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Webinar library OUP

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Leading universities will offer fully accredited undergraduate courses online within five years, says the co-founder of a US online university network.

Daphne Koller, president of Coursera, said the necessary technology was available but universities had been hesitant about their "reputation".

So far, online courses have mostly offered certificates for short courses rather than full degrees.

Prof Koller says online degrees can be "more affordable and accessible".

Founded in California four years ago, Coursera has become one of the world's biggest providers of "massive, open, online courses" - known as Moocs.

The online platform has 20 million students following courses from about 145 prestigious universities and institutions around the world.

But most of the online courses have been short units that give students a certificate, rather than a full degree or credits towards a degree.

Prof Koller, speaking at an educational technology conference in London, said the next stage for online learning would be leading universities offering mainstream undergraduate courses online, with invigilated exams and full degrees.

"I'm absolutely convinced that will happen - and it will be a lot earlier than 10 years. The societal need is there.

"A full-blown undergraduate degree - I'd be surprised if that didn't happen within five years.

"Will it be fully online? Or will it have some residential components? That remains to be seen."

Prof Koller said the technology had kept improving, but universities had been held back by the "protection of the brand" and not wanting to be seen to move away from personal tuition.

"It's the perception we need to break, it's not the technology that's been the barrier," she said.

In terms of supervising exams for distance learners, she said that webcams are "surprisingly hard to beat".

Prof Koller said concerns about impersonal online learning were often built on an unrealistic image of traditional campus-based teaching - and that most students are not "walking on lawns next to ivy-clad buildings".

"It's a false comparison to think it's either anonymous online teaching or else a cosy armchair and individual tutors.

"When you have a lecture hall with 300 people, you're not getting personal interaction."

Online learning should not be compared "with some utopian ideal of 10 people sitting around in a seminar room engaging deeply with an instructor".

Prof Koller says that online learning is going to become the route for students who want to improve their qualifications but who cannot afford the time or money to study for a campus-based degree.

"Many working adults have obligations, they have a job, a family, a mortgage, they can't go back to school."

In countries such as India, with ambitious targets to expand higher education, Prof Koller says the authorities will have to use online universities, because there is insufficient capacity in bricks-and-mortar institutions.

There are also efforts to use online learning to teach refugees, such as those displaced by Syria's civil war.

Coursera has announced a partnership with the US State Department to help refugees to access online courses to improve their job chances, such as English language lessons or computer coding.

It would remove any costs from studying, such as fees for certificates showing the completion of courses.

More stories from the BBC's Global education series looking at education from an international perspective and how to get in touch

Coursera was founded four years ago, part of a wave of online university projects that were claimed to be about to revolutionise higher education, making it cheaper and more accessible to students around the world.

Many millions signed up for free short courses - but Prof Koller is predicting another stage with online learning being incorporated into formal fee-charging degree courses from mainstream universities.

There are already many online degrees offered - but Prof Koller says that in the past, such distance learning was seen as something "respectable universities do not engage in".

There are signs that this change is already beginning to happen.

The UK's online university platform, Futurelearn, has announced a project with the University of Leeds, in which course units studied online will count as credits towards an undergraduate degree.

Students from this autumn will be able to take course units online and cut the cost of tuition fees for a geography degree.

Peter Horrocks, chairman of Futurelearn, described this as a "breakthrough moment".

Futurelearn has been created by the Open University, a longstanding provider of degrees by distance learning.

But the big change will be if leading, campus-based universities begin to compete for mainstream, undergraduate courses online.

Another major US online university network, edX, is launching a project this autumn allowing online course units to be used as building blocks towards a full degree.

EdX is offering a range of online courses from Arizona State University - and if a student passes eight of these, costing $200 (£150) each, it counts as the equivalent of a first year at university.

Coursera has launched two online postgraduate courses with the University of Illinois, at a much lower price than their conventional counterparts.

Prof Koller says the past four years has seen a rapid rise in the numbers of students wanting to study online, but a slower reaction from universities in offering fully fledged online courses.

"We thought that the change in academic institutions would be more rapid," she said. "Universities are not the most nimble of organisations."

That change could now be approaching, she says, with universities working out their strategies for a potentially huge market.

The hype around Moocs might have faded, but the big impact could be about to begin.

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Leading universities will offer fully accredited undergraduate courses online within five years, says the co-founder of a US online university network. Daphne Koller, president of Coursera, said the necessary technology was available but universities had been hesitant about their "reputation". So far, online courses have mostly offered certificates for short courses rather than full degrees.

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Canadian schoolboy, 15, discovers lost Mayan city (from the comfort of his bedroom)

William Gadoury, 15, linked Mayan city locations to star constellations

He discovered one constellation with three stars but only two cities

So, the Quebec teen scoured Google maps at the theoretical location

Scientists confirmed they believe there are at least 30 buildings in the city

A Canadian teenager has discovered a lost Mayan city in Mexico from his bedroom in Quebec almost 2,200 miles away.

William Gadoury, 15, compared satellite images supplied by the Canada Space Agency with Google Maps of the area in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

The teenager from Saint Jean de Matha decided on his search location using this theory that the Mayans built their cities to correspond with various constellations of stars.

Gadoury studied the locations of 117 known Mayan cities and found the link between the cities and the stars.

He compared the existing cities with 23 different constellations. While investigating the final constellation, he saw three stars but only two known cities.

