3 ms·
Because the people producing the materials are being heavily supported by external grants that more-than cover the costs of producing the materials and putting
by trevelyan 16y ago
Because the people producing the materials are being heavily supported by external grants that more-than cover the costs of producing the materials and putting them online.
Many government grants in the education field are targeted at institutions of higher education and it is very difficult if not impossible to get one if you are not at least affiliated with a university. This is the major reason the only meaningful innovation in education is happening in the adult-education market.
- beoba 16y agoI think you're confusing the research wing and the education wing of the modern research university. Research grants are given to professors/staff to fund specific projects, which are separate from/in addition to their everyday teaching responsibilities at the university. Now, I'm not saying the two funding pools don't ever mix, but they're not the same.
- trevelyan 16y agoNot at all... MIT OpenCourseWare was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Open Yale was supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Google supported Colombia's Digital Knowledge Ventures program (along with VC partners who planned on selling the branding), and even AllLearn started with $12 million in funding (source unclear). And those are just the larger projects mentioned in the article. With Fathom and AllLearn, the projects folded as soon as the funding ran out.