Will edX Put Harvard and MIT Out of Business?

How to to take advantage of new educational technologies? Max Chafkin writes about the problem with MOOCs: Max Chafkin: Udacity's Sebastian Thrun, Godfather Of Free Online Education, Changes Course:

A few weeks after Wharton announced that it would be offering a substantial part of its core MBA classes online, Harvard business school is developing online courses of its own, according to a report

Colleges around the country should be worried. The quality of online courses is catching up fast. Depending on whom you talk to, MOOCs (massively open online courses) will upend and democratize higher education, or are half-baked approximations of lectures that can never equal the classroom. 

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are teaming up to expand their online education programs -- and they're inviting other institutions to come on board.Called edX, the $60 million joint venture builds on MIT's existing MITx platform that enables video lesson segments, embedded quizzes, immediate feedback, online laboratories and student-paced learning.

A few days ago, I reported on how MITx could revolutionize higher education by offering free online classes along with a new benefit: credentials.

From today's Chronicle of Higher Education:

First Wharton decided to offer the core of its first year MBA program online. Now Harvard Business School is exploring online options as well. 

Transformational is how some describe edX, an online education platform that will make Harvard and (MIT) courses available to everyone. Inevitable is probably a better term. As textbooks go digital, more testing is conducted on-line and mobile applications democratize education tools, education start-ups are on the rise. With billions at stake, venture capitalists will tell ...