Ivy League institutions have offered on-line courses for decades—but they’ve never seen anything like this.
Through two ventures, Coursera and edX, some of the Ivies and a host of other universities began offering free courses this year in everything from politics and history to math and computer science. And they’re finding that the numbers of people who can be reached through MOOCs, massive open online courses that are generally free, are staggering.
The University of Pennsylvania, which has invested money in Coursera, the biggest, fastest-moving MOOC venture so far, has had more than 500,000 people enroll in its Coursera courses. More than 1.7 million people have signed up for all of Coursera’s courses since it started up in the spring, its founders say.
Penn started out by offering three courses, focusing on vaccines, pharmacology, and health care policy, in June. It now offers 11 courses, from calculus to operations management to Greek and Roman mythology. About a third of the students are from North America, and many are from Brazil, Russia and India. But the rest are from all over the world.
Students young and old are plugging into MOOCs with all sorts of personal agendas. Youths and adults who can’t afford to go to universities or can’t get in see MOOCs as a way to build skills and open doors down the line.
For others, the free courses have meant a chance to expand their knowledge in their own professions, or test the waters in something else. Others simply enjoy learning. In northern New Jersey, a group of people over 80 years old who live in an assisted living facility are taking Penn’s poetry course and holding discussions about it.
Students watch videos of lectures, take quizzes that let them know instantly whether they’ve understood the material, and get regular homework. Course materials, including any textbooks, are available online.
