Online Learning .... 24/7 Access

Perpetual Motion in Learning
when do you ------- get the chance to Stop

Continuous Lifelong Learning

 Education and testing of people starts early in the UK.  The measure of progress a child is making starts at the age of two and a half when pupils enter pre-school nursery care.  Ofsted starts their management of lifelong learning.

We continue the lifelong learning treadmill as we grow older.  The industry of Education is a multi-million (and the life-cycle of a generation a multi-billion) pound industry.  Monitoring the progress and the validity of qualifications is becoming increasingly difficult.  Does the education provider provide an accredited qualification?

The folk tales about private American College degrees and the availability of certificates for courses that require no study are common in the pre-internet age.  It should be remembered that Harvard and other Ivy League colleges are essentially private. Before state funded higher education in the UK all Universities were private and those that are old enough ostensibly still private institutions.

So what is there on offer on line.  There is the ALISON group of course providers with certification.  This is wholly on line.  The verification of who you are is therefore a little vague.  The edX  participants have strtaed to address this concern by setting up examination centres in the UK with Pearson .   Competing with edX as a course providers are  Coursera this includes the British University Edinburgh.  This provides free courses with completion certification as opposed to credit certification.

Traditionally in the UK distance and video has been the preserve of the Open University.  There has been a general move towards working students' study to be predominately selected to be via the OU.  Will this continue with other study providers, especially since the validity and longevity of  relevance of qualifications seems to have an inbuilt shelf life?

I have signed up for two courses: one with edX and one with Coursera.  It will be interesting to see what the Lifelong Experience is!