Google and Stanford are more than just neighbors in Silicon Valley. They’re becoming the leaders in the online learning revolution. And it’s all happening fast and starting right about … now.
Stanford, like Google, has now announced a free and open source platform that lets you run your very own Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Stanford’s platform, dubbed Class2Go, has big and slightly different aspirations from its competitors. Developed as a non-profit project by eight Stanford Computer Science engineers, Class2Go is meant to offer not only a course-like project but also tools for collaborative research. The latter functionality is a change from what Google, edX, Coursera, and others are offering right now.
The Stanford engineers say they hope to make the design and process easier to use, portable, and able to connect to other systems. In other words, it should be mobile-friendly (iPhones, iPads, Androids) and have an API. The engineers also go on to say that the problem sets used in Class2Go are the same format already in use by Khan Academy.
What Is A MOOC?
Class2Go’s Goals
According to Class2Go, the long-term goal is to offer a vast amount of courses and learning experiences. Like Google and other startups, though, the Class2Go software is still in the early stages of development. Currently, Stanford is offering 16 MOOCs this semester, two being hosted on Class2Go.
Expect the Class2Go platform to be available for you on October 8th with the courses “An Introduction To Computer Networks” and “Solar Cells, Fuel Cells, & Batteries.”
While there’s no clear winner in the MOOCs software battle, the competition is fierce and the stakes are high. I wouldn’t be surprised if more big names in the education and technology worlds throw their hats into the ring. Apple University anyone?
Want to work on Class2Go? They’re hiring engineers!
