I remember reading a few years ago about a multi-millionaire who was spending his own money to develop a free online university. The thought was people could sign up, attend and earn a "world class" degree. He was going to get some of the best scholars to develop the curriculum. Has anyone else heard of this? Did it ever come to pass (I'm assuming it did not)? Also, I'm wondering if there are any free courses one could take online, and then turn around and turn it into credit. I'm already aware of the FEMA courses. There is also the Free University Project, which you can study and then take CLEP exams. Am I missing any? Just curious.
You may have heard of Massachussetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) millionaire alumnus, Jon Gruber, who has donated $1 million to the MIT OpenCourseWare Project to demonstrate his belief in MIT and the ideal of open sharing of educational materials. Note, however, that MIT-OCW is a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around the world BUT it is not a degree-granting or certificate-granting activity. See MIT-OCW here. And Johns Hopkins University's School of Public Health OCW here. Both are non-degree and non-certificate granting activities. Thanks.
Free courses Mit offers "OpenCourseWare" though I doubt there is a way to "turn this into credit." I imagine some of the courses would cover what is needed for CLEP tests, etc. but I have never had time to seriously check out MIT's courses. I wish I had the time though because I am very fascinated by the fact that MIT posted all those "free courses" for self-learners who are not looking for credit. http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html
Another pretty cool free resource I came across while browsing the previously posted site is the Connexions site, hosted by Rice University.
I don't think the MIT courses are what I was thinking of. If I remember correctly, this guy who was going to create the free online university was going to start it with a $100 million endowment, which he was going to fund with his own money. The funds would have been used to create the web site and internet infrastructure for the courses, and to hire instructors to run the classes. I don't know if his plan included accreditation, but it was his plan to fund a "world class university education" curriculum online. It has been about 5 years since I read the article. I wish I could remember the guy's name.
I found the info. You can read about it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/678483.stm Does anyone know if this ever got off the ground?
I guess I found the answer to my own question. Too bad. http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/fund/2002/1013donation.htm
I don't understand why everyone is so thrilled with MIT's open courseware. Every course that I've been interested in only had minimal content available. A catalog-style course description, a syllabus listing the topic each week, and a bibliography with none of the readings available online. That's not unique to MIT. Most universities post that kind of information for their classes. The old World Lecture Hall is a more valuable resource in my opinion. http://web.austin.utexas.edu/wlh/browse.cfm This is a site for professors to post their course materials. Most of the courses are as bare-bones as MIT's, but a few of them include elaborate lecture notes that are like little textbooks. Some of them have links to online readings and illustrative material. Some have audio and video. Try clicking on the subjects of interest to you, then sorting the results by 'course notes'. Unfortunately, while this interesting site was growing rapidly a few years ago, it's been kind of stagnant recently.
You're not alone I don't understand why everyone is so thrilled with MIT's open courseware. You're not the only one who feels this way. Personally, I think the world needs is a project to come up with public domain textbooks that can be used in and of themselves. Lecture notes are fine, but they're not very useful for the independent student. As soon as I saw that MIT's stuff all referred to standard pricy textbooks, I was very disappointed. The old World Lecture Hall is a more valuable resource in my opinion. http://web.austin.utexas.edu/wlh/browse.cfm I hadn't seen that one. Thanks! Unfortunately, while this interesting site was growing rapidly a few years ago, it's been kind of stagnant recently. Yes, I find that's a common problem with grassroots (read: "unfunded") initiatives. -=Steve=-
According to their web site, there is a $100 annual fee for U.S. residents. All of the programs are religious in nature. I'm assuming they are unaccredited. I also came across Haskell Indian Nations University. They offer free tuition to any registered member of a Native American tribe.
