Coursera outlawed in Minnesota (updated)
In accordance with paragraphs 136A.61 - 136A.71 of the Minnesota state law, Coursera , which provides free online courses from teachers in top US universities, cannot legally provide its services to state residents. In accordance with the law, to provide educational services in the state, you need to get official permission from the authorities. This site administration notified the Minnesota Department of Higher Education.
Now in the user agreement Coursera appeared the point that if you managed to live in Minnesota, then you can not use the services of Coursera, or, if you really want, you must perform most of the tasks of the course, while outside the state.
In this regard, the author of two online courses hosted on Coursera, a professor of mathematics at Grand Valley University Robert Talbert, suggested in his blog an idea for a startup - to create in the states bordering Minnesota a network of educational Internet cafes specifically for Minnesota.
It is not yet clear whether this case is only a meaningless and merciless manifestation of bureaucratic initiative or the first touchstone in the garden of cheap online education. Higher education is a huge and very profitable business, and it is possible that using the best ideas behind the scenes, the bigwigs of this business will try to make the work of online universities as difficult as possible.
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Source - The Chronicle .
UPD: This time common sense has triumphed . The news caused a storm of indignation in the American segment of the Internet, and the state authorities reacted very quickly.
The director of the Minnesota Higher Education Authority, Larry Pogmiller, said that his department "supports lifelong learning and does not want to deprive Minnesota residents of the opportunity to take online courses, especially if they are free." The law was passed about 20 years ago, when nobody could imagine anything like the Coursera. A meeting of the state legislature will be held in January, at which the issue of changing the law will be raised to reflect the emergence of online education. At the moment, the state of Minnesota has no official claims to Coursera.
Now in the user agreement Coursera appeared the point that if you managed to live in Minnesota, then you can not use the services of Coursera, or, if you really want, you must perform most of the tasks of the course, while outside the state.
In this regard, the author of two online courses hosted on Coursera, a professor of mathematics at Grand Valley University Robert Talbert, suggested in his blog an idea for a startup - to create in the states bordering Minnesota a network of educational Internet cafes specifically for Minnesota.
It is not yet clear whether this case is only a meaningless and merciless manifestation of bureaucratic initiative or the first touchstone in the garden of cheap online education. Higher education is a huge and very profitable business, and it is possible that using the best ideas behind the scenes, the bigwigs of this business will try to make the work of online universities as difficult as possible.
')
Source - The Chronicle .
UPD: This time common sense has triumphed . The news caused a storm of indignation in the American segment of the Internet, and the state authorities reacted very quickly.
The director of the Minnesota Higher Education Authority, Larry Pogmiller, said that his department "supports lifelong learning and does not want to deprive Minnesota residents of the opportunity to take online courses, especially if they are free." The law was passed about 20 years ago, when nobody could imagine anything like the Coursera. A meeting of the state legislature will be held in January, at which the issue of changing the law will be raised to reflect the emergence of online education. At the moment, the state of Minnesota has no official claims to Coursera.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/155411/
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