MIT has been offering free online courses for some time, but now they will begin offering "affordable" certificates for completion of those courses. As noted in the article, MIT is a brand with high acceptance. How long before someone begins offering degrees based on the certs?

Quote:M.I.T. Expands Its Free Online Courses
By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: December 19, 2011

While students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pay thousands of dollars for courses, the university will announce a new program on Monday allowing anyone anywhere to take M.I.T. courses online free of charge — and for the first time earn official certificates for demonstrating mastery of the subjects taught.

“There are many people who would love to augment their education by having access to M.I.T. content, people who are very capable to earn a certificate from M.I.T.,” said L. Rafael Reif, the provost, in a conference call with reporters Friday.

M.I.T. led the way to an era of online learning 10 years ago by posting course materials from almost all its classes. Its free OpenCourseWare now includes nearly 2,100 courses and has been used by more than 100 million people.

But the new “M.I.T.x” interactive online learning platform will go further, giving students access to online laboratories, self-assessments and student-to-student discussions.

Mr. Reif and Anant Agarwal, director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, said M.I.T.x would start this spring — perhaps with just one course — but would expand to include many more courses, as OpenCourseWare has done.

“The technologies available are much more advanced than when we started OpenCourseWare,” Mr. Agarwal said. “We can provide pedagogical tools to self-assess, self-pace or create an online learning community.”

The M.I.T.x classes, he said, will have online discussions and forums where students can ask questions and, often, have them answered by others in the class.

While access to the software will be free, there will most likely be an “affordable” charge, not yet determined, for a credential.

“I think for someone to feel they’re earning something, they ought to pay something, but the point is to make it extremely affordable,” Mr. Reif said. “The most important thing is that it’ll be a certificate that will clearly state that a body sanctioned by M.I.T. says you have gained mastery.”

The certificate will not be a regular M.I.T. degree, but rather a credential bearing the name of a new not-for-profit body to be created within M.I.T; revenues from the credentialing, officials said, would go to support the M.I.T.x platform and to further M.I.T’s mission.

Educators at other universities applauded the M.I.T. move.

“It seems like a very big deal because the traditional higher education reaction to online programs was, yeah, but it’s not a credential,” said Richard DeMillo, director of the Center for 21st Century Universities at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “So I think M.I.T. offering a credential will make quite a splash. If I were still in industry and someone came in with an M.I.T.x credential, I’d take it.”

M.I.T. said its new learning platform should eventually host a virtual community of learners around the world — and enhance the education of M.I.T.’s on-campus students, with online tools that enrich their classroom and laboratory experiences.

The development of the new platform will be accompanied by an M.I.T.-wide research initiative on online teaching and learning, including grading by computer.

And because the M.I.T.x platform will be available free to people around the world, M.I.T. officials said they expected that other universities would also use it to offer their own free online courses. Mr. Reif said that M.I.T. was investing millions of dollars in the project, and that it expected to raise money from foundations and others.

A sad case including a Degreediscussion pile on.


http://www.degreediscussion.com/forums/v...65&start=0


How are black countries supposed to get ahead without racist Americans putting them down?

http://www.peoplescollegeoflaw.edu/

This is interesting. I found this Los Angeles based school. Its not accredited but it does have the stamp of approval from the Lawyer's Guild.

California does have some interesting educational policies.

Unfortunately its does not have an online program.

WTF is going at Penn State?

Michael Mann fakes or fails to document research in the Climategate scandal. Penn State finds this to be business as usual telling the world that their standard of research equals horse shit.

Then they cover up the suspected buggering of young boys by a staff member. These are sick people.

Quote:News: Soldiers, educators offer tips on taking class while deployed
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
Story by Sgt. Justin A. Naylor


Photo by Sgt. Justin A. Naylor
Sgt. 1st Class James Dawson, a Houston native and the equal opportunity advisor for 2nd Brigade Combat Team (Advise and Assist), 1st Cavalry Division, reads a college textbook while deployed at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, Oct. 30. Dawson says online classes have helped him continue his college education throughout his five deployments.

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - College education continues to play a larger role in career placement and progression within the military.

Despite being deployed, solders of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (Advise and Assist), 1st Cavalry Division, soldiers are staying competitive in their careers by continuing their college education.

Sgt. 1st Class James Dawson, a current college student, and Gordon Nero, the director of education service support on Camp Buehring, Kuwait, have a few tips for taking classes successfully while deployed.

First, do some research using the GoArmyEd.com website, explained Nero, a 24 year Army veteran. This website allows soldiers to find information about various colleges, which have been vetted to ensure they comply with Army standards.

Soldiers can also use it to research different degree plans and pick one that suits their interests, explained Nero. “The degree plan is kind of a map of where you want to go.”

After finding a college and degree plan that suit the soldiers’ needs, Nero advised, if possible, that soldiers talk with education counselors at an education center on their base. The education counselors can give them more in-depth information about the process of enrolling in classes and completing them online.

Even if soldiers don’t have access to an education center while deployed, everything can be done virtually through the GoArmyEd.Com website, he said.

Soldiers, unlike the majority of their civilian college counterparts, can take classes and complete a degree at no cost.

While on active duty, soldiers qualify for $4,500 a year of tuition assistance, at a rate of $250 per semester hour, explained Nero.

To put these funds toward their education, soldiers need to fill out a Statement of Understanding for Use with Army Tuition Assistance, which must also be signed by their company commander, he stated. Education councilors can help soldiers submit this paperwork to the Army, ensuring the monetary requirements for taking classes are met.

With a college and degree plan in mind, and tuition assistance taken care of, Nero said it’s as easy as “just clicking” to get enrolled in classes online through GoArmyEd.com.

