The Future of Education

 I think it all began with MIT Open Course(MIT OCW). MIT  had made the class materials available online for free. With this simple initiative, thousands of students benefited across the world, however there was one drawback with MIT OCW, the class room experience was missing.

There was no interaction with the professors and the education was rather of incomplete- it did not replicate the class room experience-peer sharing and learning was missing. 

Last year Stanford started a new experiment and offered three courses online-   Machine Learning, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Introduction to Databases. Lecture videos were posted by the professors and students had to submit assignments and take quizzes. People who completed the minimum requirement were awarded a "Pass" certificate. Thousands of people participated in this experiment and thus began the new era of education. Coincidentally, my roommate in Bangalore, Sassyboy, an early  adopter and an entrepreneur , was part of one of the classes and  had a great learning experience. 

However, I got introduced to the concept only when my friends posted about Coursera on Facebook some time back in April- May this year. Well, this just proves that Facebook has become more than a mere social network. Infact, the future of search is Social!

Coursera, an education start up has taken this experiment to the next level and has brought 12 top universities on a single platform. Thousands of students who sign up for the courses that are offered interact and learn online. Learning was never this simple and accessible and free! Even Harvard, MIT and Berkely have collaborated and are are offering courses on edx.

I have also signed up for some of the courses and believe me it has been a great experience. Indeed, Ivy League and world class education is now just a click away. 

This is the future of learning and education!

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