a New Education Model for the Times

With a new political initiative taking over Washington and with the new, very motivated Education Secretary Betsy DeVos soon to take the reins of that quagmire, it is time to implement a strategy for education that will lift the poor and working class to higher levels of skill and knowledge that will benefit both aspiring individuals and the nation as a whole. To begin to put an end to the high cost and inaccessiblity of getting a college education a national digital public library of college courses, in a full range of subjects, available to everyone on a tuition-free basis, needs to be initiated as soon as possible. Such courses would be created by the most talented and respected professors with free online textbooks and certifying exams for college credit. College could be and should be free, given the limitless resources of the Internet, and it could be made so at very little taxpayer expense.

Online courses have been offered for the past twenty years from all manner of colleges and trade schools. But due to the regulatory and “pricing power” structure of accredited post-secondary education, tuition for these courses is every bit as high (often higher) than for the same course delivered in the physical college classroom. Several years ago MIT, Stanford, and other quality institutions began offering many of their best courses online, entirely tuition free, as a public service. Known as MOOC's (Massively Open Online Courses) these courses have become widely popular and have drawn large numbers of students worldwide. A computer MOOC at Stanford drew more than 160,000 students, compared to perhaps 35 students in a physical college classroom for the same course.

MOOC's lead to an expansion of knowledge and skill levels, however they do not offer college credit that can be applied to obtaining a degree. The prestigious schools that offer the free online courses want to preserve their brand and not dilute their tuition based economic model. Using MOOC's as a model, however, in combination with certification testing would take little more than an administrative transition and be very cost efficient to maintain.

Not only could such courses be used to advance students toward a useful college degree, but they could be used for self-study, or used as another teaching or curriculum tool by existing high schools and colleges with physical discussion groups where a teacher is present. And they could be used by people of any age and any geography - anyone with Internet access. The same idea could be applied to vocational and job training, at a fraction of the cost to pay an employer to train a worker. Employers could use free online courses from the national online library, along with on-the-job help, to advance the productive skills among their workforce.

It would be paramount to the concept of online education to work with top quality exam creators, like the College Board, to make sure that the certification exams reflect a high and respected standard for passing. Excessive government control over curriculum could be avoided by funding independent groups to develop the courses or by funding multiple versions of each course. With all due respect to free speech, a government funded online educational library would not stop other colleges or educational diversity, and would be only one of many ways for students to achieve a quality education.

The current college accreditation model is over 100 years old and started before the Internet was invented. Under the existing system, the educational institution retains all the power to grant college credit. Universities requiring years of physical residency need not disappear, but a national public library of great tuition free online courses, plus credit-bearing certification exams for these courses, could quickly create a very practical path toward affordable and accessible education for all at little or not cost, putting an end to the burden of student debt that has resulted from the current model.