Any public-radio-listening polymath should know about MOOCs, or massive open online courses. These classes and lectures, often taught by the brightest minds at the most prestigious universities, are available online, often at no cost. They’re welcomed as a way for learning to reach people all over the world who’d never have to opportunity to learn this stuff otherwise. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Massive Online Open Courses”
Here’s another 2012 word of the year.
Great.
MOOC.
M-O-O-C.
Yep, it’s an acronym.
Right.
Massive Open Online Course.
Yes.
So these are these courses, pretty much what you might encounter if you went to, say, Stanford,
Except you do it online, and the lectures are there, and there might be materials and maybe discussion forums,
And you can learn, and often they’re free.
They don’t cost you a thing to see some of the most brilliant professors of our age giving you free lectures.
And so you can learn online alongside all these other people.
Yes.
We evangelize lifelong learning.
That’s part of the mission of our show.
We do.
And so this movement for this free education from the top minds of our age is wonderful.
The MOOC movement.
I mean, the universities, they might not like it because people are saying, well, I really just wanted to know.
I didn’t want to actually have to pay for it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think there’s some criticism that people are just going to dip into this or that.
But no question, if you’re in a third world country and you don’t have access to this or that university,
I mean, you can study at Stanford and get a certificate or something.
Exactly. This is a leapfrog movement.
This is where some people around the world can leapfrog these intervening stages of educational development
And go straight to the top.
I love it. MOOC, M-O-O-C, Massive Open Online Course.
Which is sort of what we do. Not exactly.
But you can join in by calling us at 877-929-9673.
