Higher Education Leaders to Discuss Role of Online Education in California

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Leaders in online education initiatives will convene at UCLA on January 8, 2013, to bring awareness and discuss key issues regarding the potential for online education to lower costs and improve higher education in California. The conference is sponsored by the 20 Million Minds Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to lowering the cost of higher education.

Themed "Rebooting Higher Education: Leveraging Innovations in Online Education to Improve Cost Effectiveness and Increase Quality," the event will bring together participants from key sectors, including: Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg; Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom; Sebastian Thrun, Udacity; Burck Smith, StraighterLine; Candace Thille, Open Learning Initiative; and more. Other key panelists will include students, policymakers, faculty and members of the Academic Senate from the UC, CSU and community college systems. The conference will be webcast live on January 8th at 20mm.org and will feature a special introduction by Salman Khan, innovative educator and founder of Khan Academy, a free online education platform and nonprofit serving over 6 million students per month.

Conference panelists will center on the crisis the Golden State is facing in its ability to fully support public higher education. Follow-up discussions will focus on how online education and the associative technologies would enable the improvement of and access to academic programs in California.

Governor Jerry Brown recently highlighted the state's education crisis and the need for arresting the cost of education while maintaining or even increasing quality. He asked the University of California Regents to invite leaders in free online education to share ways UC can more aggressively get into the digital classroom.