Harvard and MIT Come Together to Take Their Classes Online
Bangalore: Prestigious Harvard and the MIT universities have come together by donating $ 60 million for the development of the education through internet. Both the universities have announced free internet classes for the public, reports Larry Gordon on the Los Angeles Times.
These universities are donating $30 million each to generate a nonprofit organization that is to be called as the “edX” that helps to develop an internet platform for the classes and to plan new ways to teach and learn with technology. These universities will be joining a rising field in which other research universities which includes Stanford among them and other private endeavors across the globe are trying to stake out territory.
According to MIT’s computer science and artificial intelligence expert and the edX’s first President Anant Agarwal, was of the opinion that both MIT’s and Harvard’s mission is to offer reasonable education to everyone who wants it. He also added that millions of people around the world still don’t have a quality education.
M.I.T would continue to depend upon its existing online scheme MITx as the foundation for edX. The first round of edX courses will be announced this summer and the students can start taking their classes, by which you will be offered a certificate for completing the course, reports Azadehnsha of Gadgetwise blog, New York Times.
Barry Toiv, Vice President for public affairs at the Assn. of American Universities, said that the collaboration of both MIT and Harvard universities is a significant development and also continuing. He also added that increasing efforts have been made to provide high quality online education.