You may have heard of University of the People (http://www.uopeople.org), a tuition-free, online-only university. It is relatively new, preparing for accreditation, and already has over 500 students from all over the world. Its goal is to overcome distance--geographic, socioeconomic, etc.--in providing higher education.

I think that its intent and model may revolutionize the educational landscape, and that its goals are similar to that of the Esperanto movement. I have looked over the the UoP curriculum and it does not appear to include any foreign languages--but I'm thinking, "What if a new, truly international university's first foreign language offering was Esperanto, and its instruction was facilitated by a partnership between UoP and Lernu!, which is already such a wonderful educational resource?" The cost to both institutions would be minimal (at UoP, all learning materials are online, just as they are on Lernu!), the benefit to both immense--and in every way the exposure, legitimacy, and use of Esperanto would increase.

What do you guys think?

Thank you I may sign up and do some courses. What do you think an Esperanto Major would include?

You may also enjoy
/http://www.udemy.com/esperanto-lingvo/

Right now, UoP appears to offer only programs in business administration and computer science. Though it's an international university, its language of instruction is English. It would be awesome if an Esperanto major were offered; I would definitely enroll in such a program. But even if only four semesters were offered (say, beginning Esperanto I and II and intermediate Esperanto I and II), that would be a big step.

What would an Esperanto major look like? I imagine that it would be similar to other foreign language majors, with courses in composition, literature, criticism, etc. A pretty neat idea, no?

Thanks for the link. I'm going to check it out.

Talisman:Thank you I may sign up and do some courses. What do you think an Esperanto Major would include?

You may also enjoy
/http://www.udemy.com/esperanto-lingvo/

seiji_funai:You may have heard of University of the People (http://www.uopeople.org), a tuition-free, online-only university. It is relatively new, preparing for accreditation, and already has over 500 students from all over the world. Its goal is to overcome distance--geographic, socioeconomic, etc.--in providing higher education.

I think that its intent and model may revolutionize the educational landscape, and that its goals are similar to that of the Esperanto movement. I have looked over the the UoP curriculum and it does not appear to include any foreign languages--but I'm thinking, "What if a new, truly international university's first foreign language offering was Esperanto, and its instruction was facilitated by a partnership between UoP and Lernu!, which is already such a wonderful educational resource?" The cost to both institutions would be minimal (at UoP, all learning materials are online, just as they are on Lernu!), the benefit to both immense--and in every way the exposure, legitimacy, and use of Esperanto would increase.

What do you guys think?

Thanks for the idea, bro. I'd be interested in following a structured and credited diploma in Esperanto (after I finish my present Master's of course ). It would be a beautiful and inspiring idea.

Also, thanks for the link, I'm adding this to my Facebook page most definitely.

seiji_funai:You may have heard of University of the People (http://www.uopeople.org), a tuition-free, online-only university. It is relatively new, preparing for accreditation, and already has over 500 students from all over the world. Its goal is to overcome distance--geographic, socioeconomic, etc.--in providing higher education.

Good idea, but the medium of instruction in English is almost like promoting English.

I am in the disadvantage and i would not do it as my English is not good. I would not spend another 7 years to study English.

If the medium of instruction is in Esperanto. i am very happy to enrol and i think the enrollement will be very good too. Since esperanto is easy to learn.

Good idea to partner with Lernu and may have some income for lernu.

Unfortunately the case like always is that English is infinitely easier for these guys to work with no doubt (since it's "tried and passed" as the pseudo-world language), and for the meantime EO may act as a layer of complication if these guys are just starting up. Plus, they get a lot more coverage with English as the main language since there's close to a billion people able to use English in that manner. I'd imagine the next languages on their list of priorities would be Spanish and Chinese, still unfortunately for those who would like to see an EO course. Anyway, I wouldn't bother waiting for them to put EO up on it or not bothering at all if you want to use them for reasons other than EO, since it's like waiting for Moon colonies to happen - they likely will and in not many years time, but you'll be missing out in the meantime.

RE the idea of EO as a good language for the idea, I agree. Another great is if it were possible to do tertiary education in something akin to the plane-terminal signs language, so that almost anyone living in a city could study anything from anywhere , with EO subtitles maybe!

seiji_funai:What would an Esperanto major look like? I imagine that it would be similar to other foreign language majors, with courses in composition, literature, criticism, etc. A pretty neat idea, no?

Sound good to me, if it was anything like the beginner's French course at Flinders University in South Australia, I'd imagine it would work quite well - in fact, while going through my "how language works" linguistics lectures, I found my prior EO knowledge so helpful, it'd be fun to use it to teach that component of beginners linguistics!

University of Rochester offers a free, not for credit Esperanto course. Though the class itself happens in New York all the course material is available online here.

Additionally, there are immersive Esperanto courses and meetings that happen in Second Life. Unfortunately it is sometimes hard to catch any live people in SL, but if you show up for a meeting or other event there are lots of people and you can have either typed, or verbal conversations.

Donniedillon:University of Rochester offers a free, not for credit Esperanto course. Though the class itself happens in New York all the course material is available online here.

Nice course.......