So, he searched the online maps and satellite imagery and found geometric shapes in an inaccessible part of Mexican jungle.

Incredibly, according to the Montreal Journal, Gadoury found a large 86 metre high pyramid and and 30 buildings.

The teenager contacted Dr Armand LaRocque of the University of New Brunswick who believes this could be the fifth largest Mayan city.

Gadoury named the new discover Fire Mouth.

He said: 'When Dr. LaRocque told me in January, we distinguish a pyramid and thirty structures, it was extraordinary. I did not understand why the Maya built their cities away from rivers, on marginal lands and in the mountains, said William Gadoury. He had to have another reason, and as they worshiped the stars, the idea came to me to verify my hypothesis. I was really surprised and excited when I realized that the most brilliant stars of the constellations matched the largest Maya cities.'

Following the discover, it is likely that an expedition could be launched to the remote area to confirm Gadoury's theory.

Daniel De Lisle of the Canadian Space Agency praised Gadoury's ingenuity.

He told The Independent: '"What makes William's project fascinating is the depth of his research. Linking the positions of stars to the location of a lost city along with the use of satellite images on a tiny territory to identify the remains buried under dense vegetation is quite exceptional.'

As well as participating in the expedition to the lost city, Gadoury hopes attend Brazil's International Science fair in 2017.

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Canadian schoolboy discovers lost Mayan city from his bedroom

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William Gadoury, 15, linked Mayan city locations to star constellations He discovered one constellation with three stars but only two cities So, the Quebec teen scoured Google maps at the theoretical location Scientists confirmed they believe there are at least 30 buildings in the city A Canadian teenager has discovered a lost Mayan city in Mexico from his bedroom in Quebec almost 2,200 miles away.

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DOUBTS have emerged over teenager William Gadoury claim's that he has discovered a long-lost ancient Mayan city deep within a dense Central American forest using a combination of old-world astronomy and ultra-modern technology.

The inquisitive Quebec youngster claimed he had analysed 22 Mayan constellations and realised that the Mayans aligned their 117 cities with the positions of the stars. It was the first time a researcher had made a direct correlation between the stars and the locations of the Mayan cities, the Journal de Montreal reported. William said he had realised that there was one star in another constellation that didn't appear to have a corresponding city. However, some sceptics are casting doubt on his story, including David Stuart, an anthropologist from The Mesoamerica Center-University of Texas at Austin. Mr Stuart also achieved fame for his Mayan discoveries as a teenager. He posted on his Facebook page: "This current news story of an ancient Maya city being discovered is false. I was trying to ignore it (and the media inquiries I've been getting) but now ... I feel I ought to say something. "The whole thing is a mess - a terrible example of junk science hitting the internet in free-fall. "The ancient Maya didn't plot their ancient cities according to constellations. Seeing such patterns is a rorschach process, since sites are everywhere, and so are stars." So what does he believe explains it all? "The square feature that was found on Google Earth is indeed man-made, but it's an old fallow cornfield, or milpa." WILLIAM'S THEORY If William's theory and calculations are correct, that would place the missing city in a remote coastal location on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Using satellite images from the Canadian Space Agency and Google Earth maps, William zeroed in on the precise location - and a pyramid and about thirty ancient buildings were spotted, partially hidden, in the dense forest. "There are linear features that would suggest there is something underneath that big canopy," Canadian Space Agency liaison officer Daniel de Lisle told The Independent. "There are enough items to suggest it could be a man-made structure." William has named the lost city K'aak Chi, or Mouth of Fire. It is believed to be one of the five largest Mayan cities on record. The discovery won William praise from space agencies in Canada and Japan as well as NASA. He's also become a local hero in Quebec. "What makes William's project fascinating is the depth of his research," Mr de Lisle said. "Linking the positions of stars to the location of a lost city along with the use of satellite images on a tiny territory to identify the remains buried under dense vegetation is quite exceptional." The young scientist - whose passion for the ancient civilisation was sparked by reading Mayan doomsday prophesies in 2012 - was thrilled with his remarkable breakthrough. "I did not understand why the Maya built their cities away from rivers, on marginal lands and in the mountains," he told the Journal de Montreal. "They had to have another reason, and as they worshipped the stars, the idea came to me to verify my hypothesis. "I was really surprised and excited when I realised that the most brilliant stars of the constellations matched the largest Maya cities." The jungle that houses the newly discovered city has not been explored, but William said he couldn't wait to see it for himself. "It would be the culmination of my three years of work and the dream of my life," he said.

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national aeronautics and space administration

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DOUBTS have emerged over teenager William Gadoury claim's that he has discovered a long-lost ancient Mayan city deep within a dense Central American forest using a combination of old-world astronomy and ultra-modern technology. The inquisitive Quebec youngster claimed he had analysed 22 Mayan constellations and realised that the Mayans aligned their 117 cities with the positions of the stars.

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Kailash Satyarthi: How to make peace? Get angry

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How did a young man born into a high caste in India come to free 83,000 children from slavery? Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi offers a surprising piece of advice to anyone who wants to change the world for the better: Get angry at injustice.

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Mentre guardate questo video tenete il quaderno a portata di mano perchè dovrete anche scrivere

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Il video ha qualche annetto, ma i contenuti sono perfetti per imparare il past continuous