Stanford University Releases New Open-Source Online-Education Platform!

Dear Commons Community,

The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that Stanford University is continuing a high-profile push into online education with a new open-source platform called Class2Go, which will host two massive open online courses, or MOOC’s, during the fall quarter. Beginning in October, non-Stanford and Stanford students alike will be able to use the platform to take classes on computer networking and on “Solar Cells, Fuel Cells, and Batteries.”

The idea for the software started with a six-member “skunkworks” team in Stanford’s computer-science department, said Jane Manning, product manager for Class2Go. Over the summer, the team built Class2Go using code from Stanford’s existing course-hosting platform, called Courseware, and a similar platform from the nonprofit Khan Academy, along with software for integrated online classroom forums hosted by Piazza. Other colleges may add to the platform or adapt it for their own purposes, said Sef Kloninger, engineering manager for Class2Go.

Stanford already offers MOOC’s through Coursera, a start-up course provider, and through another homegrown platform, called Venture Lab, which attracted 40,000 students to a course on technology entrepreneurship last fall. Developing multiple platforms is a strategic move to study how Stanford can best deliver online education in the long run, Ms. Manning said.

Tony

 

Comments are closed.