Regular readers of this blog will know that I've often wondered why only a handful of Harvard professors write blogs—what is it about the culture of Harvard that makes people afraid to democratize education and make themselves accessible?
Now the Wall Street Journal reports that Yale, Stanford and MIT are all taking big steps in putting course material online.
Yale University, meanwhile, has announced it will produce digital videos of undergraduate lecture classes and make them available free to the public. This academic year, it is taping seven classes -- from Introduction to the Old Testament to Fundamentals of Physics -- to be posted online this fall.
Harvard is entirely absent from the article.
Could Harvard's mercenary culture be one reason why the university has been so slow to experiment with online education?
Here's a little test. Go to iTunes and search for "Yale" under Podcasts. Then search for Harvard. You'll notice one big difference. (Hint: It involves dollar signs.)
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