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Elite Colleges Started EdX as a Nonprofit Alternative to Coursera. How Is It Doing?

Edsurge

Amidst the hype, two competing entities were formed within a few weeks of each other: One of them was Coursera, a for-profit startup backed by the biggest-name investors in Silicon Valley, who argued that they were building a billion-dollar company, a rare “unicorn,” as venture capitalists say.

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Could Coursera Become as Prestigious as Harvard? This Expert Thinks So.

Edsurge

That’s the view of Arthur Levine, in a new book called “ The Great Upheaval: Higher Education’s Past, Present, and Uncertain Future ,” which he co-wrote with Scott Van Pelt, a lecturer and associate director of the Communication Program for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. It doesn't matter if I learned it on Wikipedia.

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How Blockbuster MOOCs Could Shape the Future of Teaching

Edsurge

After all, so-called MOOCs, or massive open online courses, were meant to open education to as many learners as possible, and in many ways they are more like books (digital ones, packed with videos and interactive quizzes) than courses. There isn’t a New York Times bestseller list for online courses, but perhaps there should be.

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Are Upstart Online Providers Getting Better at Teaching Than Traditional Colleges?

Edsurge

A decade ago, large-scale online courses known as MOOCs were all the rage, touted as a possible alternative to traditional college and celebrated in the popular press. Talbert had taken MOOCs back when they first started and was unimpressed. The content and the product was really, really polished.

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Should Online Courses Go Through ‘Beta Testing’? How One Provider Taps 2,500 Volunteers

Edsurge

I find it much more engaging than reading a book,” says Engers, a 29-year-old data scientist, when asked why he does it. He’s one of about 2,500 volunteer beta testers for Coursera , and part of an expanded quality-control effort the company started in the past year.

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The Still-Evolving Future of University Credentials

Edsurge

Five years ago, I published a book on the future of university credentials, making some predictions about what seemed likely to come next in the market for degrees and emerging forms of alternative college credentials. In my book I might have been a bit overly optimistic about the resistance of traditional higher ed, however.

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?Readers’ Roundup: EdSurge HigherEd’s Top 10 Articles of 2017

Edsurge

Coursera to Charge Fees for Previously Free Courses Once hailed as a portal for free learning materials, accessible to anyone with an internet connection, Coursera announced this year plans to charge if learners want to submit assignments to be graded for certain courses.