Monday, October 22, 2012

UT System touts plan for free online courses - Jennifer R. Lloyd, Houston Chronicle

The pace toward online college courses open to anyone with Internet access just reached full tilt in Texas. In a meeting Monday, University of Texas System regents approved a $10 million investment in "massive open online courses," informally known as MOOCs, becoming the first public university system to join edX, the nonprofit partnership started by Harvard and MIT. The goal is for UT institutions - led by the University of Texas at Austin - to launch four yet-to-be-determined courses through edX by the fall of 2013, UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa said. The courses will be free. Learners will not earn college credit, though the system intends, eventually, to offer that and may charge some form of tuition when it does, he said. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/UT-System-touts-plan-for-free-online-courses-3951066.php