MOOC changing universities forever, and for the better

By Jim Lotz. University education has been described as the process whereby the notes of the professor become those of the student, without going through the minds of either. The lecture system began in early medieval Europe when the gilded youth of the time gathered to learn from scholars who had access to books and who had acquired much wisdom from other sources.
Universities remained elite institutions until after the Second World War, when demand for advanced education exploded. Governments poured money into existing universities as they expanded, and encouraged the creation of new ones. The lecture system remained the basis of teaching, even as knowledge in all fields expanded at an exponential rate. Read more...