9/15/2012
Well ya can...
It's a common refrain that "there's no such thing as a free lunch." This may be true. However there are such great deals one comes across in life that could be so beneficial to a consumer, that they may as well be for free. such is the case with the courses being offered online at some of America's Ivy League universities including The University of Pennsylvania, Stanford and Princeton. The price? The cost of admission to the Internet, whatever that is, for you.
"The idea of a degree is that you spend a fixed time, right after high school to educate yourself for the rest of your career. But careers change so much over a lifetime now that this model isn't valid anymore."-Stanford Professor Sebastian Thrum
Online courses have been around for decades. At first, educational institutions offered online components to traditional courses, in a form of "hybrid." While in law school, for example, I was given assignments to be completed online in various courses.
Slightly newer are the "virtual schools" which offer courses which are completely online. For example the advertising has been ubiquitous for the University of Phoenix, the biggest "virtual school," founded in 1976 with over 450,000 students nationwide. But there's also Kaplan University Online and thousands more of different levels, from high school through post-graduate school programs.
Many of these online programs are accredited by various organizations, just like their traditional counterparts (University of Phoenix has been accredited, for certain programs, since 1978).They vary from each other a great deal and run the gambit from for-profit to nonprofit institutions, but not with total acceptance. Now, that Ivy league colleges are getting involved, it gives the idea of a "virtual school," much more credence.
Why would a top school do such a thing as offer courses for free? Well for one, the Internet is kind of a big deal these days, and while nobody can successfully predict in which direction it will turn, no educational institution wants to be left behind. Many educational institutions feel that the best way to hedge any bet on the Internet, is to remain relevant with online "branding." Also, according to the New York Times, traditional college tuition and fee rates have gone up 559% since 1985. This is a trend thst is not sustainable if schools wish to continue to expand. And online courses are inexpensive and very easy to administer,with the right program support. Unfortunately, these courses do not offer a degree or anything besides a certificate at this point. But isn't the knowledge what you really want anyway?
Many of these online programs are accredited by various organizations, just like their traditional counterparts (University of Phoenix has been accredited, for certain programs, since 1978).They vary from each other a great deal and run the gambit from for-profit to nonprofit institutions, but not with total acceptance. Now, that Ivy league colleges are getting involved, it gives the idea of a "virtual school," much more credence.
Even with a law degree from the University of Chicago, Dennis Cahillane, 29, couldn't get hired. But after taking several free Stanford courses in building databases, he recently landed a job as a programmer for a media website. And now he's planning to work his way through Coursera classes in his spare time till he's earned the equivalent of a B.A. in Computer Science from Stanford, he told FastCompany.
Why would a top school do such a thing as offer courses for free? Well for one, the Internet is kind of a big deal these days, and while nobody can successfully predict in which direction it will turn, no educational institution wants to be left behind. Many educational institutions feel that the best way to hedge any bet on the Internet, is to remain relevant with online "branding." Also, according to the New York Times, traditional college tuition and fee rates have gone up 559% since 1985. This is a trend thst is not sustainable if schools wish to continue to expand. And online courses are inexpensive and very easy to administer,with the right program support. Unfortunately, these courses do not offer a degree or anything besides a certificate at this point. But isn't the knowledge what you really want anyway?
So now, Stanford is offering online courses like an "Introduction to Mathematical Thinking," The California Institute of Technology is offering an "Introduction to Astronomy," and so on.
One can even learn the "Principles of Obesity Economics," at Johns Hopkins or, something personally close to my heart, "A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior," with Duke Behavioral Scientist, Dan Ariely.
Central to these efforts are new companies that work with the universities to offer this course content online. One is called Coursera and another is edX.
Maybe these courses are before their time, but in the near future it is foreseeable that people will return to college throughout their lives, updating what they know through online courses.
EPILOGUE:
While writing this post, which I started in Baltimore, I researched several schools online. Several of them, pursued me quite aggressively as a prospective student. I'm still getting phone calls. This bring us to some distinctions of the for-profit coporate-run schools. But that my friends, is a whole different post...
