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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Is Education Innovation the Next Big Idea? - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

Is Education Innovation the Next Big Idea? - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

Is Education Innovation the Next Big Idea?

Writing in The Atlantic, Derek Thompson wonders if real education innovation has finally arrived, citing MIT’sOpenCourseWare and the Khan Academy, as well as the video lectures from Yale, like this one:

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As education expands outside of its “walled garden” the question becomes, what is education worth for its own sake?

Even an online interactive Roman architecture class that is worthy of Yale is not Yale for one reason: its students are not graduates of Yale University. The difference between college and any education (even a great education) is a degree. If Udemy offers a college-worthy education without the degree, can it really change college?

Entrepreneurs like Peter Thiel certainly believe it will. The venture capitalist has announced he will give $100,000 to 24 people under 20 years of age who drop out of college to become young entrepreneurs, claiming that