MITx - MIT innovates again?

This morning in the local news there was a story about MITx, an set of courses that are designed to be done through the Web, with no face to face component that people can take for free.  While the course will have an assessment component, if people want the credential of having  taken and passed that course there will be a nominal fee for logging into a secure environment to take additional exams to certify their mastery of the subject.

While this isn's really a MOOC, it is an interesting experiment in education.  The resources for these courses will need to be out in the public domain or under a creative commons license in order to make things work in free environment.  Additionally, unlike OCW which I view more as a repository of "things" that a course contains (which you could roll into a full fledged course by yourself), MITx courses will be designed courses for this environment.

Not many details are available yet, but I know that I don't do as well in a solitary learning environment - I like having other people around (even virtual peers).  It will be interesting to see if virtual cohorts spring up around MITx courses.

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