Saylor's New Course

The Saylor Foundation has spent months working with NASA to create one of its newest classes—a free online course where anyone with a computer and six weeks can learn the basics of systems engineering. It starts in early March and is being taught by NASA engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center through online video lectures. Students will have the option to complete a project evaluated by course instructors after the six weeks, and the winners will get a tour of Goddard. Saylor Foundation international business development manager David Rose says so far buzz has come from engineers and high school students.

It’s a unique course for the foundation because it's being taught by NASA engineers rather than the typical university professors and subject-matter experts. The new course also comes at a time when the DC-based foundation, started by MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor in 1999, evolves from being funded by a sole trustee to finding ways to generate revenue and encouraging donations. The foundation was launched to offer free online classes ranging from art history and political science to computer science and mechanical engineering. The courses will always be free to students, says David. 

The new NASA course could possibly lead to others like it, David says. It's outside of the organization's focus on college credit options, but reaction to the NASA course so far says people want more like it. The organization is also working on finding better ways to measure outcomes of its courses and distribute them to a wider audience. It’s issued about 5,000 certificates to those who have completed courses and about 60,000 people have registered on the site. Students come from all over the world, but most are US based.