Similar concepts can be seen between my earlier blog post about Sugata Mitra’s “children teaching children” solution to education and Shai Reshef’s recently discussed concept of University on ABC News. He calls it the University of the People or UoPeople. It is the first online and tuition free university. His inspiration came from social networking sites, which are become increasingly popular worldwide. He has applied these concepts within social networking towards academia, which resulted in an affordable, Internet-based University. UoPeople connect students all over the world to teach each other and work collaboratively towards their degrees. It is different from traditional on-line course because it is free, and the professor is removed from the classroom unless needed for assistance. Testing takes place in a physical location where the exam is supervised by a professor to ensure there is no cheating.
What is the catch? This concept is not entirely free because there is between a $10-$15 registration fee and exam fees can be between $10-$100. This is very affordable compared to other universities, but this concept would fail in extremely poor countries that have no computers or access to the Internet (without scholarships). Also, what languages is the curriculum set in? Do the students need to purchase any additional courseware? Yet, Reshef recognizes that the Internet is powerful and can reach and teach more people.
According to Statistics Canada, unemployment rates are lower for individuals of both genders who possess university degrees than for those who don’t. UoPeople has the possibility of impacting millions by providing affordable education to people all over the world (including America) who would have not otherwise attended. This idea can become large in scale with increased awareness of the University. With quality control and appropriate testing of their students, UoPeople has the potential to be the forefather in shaping online education for the future.
