CIS 471: Google and edX combine their strengths to form mooc.org

"In previous posts, I've said universities and university systems (like mine) could host open source MOOC platforms from Google and MIT edX, allowing faculty and others to experiment with innovative educational technology -- to develop focused instructional modules to supplement their own courses or complete MOOCs. Better yet, I've suggested that Google could offer a hosted service where individuals could do the same without support of their university -- a 'YouTube' for MOOCs and modular teaching material. It looks like we are moving in the direction of the second suggestion. Google and edX announce today that they will be collaborating on MOOC.org. The service is slated to be available in mid 2014, and it sounds as though a lot of the details (including revenue sources) are yet to be decided, but open software, open data and collaboration are clear values of this non-profit entity. You can read more in a Google blog post and an MIT press release. Here are a couple of quotes from each along with some parenthesized comments ..."