Keith Wagstaff of NBC News reports on a new MIT study, which found that students who complete online courses end up with the same learning gains as those who attend class in person. “That goes for people of all education levels, from those with a high school diploma to those with a Ph.D.,” writes Wagstaff.
Nick Anderson of The Washington Post writes about a new study showing that online courses can be an effective way to teach. “Students in a free online physics course from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated roughly equal learning gains if they stuck with the class,” writes Anderson.
MIT researchers found that students who spent significant time doing coursework in massive open online courses (MOOCs) showed evidence of learning regardless of educational background, writes Steve Kolowich for The Chronicle of Higher Education. “This certainly should allay concerns that less-well-prepared students cannot learn in MOOCs,” the researchers wrote.
Brooke Borel profiles edX CEO Professor Anant Agarwal for Popular Science. Agarwal recalls what the experience of failing his physics midterm as a college freshman taught him about how the quality of education varies throughout the world.
In a piece for Forbes, George Anders writes about how edX, the online-education initiative run by MIT and Harvard, is expanding its curriculum to offer, “26 new classes aimed at high-school students who are hoping to master some advanced-placement subjects before heading off to college.”
“The online-learning collaborative edX, a partnership between Harvard University and MIT, is expanding its reach beyond higher education and will begin offering courses geared toward high school students,” reports Matt Rocheleau for The Boston Globe. “EdX plans to unveil its first free classes for younger students Wednesday.”
Jeffrey R. Young writes for The Chronicle of Higher Education about the final report released by the Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education. Speaking of the Task Force’s recommendation to make education more modular, co-chair Sanjay Sarma says, “we see modularity becoming a key part of on-campus experiences as well.”
“[A]s an educational researcher, I believe that MIT has captured, perhaps uniquely, both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for colleges and universities,” writes Dan Butin for The Huffington Post about a new report released by the MIT Task Force on the Future of MIT Education.
Bloomberg News reporter Kelly Blessing writes about the final report produced by the Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education. “The Task Force encourages MIT to evaluate possibilities to achieve increases in undergraduate class size so that more students can experience the rich magic of an MIT residential education,” the Task Force wrote in their report.
Peter Coy reports for Bloomberg Businessweek on a new partnership between Saudi Arabia and edX, the online education platform founded by MIT and Harvard. The venture aims to educate Saudi women, youth, disabled, and rural poor, all of whom suffer from high unemployment in the gulf kingdom.
Katie Couric speaks with Prof. Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX, about the growing influence of online education and the opportunities edX has created for people around the world. EdX is a not-for-profit venture in online learning launched jointly by MIT and Harvard in May 2012.
Anant Agarwal, an MIT electrical engineering and computer science professor who has served as CEO of edX since its establishment, sat down with The Crimson to recount the challenges of creating courses for an online learning environment, discuss how the non-profit can become self-sustaining, and speculate about what the future might hold for edX. EdX is a not-for-profit venture in online learning launched jointly by MIT and Harvard in May 2012.