The New Era School Initiative (NESI) operates online today, for free. Amanda Ripley reports in Time that Udacity has enrolled 23,000 students worldwide online, including 11 and 12 year olds in Physics 100. One 11 year old passed the course with the highest distinction.
Along with Coursera and edX, their online courses contribute free college level courses to more than 2 million learners. MIT, Stanford, Duke and other premier universities offer these courses for free.
Their enrollments exemplify the spirit of NESI, to learn anything, anytime, anywhere irrespective of a person’s age, wealth, social status, or access to formal schools.
From a learners’ view (ALV), these courses meet the NESI standard of requesting permission of learners to teach them. (ALV) is another descriptor for aLEAP, a Learning Efficiency Analysis Paradigm, a technical analysis summary of learning.) Learners grant permission when they voluntarily enroll and perform the academic exercises demonstrated by faculty.