[magnitude]

The problem with open education is that unless you are using it for self fulfillment or self-driven applications, the general public does not recognize or appreciate the learner's efforts. For example, I am considering to go back to school for a graduate degree but I have all of the courses that I want to take available for free online. Heck, there is even other non-university affiliated material on the web like free ebooks that I am really interested in studying. But the problem is no future employer will recognize my studies if I go the free open route. If I spend the next two years self studying, saving thousands of dollars in tuition and learning from the comfort of home, every employer would look at it as wasted time. But if I spent the same exact time commitment and had no part-time jobs but learned all of the material in an institution then in the eyes of the employer I didn't waste time and I productively went to school. This is annoying.

I guess what is needed is a free certification program that corresponds with the open education movement. But I don't want a certification program that looks cheap. I want certification that is prestigious and representative of my intelligence and hard efforts, just like as if I was to get a graduate degree from stanford.

[dvse]

One way to demonstrate your knowledge in a technical field like engineering or computer science would be to publish some research papers in well known journals or conferences. By no means perfect but much better than nothing.

This is not to say that some new form of certification is not needed as well.