Khan TED Institute

[SteveFoerster]

A New Model For College?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marybethgas...r-college/

ETS, Khan Academy, and TED are coming together to launch a new higher education entity – the Khan TED Institute. This venture, which includes employer partners Microsoft, Google, Accenture, Bain, McKinsey, and Replit, is designed to build on the surge in generative AI usage. The team behind the Institute is focused on “rethinking college from the ground up: rigorous academic foundations, applied AI skills, and durable human skills, all built around demonstrated competency, not seat time.” And, they aim to do all of this in an accessible manner – the cost for students will be less than $10,000.

Given that we've heard about this sort of thing for a while now, I can't help but be reminded of Betteridge's Law of Headlines.

[wow]

I just don't see how it's different from other competency programs, except for the part where they're pretending no one has had or implemented that idea before.

And it costs more than UoPeople or a max-transfer TESU degree (assuming cheap RA/NA credits)

I've always been a big cheerleader for Khan Academy, but this kind of knocks them down a peg in my book.

[NotJoeBiden]

I just don't see how it's different from other competency programs, except for the part where they're pretending no one has had or implemented that idea before.

And it costs more than UoPeople or a max-transfer TESU degree (assuming cheap RA/NA credits)

I've always been a big cheerleader for Khan Academy, but this kind of knocks them down a peg in my book.

To be fair, UotP relies on “volunteer”labor to operate and run, yet still costs alot for a “no tuition” degree. I don’t believe that to be a sustainable or ethical model. Less than $10k for a degree that is focused in STEM makes more sense to me and makes them more comparable to WGU than others.

[wow]

To be fair, UotP relies on “volunteer”labor to operate and run, yet still costs alot for a “no tuition” degree. I don’t believe that to be a sustainable or ethical model. Less than $10k for a degree that is focused in STEM makes more sense to me and makes them more comparable to WGU than others.

Well you can also get a STEM degree from UoPeople. And I will agree to disagree with you on the ethics and potential sustainability of the model. (Besides, we don't know the staffing or payment model of this new entity yet, either. I am reading between the lines that instead of relying on volunteers to teach the classes, they will be relying on AI. But who knows?)

Honestly, I'm not trying to be cantankerous. It is just very easy to see hype and difficult to judge substance from the article. The term "degree" is only mentioned twice in the article, which leads me to wonder if they are actually planning to offer accredited degrees for $10,000 or rather diplomas, with degrees (associates or bachelor's) somewhere down the road. Also, no idea what the degrees will be in.

And if it's comparable to WGU, it's still not revolutionary.

[LevelUP]

Competency-based education could push college back toward direct demonstrations of skill, and that often does mean more exam-like assessment. If the goal is to prove what a student can actually do, then some skills are harder to fake through vague writing or padded papers.

[SteveFoerster]

I just don't see how it's different from other competency programs, except for the part where they're pretending no one has had or implemented that idea before.

And it costs more than UoPeople or a max-transfer TESU degree (assuming cheap RA/NA credits)

I've always been a big cheerleader for Khan Academy, but this kind of knocks them down a peg in my book.

To be fair, UotP relies on “volunteer”labor to operate and run, yet still costs alot for a “no tuition” degree. I don’t believe that to be a sustainable or ethical model. Less than $10k for a degree that is focused in STEM makes more sense to me and makes them more comparable to WGU than others.

UoPeople's labor isn't really volunteer—instructors are paid an "honorarium". It's not competitive in high income countries, even by the abysmal standards for adjunct pay, but it's enough to find faculty members in lower income countries. I don't have a problem with offshoring, but it does seem like an unnecessarily obfuscation, so I can only assume that the implication that they attract tons of volunteers is for PR purposes. 

As for it being Tuition Free! to get into the course, I realize they get a lot of PR mileage out of this, but when there's an exam fee to get out of the course it's a bit like implying that the toll road is free because you pay when you exit rather than when you get on. I've always thought this was humbug, at best.

Either way, though, they're clearly sustainable, since WASC doesn't joke about financials.

[sal1820]

If I remember correctly, Newlane started with offering degrees at $3000 and then cut them down by half. The pricing for Khan Ted Institute may change with time and observing market conditions.

If this Institute gets regional accreditation off the bat and you can transfer in maximum credits, I think the first few cohorts could see some gains in their careers while these corporate partners from tech and consulting are still onboard and interested.

[SteveFoerster]

You can't be accredited right off the bat. It takes two years of operation (and a graduating class, IIRC) before one is even eligible to apply for any of the federally recognized institutional accreditors.

I also saw this rather provocative essay about it: https://sofiafenichell.substack.com/p/th...-higher-ed

[wow]

If I remember correctly, Newlane started with offering degrees at $3000 and then cut them down by half. The pricing for Khan Ted Institute may change with time and observing market conditions.

If this Institute gets regional accreditation off the bat and you can transfer in maximum credits, I think the first few cohorts could see some gains in their careers while these corporate partners from tech and consulting are still onboard and interested.

It is still $3000 at Newlane for a bachelor's degree if you don't transfer in an associate's or equivalent credits. People tend to cite the $1500 price around here because many of us are looking for the cheapest option and max out transfers when it saves money.

On another note (not directed at sal1820, just in general about this topic and to clarify my previous comments), the only thing that contributes to a bad impression on my part is not the price or what they are offering. It's the framing of this as radical and new. The more affordable and flexible options out there for people, the better. So all in all I think this is probably a net positive, I'm just annoyed at the framing. 

---

I also saw this rather provocative essay about it: https://sofiafenichell.substack.com/p/th...-higher-ed

She's more viscious than me! I appreciate the skeptisicm, but she's jumping to damning conclusions on very little evidence. I also thought this was interesting:

"Western Governors University has been doing competency-based online degrees since 1997. Accredited. 400,000+ graduates. Roughly $8,300 per year. And even done properly, at scale, with nearly three decades of operational experience, it does not command premium value."

I wasn't aware that the proper way to measure WGU's success and usefulness is to look at how much they extort out of students in tuition.

[durain]

"Western Governors University has been doing competency-based online degrees since 1997. Accredited. 400,000+ graduates. Roughly $8,300 per year. And even done properly, at scale, with nearly three decades of operational experience, it does not command premium value."

I’m very curious what she means by 'premium value' — especially since no information or statistics are provided to back it up.

Unsupported assertion = poor writing competency?