by ALEXANDRIA QUIGLEY Staff Writer
Harvard University and MIT announced on Wednesday, May 2, a partnership to offer mainly free Internet classes to the public. Harvard and MIT are each donating $30 million to create a nonprofit organization called “edX” that will create an Internet structure for the free classes, and design new ways to teach and learn with technology and the Internet, according to the two schools. They will join other research universities, such as Stanford and private universities around the world. The first five or so free classes are scheduled to be offered in the fall, and the number will expand in subsequent years from the Harvard-MIT partnership and other universities that may join it. Classes in math, language arts, and science are all offered through Harvard’s online courses. Even history classes, as well as technological classes, are offered on top of the core subjects. “It’s basically a no brainer. Who wouldn’t want to say that they went to Harvard University?” said freshman Shannon O’Scannell. The classes will not earn online students academic credits; however, students can receive a certificate of completion, and they might be charged a fee. “Even though you don’t earn credits for the classes, I think that it’s definitely a good thing that they offer the courses. Learning from a Harvard professor is an amazing experience that I could never pass up and I’m sure that a lot of people would agree with me,” says freshman Caroline Earl. Unlike paid online degree programs that Stanford and other colleges offer, the university’s free online courses do not carry over credits. Tens of thousands of students have completed these types of courses and to give them all credits would be too much to do. For many seniors graduating this year, this could be great news. Even for future high school graduates, and even college graduates now, any free class from Harvard is something you should jump on. This opportunity is just a click away.
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