Google Video plays school

UC Berkeley is using the site to deliver college courses and lectures free of charge.

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[dmm]

Not far enough

I will be impressed by name-brand colleges/universities offering "free" courses when they give you official credit, allowing you to pay only for having tests and assignments graded (at a much reduced rate compared to regular tuition, obviously). Sure, you couldn't do this with every course, but you certainly could for the lower-level ones taught in large lecture halls. Students who don't need a TA or prof to personally explain things shouldn't have to subsidize those who do. And, frankly, many of those TAs and some of those profs aren't worth their money. (Not as educators, anyway. They might be great researchers.)

So, here's my challenge to those schools: First, put your heads together and come up with 5 or 10 really great lecturers (with different styles) in one course (e.g., Biology 101). Put them online and sell DVDs of them at cost, so anybody can listen to whichever lecturer(s) they want, for free (or nearly free). Second, give the students a list of recommended textbooks, and let them study whatever one(s) they want. Better yet, come up with a free one. Don't complain that entirely new textbooks are needed each year to keep the material fresh. That's bull! Ninety-five per cent of the material that needs to be learned in freshman and sophomore courses is very well established. Do it once and update it each year. Third, come up with a bunch of standardized tests. Don't complain that students will just memorize the stuff for the tests. Helloooo? Are tests supposed to gauge students' grasp of the material or gauge their ability to guess what the teacher wants? Tell the students exactly what will be on the tests, and make the tests hard. Fourth, offer this course AT ONE-THIRD THE COST of the regular course, TO ANYONE who wants to pay (regardless of enrollment status), FOR FULL CREDIT INCLUDING A GRADE THAT AFFECTS GPA transferable to any school. (Schools would still be allowed to set their own standards for assigning grades to standard test scores.)