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In a recent announcement, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)said that they
have joined forces to offer free online courses in an effort to attract millions of online learners worldwide.
Beginning this fall, a number of courses developed by teachers at both universities will be offered online
through a new $60 million program, known as edX. "Anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can use our online courses," Harvard President Drew Faust said during a meeting to announce the
plan.
MIT has offered a program called OpenCourseWare for ten years that makes materials from more
than 2,000 classes free online. It has been used by more than 100 million people. In December, the
school announced it also would begin offering a special certificate, known as MITx, for people who
complete certain online courses. Harvard has long offered courses to a wider population through a
similar program.
The MITx will serve as the foundation for the new learning platform.
MIT President Susan Hockfield said more than 120,000 people signed up for the first MITx course.
She said Harvard and MIT hope other universities will join them in offering courses on the open-source
edX platform.
"Fasten your seatbelts," Hockfield said.
Other universities, including Stanford, Yale and Carnegie-Mellon, have been experimenting with
teaching to a global population online.
The Harvard-MIT program will be monitored by a not-for-profit (非盈利的) organization based in
Cambridge, to be owned equally by the two universities. Both MIT and Harvard have provided $30
million to start the program. They also plan to use the edX platform to research how students learn and
which teaching methods and tools are most successful.
1. According to this text, edX is _______.
A. a part of the free MIT OpenCourseWare
B. a free computer program by MIT and Harvard
C. a Harvard-MIT platform of free online courses
D. a free program online for universities worldwide
3. What is said about online education in the text?
A. Universities have been trying online courses.
B. About 2,000 online courses have been offered.
C. Over 100 million people have finished courses online.
D. Stanford and Yale together have courses similar to edX.
3. The underlined part in the text probably means "         ".
A. Get ready for the difficulties
B. Get ready for this educational change
C. Get prepared to complete the online courses
D. Get prepared to make materials for the edX courses
4. What can be said about MITx according to the text?
A. It is first offered as part of the edX learning program.
B. It is another free MIT-Harvard online learning program.
C. It is a standard to recognize online learners' achievement.
D. It is a new kind of free online course of Harvard and MIT.

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