Jeffrey Young, via Chronicle: The Wired Campus, posted a story about the new University of the People, an online institution that pledges to cut costs for students through the use OpenCourseWare and social-networking tools. The university plans to start operation in April 2009. Excerpt:
The university got a big write-up in The New York Times, but some education bloggers, including Seb Schmoller, have expressed skepticism about the project, started by the entrepreneur who runs Cramster, a service that some describe as offering homework help by publishing the answers to problems in popular textbooks.
One key aspect of the project is the notion that with so many quality course materials published free online by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others, some entity should come along to add a teaching component so that students could get college credit on the cheap. University of the People plans to essentially encourage students to teach themselves by working in groups, under the guidance of instructors — many of whom are expected to be retired college professors — who will moderate.
… Peer 2 Peer University proposed the same basic idea.
University of the People will be a nonprofit entity. Though it will not charge tuition, there will be fees to sign up ($15 to $50) and to take exams ($10 to $100) ….
For starters the new university will offer only two degrees: a B.A. in business administration and a B.Sc. in computer science. To be admitted, students must prove they graduated from high school, can speak English, and have consistent access to the Internet. A statement on the university’s Web site says it plans to apply for accreditation but does not have it yet.
It seems that either University of the People, or P2PU, or some yet-to-be-created institution, will find a way to offer a radically cheaper college degree using online tools. The new models will probably take some time to mature until the right mix of teaching and self-study is perfected.
The Open Educational Resources movement is definitely heating up. Groups like Curriki.org and Connexions (at Rice U) are providing teachers’ materials under Creative Commons licenses. Another interesting model – which could arguably provide higher quality content with a sustainable business model – are digital educational publishers who provide free academic content supported by advertising. Shmoop is a project created by Ph.D. and Masters students from Stanford and Berkeley. We have received a good deal of praise in our first few months of existence. PC Magazine just named Shmoop “Best of the Internet” in its January 09 issue. For an example of Shmoop’s content, see our coverage of Hamlet or World War II
Some more details about the online courses are needed. This is really an interesting effort.
I am interested in applying to University of the People, however it is unfortunate I probably will not be able to apply because I was homeschooled, my senior year I did distance education with a private college and received a 3.88 gpa for a full year of college credits but I am guessing this is not enough.
The admission requirements state
“1. Secondary school (high school) diploma or its equivalent from a recognized institution as evidence of 12 years of schooling.” As a result of homeschooling and no real diploma I
am not able to apply.
Any way around this, or an alternative? I will read more on this blog I have tried some Open Course Ware which I think is pretty cool, knowledge w/o the cost and more flexibility the only “drawback” is a piece of paper.
AH, if only there were true reform to our education system.
I live in Canada and just found on line that you are offering just 2 courses right now I want to register in Business Admisnistration. Please let me know where to start.
Thanks,
Maribeth