
Harvard, MIT to announce online learning project - J3L2404
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/05/02/harvard_mit_to_announce_online_learning_project/
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polarslice
Here is a piece that offers some more info on the announcement.
[http://bostinno.com/2012/05/02/harvard-mit-announce-edx-a-
di...](http://bostinno.com/2012/05/02/harvard-mit-announce-edx-a-disruptive-
joint-venture-that-will-offer-free-online-courses/)

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chris_p
This is very cool. The competition is heating up: Coursera, Udacity, edX. That
can only be good for us consumers. Can't wait to see where this will lead us.

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darushimo
Live press conference video stream: <http://www.edxonline.org/>

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dfriedmn
given that signaling is one of the biggest challenges in online ed, and these
are two of the best brands in edu, i hope they're coming together with some
kind of credentialing system for their online offering. getting more backing
behind mitx could go a long way

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waterlesscloud
We're gonna have a little East Coast vs. West Coast competition here, it looks
like.

It's good the leading universities are splitting like this, it'll advance
things even faster.

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mknx
It seems universities administrators in East Coast is more open to the idea of
online education.

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chris_p
This whole online education trend was started by Stanford 9 months ago. Then,
the professors who started two of the first three online classes created 2
separate startups (coursera and udacity). MITx was 6 months late to the game.

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UK-AL
A little lacking in detail...

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J3L2404
FAQs

What is edX? An organization established by MIT and Harvard that will develop
an open-source technology platform to deliver online courses. EdX will support
Harvard and MIT faculty in conducting research on teaching and learning on
campus through tools that enrich classroom and laboratory experiences. At the
same time, edX also will reach learners around the world through online course
materials. The edX website will begin by hosting MITx and Harvardx content,
with the goal of adding content from other universities interested in joining
the platform. edX will also support the Harvard and MIT faculty in conducting
research on teaching and learning.

Who will lead edX? EdX is a priority for the leadership of both Harvard and
MIT, and it will be governed by a board made up of key leaders from both
institutions, appointed by each university’s president. MIT Professor of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Anant Agarwal will be the initial
President of edX and will report to the board.

What technology will edX use? An open-source online learning platform that
will feature teaching designed specifically for the web. Features will
include: self-paced learning, online discussion groups, wiki-based
collaborative learning, assessment of learning as a student progresses through
a course, and online laboratories. The platform will also serve as a
laboratory from which data will be gathered to better understand how students
learn. Because it is open source, the platform will be continuously improved.

