University of the People!!

[JasonM]

I'm sure many of you are already aware of this, but I would encourage you to check out University of the People, the first tuition-free university. While not accredited (yet), I think this serves as an excellent model for universities everywhere to model.

http://universityofthepeople.wordpress.com/

I mean really, how much of this education do you really need to pay for in order to actually learn the information necessary to be successful? If you don't give a rat's ass about credentials and truly value education, this can only raise the average level of learning in our society. At the very least, you can get all your basic level "core classes" and "book learning" out of the way and concentrate only on the hands-on and team-work based classes the require in-person instruction when it comes to hands-on professions like medicine and pilot training.

[wgadget]

I just heard that the wave of the future will be getting "badges" to show you completed these free courses. Sounds good to me.

[JasonM]

Yea, but only if employers accept it as a credible credential in lieu of a degree, or at the very least something that enhances your resume. You must have a high level of integrity with these "free courses" if people are going to trust them. They aren't actually free, more like super cheap, since they have to charge some kind of fee to be somewhat sustainable.

[JasonM]

Of course, they also have this thing called "CLEP" that you can do too. All that is left is to take the CLEP or DANTES test model, and find a way to dramatically lower the cost of the test, and then convince universities to accept the credits. Then all you have left is "on the job training" courses (paid/unpaid internships), which should be required for things like medical practice or law.