Last week, former Silicon Valley CEO Ben Nelson announced that he has raised $25 million to start an “elite university” which would exist exclusively online. The Minerva Project launch comes at a time when public and private educational institutions are dramatically expanding their online presence. But can an Internet-only school really compete with Stanford, Berkeley and the Ivy League?
We talk to some innovators who are challenging the traditional university model.
Guests:
Ben Nelson, founder and CEO of The Minerva Project, a new online university, and former CEO of online photo finishing company Snapfish
Sebastian Thrun, Google vice president and fellow, part-time research professor at Stanford University and founder of Udacity, a company focused on bringing free university-level education to everyone
Salman Khan, founder and executive director of the Khan Academy, an educational non-profit focused on providing quality education for everyone
Anant Agarwal, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a teacher for MITx, an online learning initiative