(2012-08-22) Loosely Coupled Mechanical Mooc

MIT Open Courseware, Open Study, Peer To Peer University, and Codecademy are teaming up to launch a “Mechanical MOOC” today – a free and open introductory course in the programming language Python that weaves together existing resources (content, Web-based study groups, quizzes and so on). Unlike some of the other MOOCs that have launched in recent months – particularly those headline-grabbing efforts from Stanford U (and Cours Era and Udacity) – this “Mechanical MOOC” will not force learners into a centralized website that recreates the LMS, where all the official lessons, lectures, discussions and assignments take place. Instead, the content is linked and distributed via an email list managed by P2PU.