The MITx Factor - Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology ended 2011 with a grand announcement: It would broadcast massive, open online courses — equal in rigor to its on-campus offerings — to tens of thousands of non-enrolled, non-paying learners around the world. Eventually, the university would offer these students a pathway to some sort of credential. The project, called MITx, was heralded as a major step toward using technology to refigure the economics of higher education. Now comes the hard part: actually pulling it off. The first course, 6.002x: Circuits & Electronics, appears to be going smoothly, drawing 120,000 registrants since it opened last month.