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MITx: Online Teaching Model Beta Launching in 2012

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) takes its online teaching program to the next level with the new MITx initiative, which will be introduced this spring as a beta-testing model. Forbes magazine says, “MITx . . . will offer the online teaching of MIT courses free of charge to anyone in the world. The program will not allow students to earn an MIT degree. Instead, those who are able to exhibit a mastery of the subjects taught on the platform will receive an official certificate of completion.”

What MITx offers won’t be just an education, and won’t host teaching tools such as interactive fora hosting discussions about each class: under the direction of Anant Agarwal, MIT professor and director of its Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the university will develop MITx into an open educational infrastructure that will benefit from the contributions of outside developers and facilitate the creation of educational platforms which make use of the MITx infrastructure but are separate educational initiatives.

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