You can take the classes but you won’t get a degree. So can someone explain to me how this a “game changer”?
Right now you can’t..... However, even if they never happens. Any further education is always a big plus on the resume. It tell employers that not only are you trainable, but that a candidate is self motivated and has a desire to learn and grow. That’s just one example. Another would be say you have an engineer and he wants to understand a different part of engineering he did not study. For instance, the engineer is a civil engineer and that he wants understand what an electronics engineer understands. This is one way he can do it. I do not see how this is a bad thing at all.
It’s great too because we do not need any more degrees in Sociology or Basket weaving. It’s a waste of time and paper IMHO.
In several ways, it is a game changer.
A person could take these on-line classes to understand the material, then take the class for credit. Or, after having taken the class for credit, a student can than take the online courses to strengthen his understanding of the material. No need to pay for classes twice.
By creating non-credited courses now, it could eventually lead to taking online courses for credit, as educators figure an effective means to teaching the course online.
If you have a hobby interest, it also means you don’t have to pay for courses of your interest, since you’re only doing it for a hobby.
If it becomes the preferred method of teaching, MIT or whomever, could pay world class teachers to produce videos that would be accessible for everybody. In otherwords, it would allow everybody to have the same level of elite education and everybody’s ability to become educated becomes less of a matter of how wealthy or connected you are, but more on your personal motivation and ability.
That’s just off the top of my head.
Because you can learn something. You know, it is ENTIRELY possible under the current system to earn a degree and NOT learn anything.
People who want to take high level college classes, just for the sheer delight of learning, or to educate themselves about whatever they live, now have the opportunity to do so.