online learning
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Democrats call on the FCC to expand internet access for students
In an open letter, US Democrats have called on the FCC to expand internet access to students for online learning.
Coursera makes courses available for free to the unemployed
Coursera is helping governments return people to work by offering its online courses for free.
Verizon will provide free internet to students in Los Angeles
Verizon will provide free internet access to all students who need it in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the company announced today. This could help as many as 100,000 students continue to learn while schools are closed.
Google releases Course Builder, takes online learning down an open-source road
Google is well-known for projects with unexpected origins. It's almost natural, then, that the code Google used to build a web course has led to a full-fledged tool for online education. The open-source Course Builder project lets anyone make their own learning resources, complete with scheduled activities and lessons, if they've got some skill with HTML and JavaScript. There's also an avenue for live teaching or office hours: the obligatory Google+ tie-in lets educators announce Hangouts on Air sessions. Code is available immediately, although you won't need to be grading virtual papers to see the benefit. A handful of schools that include Stanford, UC San Diego and Indiana University are at least exploring the use of Course Builder in their own initiatives, which could lead to more elegant internet learning -- if also fewer excuses for slacking.
MIT to launch MITx learning platform, offer free teaching materials in 2012
Want a degree from MIT without the expense or notoriously selective application process? Well, you're still out of luck, we're afraid, but the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's new MITx online learning system will at least give you a chance to access a variety of course materials for free. The institution will also make the MITx platform available to other schools for publishing their own content, and will even offer assessments with the option of earning a certificate of completion -- issued by a not-for-profit entity with a "distinct name to avoid confusion," of course. Naturally, "online-only non-MIT learners" will not have the same level of access as MIT students, who will also use the platform to access their own course material, but won't have the option of replacing an on-campus experience with exclusively online classes. MITx is scheduled to go live next spring, but you can get a head start on that fictional MIT degree by checking out OpenCourseWare, which has been serving up similar content for the better part of a decade.
TUAW'S Daily iPad App: Lynda.com
Lynda.com is an online learning library filled with instructional videos for computer users. It's geared primarily for developers and designers, but it does have a growing library of content for introductory computer users. Most people access the content through the Lynda.com website, but those with an iPad have the pleasure of browsing, watching and learning on their favorite tablet. The Lynda.com iPad app mimics the Lynda.com website by letting you browse or search for instructional video courses. Once you find a course of interest, you can view a table of contents which lists all the videos associated with that course. Most videos are less than 10 minutes long and grouped together in topics. Each topic would be equal to a chapter in a book. All the videos can be watched easily on your iPad in portrait or landscape view. When you watch the videos, they count towards your completion of a course. As you would expect, the app ties into your Lynda.com online account so any video you watch on your tablet will show up as watched when you log in using your browser. The iPad app also lets you view your account details so you can see how many courses you have completed, which videos you have watched, and what training certificates you have earned. The iPad app is not meant to replace the website, but it is a nice companion for when you have some spare time and don't want to lug around your laptop. The Lynda.com iPad app is available for free, but requires a monthly or yearly subscription to fully use the resources of this online learning library. If you just want to check it out, you can download the iPad app and browse select content for free. There's also an iPhone version as well. %Gallery-128950%
