Univ. of Pa. Now Offering Some Courses Online -- And Free!
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Why pay Ivy League tuition? The University of Pennsylvania is putting some of its courses online, for free.
Penn is joining several other leading universities, including Princeton and Stanford, in offering courses free online, through the web site coursera.org.
Starting in June, Penn will begin to offer twelve courses in subjects including calculus, neurology, and Greek and Roman mythology. Anyone can log on and watch the video lectures and participate in the online quizzes and discussions.
The courses will not earn you credit toward a degree. But University of Pennsylvania professor Al Filreis says his online poetry class can be rewarding in other ways.
"Credit can be metaphorical," he tells KYW Newsradio. "Everyone who completes a ten-week online course that they don't have to do -- on top of the lives that they're living -- should get 'credit.' They'll get 'credit' from me. But they're not getting formal university credit."
In addition to expanding opportunities to learn, the universities on coursera.org get a chance to show off their best professors to a worldwide audience of prospective tuition-paying students.
