 

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
7 weeks long

Game Theory

Matthew O. Jackson, Professor
Yoav Shoham, Professor

favicon stanford Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?STANFORD UNIVERSITY

 

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

Sera communiqué ultérieurement
8 semaines/weeks long

Introduction à la Programmation Objet (in French)

Enseignant: Sera communiqué ultérieurement

favicon epfl Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
14 weeks long

Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering

Don H. Johnson

favicon rice Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?RICE UNIVERSITY

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
5 weeks long

Equine Nutrition

Jo-Anne Murray

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA
9 weeks long

Energy 101

small icon.hover Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?

TBA

Nanotechnology: The Basics

Vicki Colvin, Daniel Mittleman

favicon rice Are we about to witness the single biggest change in the way we learn since the printing press?RICE UNIVERSITY

 

 

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Billy-Lee-Kidd/1590131333 Billy Lee Kidd

    The cyber learning ship has already taken flight and has effectively changed university education. Telecommunication university courses have been shown to capture student interest, increase student-professor interaction, and speed up the learning process (the lecture notes for the entire course are generally posted the first week of class). This does not work well, however, for students who only learn well through hearing and physically interacting with a group. In other words, telecommunication education is a geek’s paridise.

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