M.I.T. driving growing shift towards sharing: creating universal opportunities

One wonders why so many companies and organisations are being so slow in adopting the full implications of the web 2.0 . The majority of production, decision making, training methodology is stil entrenched in the web 1.0 one-way passive system instead of embracing the multi-stakeholder sharing and co-creation opportunities of web 2.0 platforms.

The prestigious Massachusettes Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) is about to show the possibilities of shifting towards sharing collaborative systems adding another layer, increasingly present in today’s technology: making it free.

You can read here an article that gives the news of this new MITx online course that will allow anyone (without any need to enter admission exams or pay a cent) to attend its online interactive courses, usually reserved to a very small “elite” of academically talented and financially comfortable individuals.

I see three important implications of this apparently brave move, part of a growing trend:

1. a prestigious college that re-thinks its purpose
now giving the opportunity to the entire (English speaking) world to learn and develop itself, ultimately serving what I think should be the ultimate purpose of an academic institution: offering universal education that will in turn increase the possibilities of the advancement of civilisation thanks to a major new wave of empowered individuals; the new “students” who will develop their knowledge and skills through these new MITx courses.

2. addressing the current, increasing, gap between rich and poor
people who can afford education, horizon-expanding travel, the potential to connect and increase their network of influence kept increasing their wealth, the rest of the world got poorer. These MITx web 2.0 open source solutions are now giving the opportunity to people regardless of their wealth (as long as they can afford / have access to an internet connection) to gain those same opportunities.

3. the decrease in people’s need for “certificates” and increase for only-what-I-need knowledge and services
This MITx course will be totally free with a likely small fee if you wish to receive an “official MITx certificate” at the end of the course. My sense is that individuals, specially younger generations, are much less concerned in getting the official document that testifies they have attended a prestigious college and increasingly interested in the actual skills and new knowledge that they can gain by attending prestigious best-in-class courses.
I also get a sense that more and more “students” will be seeking for specific courses, most relevant to their passion or area of interest. There will be less interest to attend a year-long course that will include some irrelevant classes and a wish to only pick what they need and want.

The beauty of web 2.0 platforms and the connected social media is that it is now easier than ever to find or have your friends point you to where you can find what will be an increasing amount of free, excellent, relevant content.

I see this as one the the great revolutions of our time that will allow for the fulfillment and development of the unlimited latent capacities of human beings. A positive revolution that will allow the positive advancement of civilisation.

Congratulations to M.I.T. and to the other pioneers able to ride this new collaborative, open sharing wave: will you be the next user or the next creator of open free platforms?

 

Tags: collaboration, education, featured, free education, gap between rich and poor, innovation, M.I.T., M.I.T.x, mit, MITx, open education, opening opportunities, opening universal opportunities

Category: commentary, redefining business