The Future of Learning: Stanford’s Free Online Education Experiment Is Booming
This fall, Stanford decided to experiment by offering its three most popular computer science classes to the public—for free. Within weeks, 200,000 people from around the globe signed up, with Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, taught by renowned Stanford professors Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun (pictured above), attracting a whopping 160,000 students.
Norvig’s tracking found that more than 3 million users have come to the page since the university announced the artificial intelligence class. And more than 35,000 of the people who signed up have stuck with Intro to A.I., turning in assignments and taking midterm exams right along with the 175 students paying to take the class in person…
Because of the interest, Stanford plans to offer seven more computer science classes beginning in January, and will expand its offerings to two entrepreneurship courses. Next semester, students will be able to takeTechnology Entrepreneurship—a class on how to launch a successful startup, and The Lean Launchpad, which will teach how to turn “a great idea into a great company.”
The unique aspect of Stanford’s effort compared to MIT’s decade-oldOpen CourseWare and other first-generation online learning projects is that Stanford’s professors aren’t just posting a syllabus and hoping people follow along. Norvig and Thrun have worked to give their virtual lectures the same feel as the in-person Stanford experience. They even take questions from their virtual students and respond to them in live office hours via Google Hangouts.
Of course, the online students don’t get credit for the classes—Stanford verifies a “badge of completion” instead. But that hasn’t cut down on demand, and a growing number of professors are invested in making knowledge available to the masses, regardless of their ability to pay. If the school keeps expanding its offerings, an entire Stanford education could soon be available for free online.
Between this, Khan Academy, and other similar ventures, high quality educational content is finally becoming universally accessible and mobile - DI
By Liz Dwyer Via @Good
Trending Tech In The Workplace
The ubiquitous nature of smartphone and tablets is driving behavioral changes at an unprecedented pace. We are trending towards using one device for everything (see the Kleiner Perkins graph below). And the device needs to move seamlessly back and forth between work, home life, leisure activities, and everything else that we do on a daily basis. This trend is impacting social behavior. The tethering to a single device permits life and work to overlap in many more situations than before…
The Rapid Rise of Social Blogging
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In four short years, Tumblr has grown from relative obscurity to start-up darling to international microblogging network. The platform has grown a staggering 900% in the past year and eclipsed platform competitor WordPress, largely due to its global reach and brand-building potential.
Those under Tumblr’s influence are fiercely loyal — with 2% of users making up 43% of total visits — and they log in from all over the world.
Take a look behind the scenes at Tumblr’s influence on the web, including top tags and fun facts, in this handy infographic.
