PBS’s MediaShift on Open Education

PBS’s MediaShift recently published an article highlighting leading open education and distance learning programs including

• OpenLearn at the UK’s Open University
• MIT OpenCourseWare
• UC Berkeley on iTunes
• Wikiversity

Already hundreds of collections exist online. As more information becomes available, navigation it is going to become a big issue. Students not only have to worry about financial decisions of college, but the increasing number of formats adds another layer of complexity.

• Which courses should I take?
• What courses are up to date?
• Should I pay to take this course, or should I do this outside of school?
• What format (text, video, audio, etc.) is best for learning this subject?

The issue from the teaching standpoint is that schools and professors that give will realize this not only helps advance their field, but also is a cheap and effective way of maintaining their brand exposure and market position.