Now that Harvard has joined, the universities plan to collaborate on research into how students learn online by monitoring the progress of the hundreds of thousands of people they hope will sign up.
“Through this partnership, we will not only make knowledge more available, but we will learn more about learning,’’ Harvard president Drew Faust said at a news conference. “Anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can have access.’’
Standing beside Faust, MIT president Susan Hockfield said: “You can choose to view this era as one of threatening change and unsettling volatility, or you can see it as a moment charged with the most exciting possibilities presented to educators in our lifetimes.’’
Alan Garber, Harvard’s provost, said in a phone call that the venture gives both schools a chance to “collect data that simply hasn’t existed. How much time do students spend with different elements? Do people who go back and repeat a video segment learn better, or worse?’’
Representatives of both schools said they thought the effort would enhance their brands rather than weaken them.
“This is not about diluting or not diluting,’’ said Rafael Reif, MIT’s provost. “This is about giving our students the best education possible. At the same time, once we have the content online, we might as well share it with the world.’’
A person involved in internal discussions said the initial Harvard courses, to be announced this summer, are likely to include one each in computer science, the social sciences, and the humanities.
Although edX will draw faculty and resources from both Harvard and MIT - including initial commitments of $30 million each - it will be an independent, nonprofit entity.
Its ultimate goal goes beyond the two academic powerhouses. Administrators hope other universities will use the technology from the open-source edX platform to deliver their own content.
