By Karen Seidman. These massive open online courses — all the rage in education circles, with the New York Times having dubbed 2012 as The Year of the MOOC — may offer Quebec students the kind of accessibility they’ve been looking for.
That is to say the courses are free, although they don’t typically offer academic credit.
McGill will join several universities around the world as a member of the edX consortium, founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
McGill will begin to offer the courses in 2014.
Professors at McGill, working closely with edX teams, will design, develop and deliver MOOCs, with initial course offerings in sciences, humanities and public policy.
MOOCs represent a fast-growing innovation in higher education. They aim to connect the learning styles and expectations of today’s university students and lifelong learners with state-of-the-art digital learning. Read more...

By Janet French. Just seven months into office, University of Saskatchewan president Ilene Busch-Vishniac says provincial government officials have twice questioned her about the "efficiency" of running two teacher training programs in Saskatchewan.
Busch-Vishniac said she has faced questions from both the treasury board and a group of government deputy ministers about why the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina both need colleges of education.
One deputy minister - who the president wouldn't name - told Busch-Vishniac it was "so inefficient" to have two university education programs running in the province. Read more...