Anant is the CEO of EdX which is an online platform for MIT and Harvard University’s Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Anant started out as the Director of the Computer Science Laboratory at MIT and has been a Professor at MIT for 30 years. Anant not only helped to found EdX, but he also taught the first course that was offered on this platform. This course in circuits and electronics, used in a blended format, saw a failure rate go from 41% to 9%. Anant also was able to offer education to a vast amount of learners through this open online course which saw an enrollment of 155,000 students from 162 countries of which 7200 passed. Anant describes this as a very impressive number due to the fact that if students only had classroom access to this course, it would take him 40 years to teach as many students as he was able to in this one open online course. Anant asserts that online courses are the biggest thing to happen to education since the printing press (George, A., 2013). I chose to highlight Anant Agarwal because he is a pioneer of open education. His work has had a profound democratizing effect on the education system and pioneered many of the aspects of online education that are standard today like blended content, cohort group forums, and learner-centric course design. Anant predicts that as online options become more available that more students will access them and sees MOOCs as becoming more personal as technology advances (Agarwal, A., & Paucek, C., 2015). Below are some links to Anant Agarwal and his work to increase access to high-quality education for all.
Why massively open online courses still matter
Degree of Freedom Podcast with Anant Agarwal
References
Agarwal, A. (2013, June). Anant Agarwal: Why massive open online courses (still) matter. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/anant_agarwal_why_massively_open_online_courses_still_matter?awesm1
Agarwal, A., & Paucek, C. (2015, Jan 12). Future of online learning. Financial Times Retrieved from https://ezproxy.royalroads.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/docview/1654487828?accountid=8056
George, A. (2013). One minute with… anant agarwal. New Scientist, 219(2925), 29-29.
Haber, J. (Host). (2013, May 10). Degree of Freedom [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://itunes.apples.com/ca/podcast/interview-with-edx-president-anant-agarwal/id657605401?i=1000168999006&mt=2
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