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This Caught My Eye...


RebeccaLeaman.com

Filed under: nonprofit

Exclusive: Discussing the Future of Facebook and the Facebook Ecosystem with CEO Mark Zuckerberg

I think building a company is the best way to change the world, because it’s the best way to align the interests of a lot of smart people and a lot of partners to build something that’s great and that serves people. You can’t do that if you’re an individual, because it’s just you and there’s no one to align, and you can’t do it if you’re a non-profit, because you have no resources and you’re constantly out trying to raise money instead of generating it and being self-sufficient.
~ Mark Zuckerberg
via insidefacebook.com

Uh huh. So, companies are better at changing the world than individuals and non-profits, you say, Mr. Zuckerberg? Change the world into what, exactly?? A highly unethical self-serving money-grabbing ecosystem full of "Friends" whose deepest engagement is clicking a little thumbs-up button in between telling each other what they're having for lunch, perhaps?

University of the People

Billed as the world's first tuition free university [I'd have preferred "tuition-free" in there, a hyphenated adjectival phrase, but no matter], University of the People is a not-for-profit institution.

Supporting under-served populations, the concept of tuition free universities were created to provide access to structured, degree-level programs in Business Administration and Computer Science. UoPeople accepts any applicant who has graduated from high school, has access to a computer and Internet and has sufficient English skills to complete the English-only courses.

Social networking and helping each other is a big part of the success of tuition free universities online.  Peer-to-peer learning forms part of the overall learning and grading system where students are required to fully participate in discussions and answer questions posed by the faculty and other students in their groups and forums.

Underpinning the peer-to-peer methodology is the constant presence of academic faculty – both employed and volunteer – who provide the necessary support, within the learning environment, for students as they progress.

 UoPeople is not yet an accredited institution; however its academic leadership and its advisory committee, comprised of senior academics from the likes of Columbia University, NYU, Yale and INSEAD, make sure of its commitment to provide quality academic programs.

University of the People does not charge students to take its web-based classes, nor for the readings and course materials (available online). There will be, in future, a modest application fee and another fee for tests at the end of each course, which only seems fair...