Lynda.com Certificates - Tests Coming?

If you haven't been to Lynda.com you should visit and watch a few of the free video tutorials.  Basically Lynda.com costs $25 per month, and they provide professionally produced video tutorials for ANY piece of software or programming language that you could ever hope to learn.  I have used it before (casually), but I will be using it this summer to learn the Adobe CS3 suite.  I will be teaching a high school web design class next year, and although I know enough to build basic webpages I would like to know a whole lot more before I begin teaching it to eager 15 year olds.  Anyway, Lynda.com has announced that they are now offering Certificates of Completion for those people that complete a series of lessons on a piece of software or programming language.  Their website says the following about the certificates:

"Once you're a member, it's easy to share your success with coworkers, friends, and potential employers as you earn Certificates of Completion for each course you view in the Online Training Library®. Whether you're up for a promotion, seeking employment, or just wanting to show off to your friends, you can share a Certificate of Completion when you finish a lynda.com course. We've also created banners and links for your web site, blog, or social networking profile—all at no extra cost to you." 

 They are looking for feedback from users regarding testing which means they are at least flirting with the idea of providing some sort of assessment of a user's learning.  I can't believe that this would be free, but still it could open certified computer learning in a big way.  What are the implications of this? There was an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education published in September of 2008 that discusses something along these lines.  To me it seems that there have always been more acceptance in "the trades" for the concept of informal or open learning.  If you can do the work you can do the work.  End of discussion.  Who really cares where or how you learned it.

OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCWC)

OpenCourseWare Consortium - This is what really started it all for me in terms of consciously understanding the possibilities of open learning and open education.  Well, this in conjunction with Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) intiative.  I guess I first came across it about two to three years ago.  I think I first heard about it on NPR. Anyway, I thought writing a bit about it here was a good way to kick off my blog.  OCWC is an excellent example of how open learning can take place.  To visit the OpenCourseWare Consortium website visit www.ocwconsortium.org.  It's worth a look. Hundreds of universities are participating in this.  Basically these universities are putting their classes online for anyone to take that wants to gain the knowledge.  There are some heavey hitters on this list.  MIT grabbed my attention immediately.  The other program mentioned above, One Laptop Per Child, is Nicholas Negroponte's quest to make a $100 laptop.  He figures that if he can get the price down that low third world governments would then be able to afford to buy one for every child in their respective countries.  You don't have to follow these two developments (OCW and OLPC) too far down the line to see where it could lead.  You have just put OCWC in the hands of people that still see learning as a privelage.  It could empower millions of people to take charge of their own learning, and inturn completely transform third world countries.  The possiblities are incredible for what these two develoments could help spark.    

I want to get back to OCWC, though.  Now, I must mention that learners don't get a degree for taking these classes, and no one is going to grade your work, but if you are looking to do some self-directed learning this seems to be a good place to start.  Many of the courses contain video lectures, class syllabus, and notes.  The textbook used in the course is also listed.  It was easy for me to see how a person could design their own course of study and keep an online portfolio of work completed.  This leads me to an interesting question.  If someone took all of the OCWC physics courses on the MIT OpenCourseWare website, and they kept miticulous notes, worked all of the problems, did all of the projects, wrote all of the papers, etc. and posted all of this information in some sort of online portfolio would they then be qualified to work in the field of physics?  If so what does that mean for the future of traditional university education? If not why not?  Because there work wasn't assessed?  What if they presented this portfolio to employers, and the employers assessed it?  What if they submitted it to a graduate school of physics?  Could they be accepted to that program?

These questions lead me to my next bit of information.  I am graduating this month with a Master's Degree of Education from Tennessee State University (not exactly MIT, but I had a good experience just the same).  I am not ready to work toward a Phd yet, but I am looking for a way to stay academically engaged.  I am very interested in the idea of Open Education and Open Learning, and I am flirting with the idea of creating my own course of study to follow that explores open learning, and maintaining an online portfolio of my work.  This blog may be a part of that project.

Note about this blog:  This is my first blog, and I'm not really sure how to do this.  I've been reading some other blogs that deal with Open Education, and I am amazed by how much and how often some people are able to write.  I have a plan for the types of things I want to reflect on in this blog, but I am not going to restrict myself.  I want it to evolve in a way that reflects my growth.  I hope I have the discipline, and energy to keep it up.