While the process of signing up for classes online might seem easy, Nero said soldiers should remember that taking classes is a significant commitment, and they shouldn’t sign up for more than they can handle.

“Take one class until you know…your schedule,” he added. “It’s OK to take one class at a time when your schedule permits.”

“Pick a class that’s fun for your first class, so you can get excited about learning again,” said Nero. “It’s a chance to dust off some of those cobwebs.”

Once enrolled, if soldiers have an issue completing classes due to mission requirements, Nero advised them to try speaking with an education councilor.

“If you have any problems with a class, email, call or visit an education center,” he said. “We’re going to help them fix the situation.”

Nero said that soldiers that find they need an extension for turn-ins of homework and tests, due to operational factors, should speak with their class instructors, who are often willing to push back deadlines when necessary.

For deployed soldiers, the thought of taking a class in addition to fulfilling mission requirements might seem overwhelming, but online classes can make it fairly simple.

“Because of the number of deployments I’ve been on—this is my fifth—online classes have been a very big help,” said Dawson, a Houston native and the equal opportunity advisor for 2/1 CAV (AAB).

Find out what kind of schedule you are going to have, how much your unit is going to be moving while deployed, and how much time the class is going to take up, and then plan your classes around those factors, explained Dawson.

For deployed soldiers, finding time to study for class can be difficult, but it can make all the difference in how well a soldier does.

“Make time for studying after duty hours,” explained Dawson. “Try to make a little time for studying everyday.”

“When it comes to studying, I make sure to have as little distraction as possible,” he said. It might help some soldiers to turn off radios and televisions, and leave crowded facilities for quieter ones.

When it comes time to take a test, soldiers should try to find a quiet place to work, he explained. “Find a nice, non-distracting environment.”

For soldiers that don’t have offices in which to work, Dawson advised using internet cafes and Morale, Welfare and Recreation facilities during times of the day that are not overly busy or noisy.

Despite the difficulties, deployments can present soldiers with a good opportunity to get ahead, explained Dawson. “Soldiers shouldn’t let a deployment stop them from getting an education.”

Dawson said when soldiers get home from deployment and begin catching up on all they’ve missed, education can fall by the wayside. This makes it all the more important to get as much done as possible while deployed.

Although it may not be easy, having an education can bring big rewards for soldiers.

“It’s very important to have an education to be a marketable and competitive soldier in the U.S. Army and to be competitive in the civilian world,” said Dawson. “Without education, you have very little chance of getting those good jobs out there.”

“The education piece could very well be the deciding factor on whether you’re picked up over your peers for a promotion,” he said. “Education is the key to success.”

A major Midwestern university knowingly employs an abusive moral reprobate, sweeps it under the rug for years….until it blows up in their faces.

Penn State? Or Illinois??????

Quote:…George Gollin also made gun-related threats to five innocent people and has abused the Internet to smear these same people out of vengeance for having to remove his personal attacks from University property. George Gollin last week was reported to local POLICE AND to the University of Illinois POLICE for harassment, stalking and making a gun-related threat.

Quote:...In 2003 university spokesperson Robin Kaler stated that the university did not support George Gollin’s hobby of stalking and attacking small Christian schools because it was outside the area of his supposed expertise.

But in the face of these admonishments George Gollin continued with his hobby, aided by gay Oregon bureaucrat Alan Contreras. Contreras was judged to be an anti-Christian bigot and civil rights violator in an Oregon court proceeding, and that judgment was affirmed on appeal.

Quote:...George Gollin used violent imagery similar to that used by the infamous Zodiac Killer to threaten people he believed had posted an embarrassing photo of him on the internet.

He also is alleged to have violated federal law by falsely posing as a government official, and has been caught allegedly posting other people’s social security numbers on his university web site.

Using the code name “galanga,” George Gollin made 1,280 posts on an internet website operated by a pedophile-pandering gay pornographer.

Quote:A University of Illinois science teacher has been linked to a notorious internet pedophile-pandering pornographer.

George Gollin (George D. Gollin, George Dana Gollin) has been a frequent poster on one of pornographer Thomas ‘Chip’ White’s websites. Hiding behind the alias ‘galanga,’ George Gollin has made over 1,280 posts on the g ay boy po rnographer’s discussion forums.

In a recent interview George Gollin stated, ‘I was going to *** them.’

...George Gollin’s *** daughter exposed her family’s sordid private activities in her public blogs". She listens to what she describes as ‘the suck my *** *** my *** song’ with her father George Gollin. She also revealed that she shares chocolate vaginas with her mother, college administrator Melanie Loots, who refers to Catholics as 'dirty Papists.' Loots was cited by the FDA for illegally selling 386 mutant lab pigs to the public for food!

Jerry Sandusky demonstrates his pervert technique.? Thomas "Chip" White of Degreeinfo.com makes a fortune selling the real thing.? Why are either of these sick bastards still alive?

When will the Berlin Wall of the education monopoly be torn down? 

Quote:Jeb Bush on Disrupting the Education Monopoly through Online Learning
by Nick Gillespie, Reason.tv

As governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007, Jeb Bush championed school choice. His first year in office he created a program that offered vouchers to students in failing schools. The program successfully boosted student achievement until it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2006. Two other Bush-supported programs — one that offers tax credits to business that help send low-income kids to private schools and another that gives vouchers to disabled students — survived the high-court ruling. Bush also expanded the Florida Virtual School, a national model for online public education. Since leaving office, Bush has promoted his reform agenda in other states. He founded the Foundation for Excellence in Education and serves as co-chair of the Digital Learning Council.