something new is wrong in Minnesota

[mellowtigger]

Minnesota residents are losing access to free online education courses.  Coursera (which includes classes from Stanford) is already prohibited by official notice from the state government.  Next may be Udacity (where I've already signed up for 2 classes next spring), Khan Academy, MITx, MIT's OpenCourseware, edX, and so many more.  We have a Democratic governor, yet the state's Office Of Higher Education has decided to enforce a decades-old law that makes any education illegal in Minnesota without the state's explicit approval.  Coursera has already updated its terms of service:

"Notice for Minnesota Users

Coursera has been informed by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education that under Minnesota Statutes (136A.61 to 136A.71), a university cannot offer online courses to Minnesota residents unless the university has received authorization from the State of Minnesota to do so. If you are a resident of Minnesota, you agree that either (1) you will not take courses on Coursera, or (2) for each class that you take, the majority of work you do for the class will be done from outside the State of Minnesota."

This absurdity has been published in the news by the Chronicle Of Higher Education, Forbes, and Slate.  I'm so glad that I'm not beholden to Democratic politicians.  I chose a 3rd-party candidate for governor during the last election, and I'm definitely not voting for Mark Dayton (D) next time.

Plutocrats protecting their monied interests are exactly what's wrong with USA government at every level, and I'm very very annoyed.  Education is big business, and Minnesota has just forged new legal ground in protecting that business from free alternatives.

Comments

[foeclan.livejournal.com]

Minnesota isn't regulating Coursera. Coursera put that notice on their site because some accredited institutions offer Coursera classes. Said institutions would need to be registered with the state to offer courses here for credit.

Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/10/no-minnesota-did-not-kick-coursera-out-of-the-state/) talked to someone from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education about it.