Coursera is committed to seeing that our courses meet our students’ educational goals, from simply experiencing the joy of learning something new, to seeking improved employment opportunities, to…

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“Udacity is thrilled to announce a partnership with San Jose State University to pilot three courses—Visualizing Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, and Elementary Statistics—available online at an affordable tuition rate and for college credit. This is the first time a MOOC has been offered for credit and purely online.” 

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How Free Online Courses Are Changing the Traditional Liberal Arts Education

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Stanford professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng launched Coursera last year to give anyone and everyone access to courses from top-tier universities — for free, online.

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Massive open online courses—dubbed MOOCs—have lured venture investors and universities, who have put millions of dollars into companies that partner with schools or instructors to offer free courses.

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Freelance teachers can cut out the middle man by gaining their own client base, choosing how much they wish to charge and by having more freedom in choosing their most effective teaching methodology.

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Cutting out the middleman in higher education, or disintermediation, could be a boon for professors. If the approach pioneered by StraighterLine and Udemy takes off, adjunct professors in particular could have a new avenue to hawk their wares.

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A Wall Street Journal article that alerted “Consumers now owe more on their student loans than their credit cards.” was the catalist for Michael Karnjanaprakorn to think about a new way of approaching learning – so he co-created SkillShare with his friend Malcolm Ong.

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It may not be news to the 1.5 million college graduates struggling to find a job or toiling behind café counters, but Northeastern University researchers break it down: 53.6 percent of bachelor’s degree-holders under age of 25 were jobless or underemployed last year, the highest percentage since the dot-com bubble of 2000. In the last year, college graduates were more likely to be employed as servers, bartenders, and food-service helpers than as engineers, physicists, chemists, and mathematicians combined. The class of 2012 is about to get a gigantic wake-up call.

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Summary:

1) Go East! – the world’s economic center has shifted to northern Russia. By 2025, it may return to central Asia – just north of where it was a thousand years ago.

2) Urbanize – By mid-century, 80% of the world’s population will be urban, mostly in the developing world.

3) Good to the Last Drop – Oil production has already peaked in 54 out of the 65 largest oil-producing countries, including the United States. The world is not running out of oil, just cheap oil.

4) Digitize Me – Economics is becoming less about ownership and more about access.

5) Smarter, Faster, Stronger – Humanity, as a whole, is more connected, educated, and healthier than ever – and this will lead to sustained innovation.

6) Stuck in Neutral – Political gridlock has kept the difficult questions from being asked. A lack of clarity regarding future government policies has created an environment of economic uncertainty and doubt. The looming risk of collapse in some industrialized nations may open the doors for radical elements.

7) Gray Boom – The industrialized northern countries will continue to grow slowly with mature, aging populations. We expect a rise in second careers and a shift toward part-time employment and small business. The “career ladder” has been replaced by a “patchwork quilt” of work opportunities.

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