Daphne Koller, co-founder of the free online education site "Coursera" and the Rajeev Motwani Professor in Computer Science at Stanford University will speak at the Woodrow Wilson School on Wednesday, October 17, 2012, at 4:30 p.m., Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall. Koller's discussion is part of the Wilson School's "Technology and Public Policy" thematic lecture series. The talk will examine the policy implications for post-secondary education as on-line learning becomes more popular.

Coursera is partnering with universities throughout in the world (including Princeton) in offering college courses online for free. Students have the ability to learn at their own pace, watch classroom lectures on their computers, and interact with their fellow students around the globe.  Courses are offered in the humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, and computer science, among others.

In a New York Times opinion piece, authored by Koller in December 2011, Koller wrote that “some argue that online education can’t teach creative problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.  But to practice problem-solving, a student must first master certain concepts.  By providing a cost-effective solution for this first step, we can focus precious classroom time on more interactive problem –solving activities that achieve deeper understanding – and foster creativity.”  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/daphne-koller-technology-as-a-passport-to-personalized-education.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
 

The event will be archived online for later viewing on the Woodrow Wilson School’s web media site – http://wws.princeton.edu/webmedia.