
UN announces launch of world’s first tuition-free, online university - dsil
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30848
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Deestan
Try as I might, I cannot find any information on what the Computer Science
program (+) actually _contains_. Are hundreds of students actually signing up
and paying without having a clue what they're getting into, or am I just
unable to navigate the site properly?

(+)
[http://www.uopeople.org/ACADEMICS/Programs/ComputerSciencePr...](http://www.uopeople.org/ACADEMICS/Programs/ComputerScienceProgram/tabid/218/Default.aspx)

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jamesbritt
" Learn commercially valuable skills"

I'm betting Java, but it could be C#.

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smhinsey
Wow, if this is successful, it could be huge, particularly in combination with
the various free/cheap laptop programs. I really hope this plays out well.

~~~
netsp
This kind of thing gets me excited. Ideas spinning. All that.

What my mind keeps hovering around is a core that others can build around.
Small or large groups, online or offline taking these courses together. Co-ops
where later years tutor earlier years in exchange for the tutoring they
themselves received. Lowered barriers for creating a 'college,' where courses,
accreditation, lectures etc. handled by this & only peripheral services
provided by the institution.

If it's good, there are all sorts of possibilities.

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tedshroyer
<http://www.uopeople.org/>

~~~
netsp
Disappointingly little information on the site.

I can see that there are two _programs_ : CS & BusAdm. Are these made up of
courses? Which ones? 3 yr full time? 4?

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quizbiz
Current TV featured an alternative and accredited model at Berea College:

"At Berea, which was founded in 1855 as the first integrated college in the
South, all 1,530 students work at least 10 hours a week in a campus or service
job, earning $3.80 an hour and four years of free tuition. Eighty percent of
the school's operating costs are funded by its endowment and the rest comes
from donations."

In order to be accepted, you must demonstrate financial need.

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robryan
I think this seems to be aimed more at countries where the resources for
higher learning are absent apart from the very rich.

In those cases accreditation wouldn't be very important because the main focus
would be on developing skills and the qualifications gained would speak for
themselves.

Although I think if it is being aimed at the very disadvantaged the fees still
seem like they would hold people back.

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known
I think Wikipedia is a good starting point for education if we have will and
wisdom to pursue further.

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trekker7
It is, but some things need teachers, or at least slides and tutorials,
instead of encyclopedia articles. If I had to learn linear algebra from
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_algebra>, I wouldn't have gotten nearly
as far as I did with Math 54 in college.

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noss
Slides? Seriously?

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vaksel
Why do they need an application fee to process a simple registration form? Are
we supposed to believe that they'll actually deny admissions to anyone?

And $6 million? Sure sounds like everything could be automated to require zero
human input. And its not like they need a ton of resources, if their target is
15K students, that whole site could be run on a single server

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joubert
How do things get automated? Spontaneously?

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ironsam
If evolution can do it, so can an online university.

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trapper
Somehow I don't think this course has a few billion years to get it right.

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ironsam
I guess you're right. Everything would just become automated if only given
enough time.

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peregrine
Is this University Accredited? Cause then I would take two majors
symotanelously.

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rms
At least in the USA, a university cannot become accredited until it graduates
a class.

~~~
wallflower
I think that the University of Phoenix should get appreciation for fighting
and gaining valuable ground for non-traditional universities becoming
accredited (in the late 70s)

"The battle for accreditation was a battle for survival." -John Sperling,
Founder, University of Phoenix

"Institutional theory argues that legitimacy, rather than efficiency or
efficacy, _best_ safeguards an organization’s survival (e.g., Powell and
DiMaggio 1991)."

Research paper on University of Phoenix's 1976-78 accreditation:

[http://www.allacademic.com/one/www/www/index.php?cmd=Downloa...](http://www.allacademic.com/one/www/www/index.php?cmd=Download+Document&key=unpublished_manuscript&file_index=1&pop_up=true&no_click_key=true&attachment_style=attachment&PHPSESSID=92167fc34c8e62a1e74bf40f2d94ff8c)

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wallflower
Bad link. I'm posting the fixed link below because there are so many good
quotes about legitimacy and education sprinkled throughout.

"Organizational legitimacy is perhaps nowhere more essential than in the field
of higher education, because in several ways _what_ _higher_ _education_
_itself_ _produces_ is _legitimacy_. Higher education certifies individuals as
legitimate employees by awarding them degrees"

Click under "View Document as HTML"

[http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/...](http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/0/7/0/2/p107023_index.html)

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viggity
Be careful, if you don't turn in your homework, they might send you an angry
letter warning you that you'll be getting another angry letter for not turning
in your homework.

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dunk010
Wow, what a great piece of progress. Just like MIT's opencourseware I think
that this is a great step forwards. We should use the internet much more to
facilitate the best teachers reaching the most students. I can see a day in
the future when the lecturing part of a course could be delivered by a leading
academic and the student's tutorials and practicals could be given and marked
more locally.

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sown
I hope this doesn't end up like Western Governor's University. Early on it was
hard up for attracting students. I think it was (or is) an idea before it's
early time but now will fit in.

<http://www.wgu.edu/>

Anyways, here's hoping.

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Kaizyn
Have you looked at WGU's curriculum? It's all learning how to use specific
Microsoft and other products. Very little of the fundamental topics is
actually taught. Most disappointing.

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sown
I'll admit, I have not looked in many years. It hasn't gotten much better.

I meant more along the lines of on-line delivery.

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michaelawill
How can the profit structure allow this to exist?

I would think the right people would already be dead.

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Kaizyn
The university staff are all donating their time.

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michaelawill
That I understand. But usually when a huge business (oil/pharma) is threatened
with a cheaper alternative, (batteries/generics) people die in car accidents
and the alternative quietly goes away. I guess it's not at the point of
threatening to steal much business at this point.

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TweedHeads
Oh the old times, I remember taking a couple of courses at the ZDU University.

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c00p3r
Unfortunately, nothing good could be with their CS because of 'default.aspx'.

OSS in such kind of projects is so natural choice, leave alone wasted money
for their MS licences.

