One of the stated goals of MIT and Harvard through their recently-announced edX project is to “research how students learn and how technology can facilitate teaching—both on-campus and online.”

However, they are not the first explore this question, not even in the context of free, online courses.

Candace Thille has been doing similar work for years as director of the Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. In a series of studies, Thille has previously demonstrated that machine-guided learning, in concert with live instruction, can cut in half the time it takes students to master certain concepts.

In a recent podcast, Thille talked to Inside Higher Ed about massive open online courses, data, and what we may soon know about how students learn.

Have a listen, it is fascinating stuff!