Speakers admit the necessity for online learning

The protest was shown while the US president was visiting different colleges for pressurizing Congress to extend the low rate of interest on college loans which involves more than seven million and four hundred thousand students. If Lawmakers can’t act on time then the rate of interest on loans are likely to get doubled in the month of July hitting one to nearly seven percent.

The President narrated his struggle to pay off student loan. Mr. Obama visited the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, on Wednesday and talked to students regarding his campaign which asks for education to be made affordable .The president visited Colorado and North Carolina on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Union Square of New York City Saw a gathering of several hundreds of Students who were wearing placards where their debt amounts were inscribed and were protesting against One Trillion Dollar Day.

They burnt documents on student debt and displayed placards saying “Debt Free Degrees “and Education in America: Don’t Bank on It”

One of the students named Hadi Nassar aged 31 reported that he was giving his plans of working at a community health clinic a second thought. His eight years long education on undergraduate and dental school course had put him in a debt of one hundred and eighty six thousand dollars. Other students also expressed their dissidence and anger stating that education is not worth the debt they have to bear.

Organizers of the protest made a comparative study of the student loans which crossed all form of consumer debt.

In the University of Wisconsin located in Madison, as many as almost twelve students protested outside Memorial Library, asking for signatures from students and others.

Many other students also said that the loan is huge and it will be difficult for them to buy a house acquiring affordable mortgage. The scenario is bleak to say the least.

Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, also said that he is supportive about the extension of the interest rate but he criticized the Obama administration blaming them for the economic condition   for which  the students are suffering.

Two professors from the University of Stanford, who are the founders of Coursera, recently received funding from two venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley, totaling to $16 million. They also said that in the next 12 months, Coursera will be rolling out over 30 new online courses through its interactive website. The courses that will be offered will be wide and varied and will encompass subject such as contemporary American poetry, calculus, neurology and Greek Mythology.

The online courses that will be offered will be designed and developed and taught by professors from leading universities such as University of California at Berkley, Princeton, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania and Stanford. Coursera is the new entry in the league of ambitious distance learning projects that aim to make higher education affordable as well as accessible to a larger number of students. While a few of the current online education websites just post the lectures online without any form of interaction, there are a few others that do things differently.

Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, the founders of Coursera, say that this will be a highly interactive platform with a difference because the professors who will be conducting the various training programs will train under the name of the university where they currently work. This education platform will upload video lectures and also answer questions posted by students on its online forum.

The short tests and multiple choice questions offered as a part of the overall assessment will be automatically scored online. The website is also currently in the process of designing a unique system of peer grading to assess algorithms, essays and other complex assignments.

Though students will not be entitled to college credit, Coursera is considering offering transcripts or completion certificates for a certain fee. The spokesperson for Coursera also said that this online education platform may consider making profits in future by connecting employers with prospective candidates who showed excelled performance in certain subjects.

The universities that are a part of the this venture stand to benefit since they will get a boost to their overseas reputation and also be able to bring in donations from their alumni and students who have benefited from the courses they offer on Coursera.

Coursera is the brainchild of two professors from Stanford University who wanted to impart education to everyone in the world. Coursera currently provides university level classes free of charge to any person who has a computer and an internet connection. The silver lining on the horizon is that this service has now received an aid of close to $16 million from Kleiner and NBA, a venture capital firm.

Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller started off with Coursera at Stanford by offering just 3 classes in the fall of 2011. According to Ng, one of the three classes had over 10000 registered students. Just like in the case of the other online education courses, the lectures were imparted through videos and there was a forum to help students discuss their issues related to the subject and find resolution. The impact of the forum stupefied the founders Ng and Koller because there were thousands of interested students who conversed about their coursework and the response time to the questions posted on the forum averaged just 22 minutes. The excessive number of students from all over the world conversing on this forum ensured that there was someone on line round the clock to track questions and find answers.

Coursera that started with just 3 classes is now expanding its outreach and now offers over thirty courses across various disciplines. In order to facilitate professor created classes, Coursera has now partnered with the University of Michigan, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford and University of California at Berkley.

In addition to free classes to students, the LMS (Learning Management Service) platform can also be leveraged by the universities they partner with to revamp various online courses offered by them. The overall idea is to bring about a change in how the various colleges are being run. Koller and Ng believe that the LMS platform, which offers short videotaped lectures in addition to interactive assignments, will ensure extra time for classroom discussions and case studies.