In response to: Princeton joins consortium to offer free online classes
Current issue
November 2024
Princetonians lead think tanks; the perfect football season of 1964; Nobel in physics.
About six months before Princeton announced plans to partner with Coursera (Campus Notebook, May 16), I wrote to President Tilghman that Princeton should consider what is going on with a number of non-Ivy League schools in regard to online courses. These online schools are not of Princeton’s caliber, but they are keeping up with the economics of today’s student. Online courses could be a good source of revenue for the University, even if they were offered just to alumni. In addition, if Princeton is truly “in the nation’s service,” why couldn’t specific lectures or courses be offered at a nominal cost (or for free) to enlighten the rest of the world?
Princeton should remain ahead of the academic curve and lead the other schools, including the Ivies.