World University: Difference between revisions

In many ways, World University is already open. You can take classes, for example, through MIT's Open Course Ware by clicking on the courses to the left, and learn, for example, what is the equivalent of a mastersMasters in physicsPhysics or in "Society, Technology and Science" at MIT right now. MIT's Open Course Ware's listing contains around 1800 courses, with many video lectures already posted. Or you can post a very fun class about Mozart, massage, painting, calculus, sculpture or your area of specialization. Also, create a page with what you know, what courses you'd like to teach or take, and what courses you've taken. Use the links to the left to begin adding a free course, by language, country, degree, or to take a course.

For the time being, World University might offer degrees over a 10 year horizon. So, for example, World University might offer four courses, at first, in each of these countries and in many languages, to be engaged possibly on One Laptop Per Child and video-capable, programmable iPhone-like devices. And people in these countries, of course, can add their own courses to this Wiki, with knowledge they would like to share. In terms of possible degree-granting, Harvard professors, for example, might also teach 4 courses at the undergraduate level, and 1 graduate level course, in the fall of 2009, for matriculated students and with at-large participation possible, simply by having a camera in their classroom, and another instructor in a virtual world. A video-capable, iPhone-like device would allow people who are illiterate to take and post courses to this wiki. But credit and degree-granting isn't yet pragmatic, and we think this might take possibly 10 years to develop. If two paths emerge in World University, - degree and open course ware, - MIT Open Course Ware is our model for degree-granting academic course work.

People ultimately train their own bodyminds in whatever learning context, and World University may well facilitate this in new ways. World University furthers a familiar approach to knowledge generation where learning also occurs through various forms of dialogue and conversation, such as those that occurwhich occurs in seminars and through libraries', books and journals. And World University will engage the far-reaching potentials of the Information Technology revolution to make learning and teaching - knowledge exchange, very widely construed - global and innovative in an ongoing way.

Envision learning, teaching and idea-exchange anew, building on the existing 'University.' Here are some tools to do so: a wiki, video, as well as interactive virtual worlds with group type chat, voice, and real time streaming video. :) Add your own.