The explosion in demand for higher education is no longer restricted to
the physical lecture hall or even campus. In fact we constantly have to
redefine the word campus and distance learning as it is fast becoming the
effective tool for satisfying the emerging economies demand for places. Obviously
distance learning is not new and players such as the Open University, University
of Phoenix and BPP are among many who have long championed the approach.
However the ability to validate the individual and ensure the person
doing the work is the right one can be a challenge. Now Coursera have announced that
it verify the students throughout the course. They will do this by comparing a
photo ID with a webcam and also enabling students to create a biometric profile
of their unique typing pattern by typing a short phrase which will them be used
to authenticate their submitted work. The company will charge a fee of
between $30 and $100 for certificates depending on the course.
In their first 4 months Coursera had achieved 1 million users and some 8
months later this has grown to 2.2 million students. They offer some 213 free
courses from 33 top universities and around one third of students come from the
U.S., followed by India, Brazil, Russia, Canada, and the UK.
Will we soon be looking back at
the higher education auditorium model and three hour lectures of today and
wonder why they happened? Will the best lectures and teaching be supplemented
by the likes of TedEd, will identifying the right student accomplished the work
over the full course be more important than the final exam?
Some obviously believe that Coursera has a lot to offer as they have
raised some £16 million in funding.
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