[barik]

It seems that there is a digital divide between universities that "get it", and universities that don't. I applaud universities like MIT and Stanford for opening up education for everyone.

Other universities, like NC State and Georgia Tech, give platitudes about equal access to education for all but then fail to deliver. At the end of the day, this is because online education for them is not about equality, but rather, it is about creating a revenue stream for the institution. These institutions will charge thousands of dollars for what is effectively access to pre-recorded videos, with a Teaching Assistant that grades your work to provide that key "certification". If you just want to learn for the sake or learning, and aren't concerned with having an official credential, you're simply out of luck.

For example, I find NC State's policy simply draconian: http://engineeringonline.ncsu.edu/forms/EOL%20Course%20Downl...

"Accordingly, this policy also relates to the downloading of video lectures for Engineering Online classes. You are allowed to download a lecture and to keep it on your machine until the end of the semester you are enrolled in the class. After this time period, you must delete the downloaded files."

That's the type of contract I expect from the MPAA, not an educational institution. Contrast this with MIT OpenCourseware, which provides lecture notes, exam, and videos without any registration:

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

So, good job MIT and Stanford. Hopefully other institutions will follow your path.

[newhouseb]

For what it's worth, Stanford only actually half-gets it. The videos you find online are only a tiny fraction (probably less than 20% of all videos recorded). Stanford also has SCPD which is a program wherein non-students can [pay and] take classes remotely via watching the on-campus lectures on video. Since students can also access these videos, you can make it through much of college without attending class. (There's also a lot of scraping at the end of each quarter so that students can maintain their own OpenCourseware equivalent).

[dstein64]

One reason for NC State's restricted sharing policy might be to encourage participation in class. Some students may be discouraged from participating in lectures if the content will be distributed.

This seems less likely in the NC State example though, given that the same policy seems to apply to all course material, in addition to video lecture recordings.

[pbhjpbhj]

Yes, I love this model where you can effectively educate yourself for free, or train for a certification without paying. Then you can Suntzu it (as it were) and only pay to take exams for a course you know you'll pass.

[delinka]

Allow me to highlight that this works for certifications and not degrees. For an actual degree, you'll still need to pay through the nose, meet attendance requirements, and complete coursework before you may sit for the exam.

[pbhjpbhj]

I've done home based learning at degree level with the Open University in the UK (they're a degree awarding body). It's possible to not have any contact throughout the course and just turn up and sit the exam. Tutorial sessions are not compulsory though many (possibly all, I don't know) courses have a continuous assessment element.

I wouldn't describe the fees then as 'paying through the nose', certainly not in comparison to professional IT certifications.

[X-Istence]

Depends on the uni/college but attendance may not be required, and with the move to online learning you may still have to pay through the nose, all you have to do is pass all of the assignments and you are set... so you can educate yourself ahead of time and coast through the classes once you are comfortable with them.

[barik]

I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic or not, but if you know the material, does it matter how you acquired that knowledge? Many Universities do allow credit-by-examination because of this very reason.