Distance learning: The online learning revolution

By Jessica Moore. Elite US universities including Harvard, Princeton and Stanford are making their classes available for free online. Jessica Moore asks why.
Elite US universities are known globally for their excellent standards of education, and for their astronomical course fees. At Harvard, the full whack for an undergraduate programme is around $60,000 a year. For all the current anxiety in the UK, that makes our new £9,000-a-year maximum look like pocket money. But then, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Or is there? Enter "Massive open online courses", or MOOCs – a rapidly growing phenomenon launched around a year ago in the US, whereby prestigious universities such as Harvard make selected courses available over the internet to absolutely anybody around the world for free.
Here's how it works. MOOC students work through set assignments online, usually using involving online video and interactive materials. They commonly study at their own pace and evaluate one another's work. Graduates are awarded a certificate but not a credit. Anyone can enrol, and it's all completely gratis.