Monday, May 12, 2014

Why massive open online courses (still) matter

"The last big innovation in education was the printing press and the textbooks. Everything else has changed around us. You know, from healthcare to transportation, everything is different, but education hasn't changed." 
"Now, I really believe that we can transform education, both in quality and scale and access, through technology."
2013 was a year of hype for MOOCs (massive open online courses). Great big numbers and great big hopes were followed by some disappointing first results. But the head of edX, Anant Agarwal, makes the case that MOOCs still matter — as a way to share high-level learning widely and supplement (but perhaps not replace) traditional classrooms. In this TED talk he shares his vision of blended learning, where teachers create the ideal learning experience for 21st century students.
Anant Agarwal is a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and President of edX, a worldwide, online learning initiative of MIT and Harvard.

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