One of the hottest markets today is online education, part of the bigger trend to modernize education through IT technologies. One of the biggest issues in online education is certification, proof that one successfully completed a course or program. I previously discussed this topic here and all the articles on education are here.
MIT has been a leader in online education since it began its free OpenCourseWare initiative in 2001. MIT has now announced that they will offer certificates for the completion of the courses, as described in this article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. A few observations:
- The courses will continue to be free but there will be a fee for the certificate
- The certificate will be issued by a new foundation established for that purpose and not by MIT
I think it's interesting that MIT is protecting the brand value of their traditional on campus education system by using a separate foundation to issue certificates. I also wonder if people will pay for certification unless it is part of a degree program. Perhaps MIT will use the foundation to start offering online degrees.
