An Upstart Free Course Provider Holds a Cookout to Meet Its Students; Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/29/12

Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education; An Upstart Free Course Provider Holds a Cookout to Meet Its Students:

"Call it a "massive open cookout." Coursera, a company that is working with more than a dozen elite universities to help them run MOOC's, or massive open online courses, held its first official "meetup" here on Saturday for students and professors to connect in person over burgers, chips, and soda.

It was a chance for even the company itself to learn more about what motivates students to take its courses, which bear no official academic credit.

With some 900,000 students registered for its courses, everything the small company does seems to get big quickly. More than 1,100 people signed up for the cookout, and in the end about 650 made the trip".

Exploring open access in higher education: live chat best bits; Guardian, 12/7/11

Eliza Anyangwe, Guardian; Exploring open access in higher education: live chat best bits:

"What is the benefit of open access to academia? Who will pay for open education resources? These questions and many more are answered by our live chat panel"