EdX has quietly launched an upgraded version of its "Creating a Course with edX Studio" tutorial. This one-to-two hour-long course has been designed to teach instructors how to best use edX's Studio authoring tool. The course includes 16 videos and is available on edX's app for iOS and Android devices. "This course is ideal for course authors and course teams interested in uncovering the nuts and bolts of building an edX course. We will cover everything you need to know to successfully create your first course on the edX platform," say their creators, Raphael Valenti, Mark Rudnick and James Donald.
Windows PowerShell Fundamentals. This course about managing Windows-based servers offers the opportunity to earn a certificate demonstrating competency which can be added to a resume or job application. It begins on April 14th and costs $200. Marketing for Non-Marketers (June 16, $295) and Policy Analysis Using Interrupted Time Series (July 7, $395) are two others. This Professional Education Program was designed in 2014 to offer busy professionals a flexible, affordable and impactful way to build skills and advance their careers without having to leave their offices or homes. Since then, hundred of learners have completed them. In total, there are eight courses.
The second Open edX meetup attracted around one hundred innovators last Thursday April 9th in New York. Three speakers coming from Washington D.C., San Jose, CA, and Boston, and one from New York, energized and engaged the audience with insights and ideas. The event was live-broadcasted online. Michael Keany (McKinsey Academy), Paul Berman (GW), Beth Porter (edX) and Jack McLaughlin (PepperPD) spoke about the challenges and opportunities surrounding Open edX technology and pedagogy during the event, hosted at McKinsey Academy. On the other hand, the Open edX meetup group reached 300 members last week. The two-hour event, which was sold out, concluded with a round table. Here is the audio of the event: https://www.iblstudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/EDX-MEETUP-4-9-2015.mp3
Lynda.com was acquired last week by LinkedIn for $1.5 billion (52 percent cash and 48 percent stock). Founded in 1995 by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin, Lynda has a massive library of 6,300 courses and 267,000 video tutorials. In addition to individual subscribers, lynda.com serves corporate, government and educational organizations through its lyndaEnterprise, lyndaPro, lyndaCampus, lyndaLibrary and lyndaKiosk products. LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network on the Internet with over 300 million members worldwide, stated that "lynda.com's high-quality content provides opportunity for members to easily gain the professional skills they need to get hired and advance their careers", while Lynda Weinman said that "we have a shared vision of connecting relevant knowledge to those in need of new or stronger skills". It seems that LinkedIn will try to match users with courses that fill gaps in their skill sets. Regarding the badges and certifications challenge, currently Lynda.com gives certificates of completion to individuals who finish most of their courses. However, it is unclear how much value employers and recruiters will place in these badges and micro-credentials.
How do you determine whether prospective students are prepared for the best colleges? Today grading standards vary among teachers and high schools. Personal essays could have been written by someone else or engineered because of the work of essay-writing coaches. SAT and ACT scores can be maximized through prep courses and different techniques that have little to do with achievement. Letters of recommendations and extracurricular activities are also imprecise measurement tools. Add to this the monetary contributions from wealthy families and Ivy League slots in high schools. This imperfect information system is reflected by the fact that more than one in four students who start college drop out or transfer within three years. MOOCs offered by dozens of elite colleges give high school students a chance to prove that they are ready for a university. In turn, the institution gets an accurate measure of whether a student is prepared for academics. edX and Coursera offer real courses –sometimes eves the same classes that are taught to freshmen– from the world’s greatest universities. “MOOC success is much more likely to predict success in college classes than SAT scores, because MOOC success is, in fact, success in college classes”, explains Kevin Carey, director of policy program at New America. “Online college courses also can be a better measure of student aptitude than Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes, which are considered in admissions by many colleges.” “The availability of real, free college courses means universities won’t have to rely on such flawed proxies in the future. Instead they’ll be able to pick and choose from among students who have already demonstrated that they can excel at demanding college work.” Colleges are now figuring out how to incorporate MOOCs into admissions and make them recruiting tools. On the other side, students are listing MOOCs among extracurricular activities. “It will become much harder for privileged parents to help their less-talented children game the system. Unless, of course, elite schools really wanted the children of the rich and powerful all along.”
