Schools

Have You Taken Advantage of Wellesley College's Free Online Courses?

In December, Wellesley College started offering free liberal arts courses. Have you checked it out?

 

More than two months have passed since Wellesley College started offering free courses on edX, an online resource already offering free online classes from Harvard, MIT and Berkeley. 

Their tagline: The Future of Online Education: for anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Find out what's happening in Wellesleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here's where to find Wellesley's offerings, WellesleyX.

EdX uses what are called massive online open courses (MOOCS), in which anyone with an Internet connection can participate in a course without applying or or attending courses in-person. Students can earn certificates of completion from the college, which are currently free — the edX FAQ site says a modest fee may be implemented in future

Find out what's happening in Wellesleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

With so much available for free, Wellesley Patch was wondering how many Wellesley residents were aware of what was available — and if anyone has sampled the courses being offered by our own local Wellesley College.

Have you looked into the courses? Are you planning on getting a free Wellesley education? Tell us in the comment section below.

 

 

Original Story: 

Wellesley is getting plugged in. Free online education is already on your computer, but soon course listings will include liberal arts education from Wellesley College. 

Wellesley College announced today that they are adding courses to edX, an online resource offering free online classes from Harvard, MIT and Berkeley. The WellesleyX program will be the first liberal arts courses on the site.

EdX uses what are called massive online open courses (MOOCS), in which anyone with an internet connection can participate in a course without applying or or attending the courses in person. Students can earn certificates of completion from the university, which are currently free--the edX FAQ site says a modest fee may be implemented in future

“I am pleased that Wellesley will bring a much-needed liberal arts perspective to the rapidly developing online learning environment,” Wellesley College President Kim Bottomly said in a statement to the Wellesley Community.

The online education provider went live earlier this year, and WellesleyX will start offering courses in the coming school year, as will the University of Texas. Last month, edX also announced it was partnering with MassBay Community College, as well as Bunker Hill, to offer some computer science classes.

Anant Agarwal, president of edX and MIT professor believes that the liberal arts courses will provide insights into how small-class culture can fit in the larger world of online courses

"We want to create the aura of a small-group setting, so that students can discuss among themselves,” he told the Globe. “I would like to be a fly on the wall for those discussions.”

See the full Globe story here.

[Update: 12:44 p.m.] The Wellesley College Patch Blog just added a post about joining edX. In it, Provost and Dean of the College Andrew Shennan likened edX's goals to Wellesley’s founding mission “to educate women who otherwise would not have had opportunities to receive higher education.”

See the blog post for more information and another video about WellesleyX.

Related Topics: Free Online Courses, MOOCs, MassBay Community College, MassBay edX, MassBay online classes, Wellesley College, Wellesley College edX, WellesleyX, edX, and free online classes

 


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