Today on the podcast, Tom Vander Ark is speaking with Anant Agarwal, the founder and CEO of edX.

In 2012, Anant founded edX, which was created in partnership between MIT and Harvard to extend open access to the courses taught by the best professors in the world. On top of this, Anant is also a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. He has also served as the Director of CSAIL, MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. In total, he has worked at MIT for 32 years. Presently, he is also a Commission member on the Education Commission and a member of the Board of Directors of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

In this episode, Anant shares more of his story and speaks about the wonderful work he’s doing to extend access to more learners through edX. He shares the genesis of edX, why they chose to be a non-profit, some of the history behind MOOCs, some of the new and interesting courses on edX, the future roadmap for edX, and more.

 

Key Takeaways:

[:10] About today’s episode.

[:37] Tom welcomes Anant Agarwal to the podcast.

[:44] Anant speaks about his early education.

[1:35] Anant shares what led him to the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

[3:07] Anant speaks about the quality of education he felt he received at IIT Madras.

[4:45] After IIT, Anant went to Standford to study Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He speaks a bit about his experience there.

[5:31] Anant speaks about his 32-year career at MIT and the various positions he has served.

[6:42] Anant shares the quick origin story of the Computer Science and AI Lab (or CSAIL as it is better known).

[7:07] Anant shares the genesis of edX.

[9:34] What does Anant believe to be the first real Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)?

[11:20] What does Anant think are the pros and cons of making edX an open, non-profit platform?

[15:00] Nate McClennon speaks about Getting Smart’s new book, The Power of Place.

[16:09] Would Anant say that MOOCs are very much alive and well today?

[18:41] Is moving towards shorter skill-oriented certificates and away from degrees a big future trend?

[21:27] Are they creating more corporate partnerships with edX? And are they seeing more corporate employers sponsoring online learning?

[23:57] Does Anant see the tech giants (such as Amazon, Google, etc.) as new competitors in technical education, partners, or both?

[25:32] As a non-profit, does it make it easier to partner with tech giants in technical education?

[26:42] How do professionals continuously build tech skills, success/soft skills, and job skills through edX?

[28:41] Does edX have any high school partners or high school students on their platform?

[30:06] Anant highlights some of the new and interesting courses on edX.

[31:22] Anant shares what’s on the roadmap for edX.

[33:41] Tom thanks Anant for joining the podcast and for his leadership in this space.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Anant Agarwal

edX

MIT

Harvard University

The Education Commission

Coursera

MOOC

MIT OpenCourseWare

Khan Academy

The Power of Place: Authentic Learning Through Place-Based Education, by Tom Vander Ark, Dr. Emily Liebtag, and Nate McClennon

MicroMasters Programs — edX

 

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