Harvard University and MIT recently announced their new non-profit joint venture, edX online learning initiative. edX aims to enhance on-campus teaching and make courses from both schools available to people around the world for free. If you’re looking for specific courses, although they may not be free, you could have a look into what the University of Southern California has to offer.
Through the use of online technology, e-learning has gained significant importance within the education sector. There are several factors that have contributed to the rapid growth of online education. These factors include accessibility, ease of learning, flexibility, time management, and so on. Although many feel that completing a high school education online might not be worth the effort, for those who start out their education later or juggle work and education, this is an amazing option. It not only offers a cheaper alternative but also gives students the choice of attending classes from any location of their choosing.
That said, the new platform developed for edX provides more than mere videos of lectures. Class handouts, quizzes, immediate feedback, student-ranked questions and answers, online laboratories and student-paced learning round out the multi-media, interactive learning platform.
MIT courses are planned for fall, although rumors say Harvard might start offering courses as soon as this summer. Visitors to www.edxonline.org can sign up to receive class announcments and edX news.
And if MIT and Harvard aren’t enough for you, a new online education start-up, Coursera, offers free online courses from Princeton University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and University of Pennsylvania.
