UT joins Harvard in online edX program

University of Texas regents have approved a plan to offer free online courses to students around the world along with Harvard, MIT and the University of California-Berkeley. The UT classes start in summer of 2013.

The edX program is an advanced computer platform that allows universities to offer interactive classes over the Internet. Students who complete the courses can receive a certificate of completion, but they generally don't count toward a degree.

UT officials say they plan to offer four online courses using the edX platform within the next year. UT hopes to develop general courses that are currently taught to hundreds of students at once.

As part of the edX program, a nonprofit organization, researchers study how students learn and then try to improve the online courses. The program started at Harvard and MIT, and UC-Berkeley joined in July.

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