I have been thinking about this kind of thing for a long time, in a variety of ways, thinking about various modes of delivery, and so on. There are times when I get all optimistic and think the days of the accrediting bodies will eventually come to an end when the institutions who don't need them abandon them, but more often I think about the ad hoc, free, educating/thinking program and the forms it might take. And like Andy I think there are a lot of us who are interested in this. It's what most of us who got into education got into it for, and we wind up working against our institutions in important respects to try to accomplish it, and in the meantime remain utterly complicit in the things these institutions do that we deplore.
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Well, I'd love to think about it some more and very concretely.
>From where I stand, I know I could teach about a dozen people easily in my living room. More if I had a bigger space. But then, I'm thinking that lecturing is not what we really want and a small group would be better.
I figure about three hours a week is what a "college" level class usually runs. I can spare three hours a week. In the evening.
So, it would really just be about finding a couple of dozen people like me and then putting up a website with bios, class descriptions, and a way to sign on. I know a few dozen engineers that would help me with the website, so that's easy. The other thing would be to find other teachers and to figure out whether anything about it is illegal. I mean, so long as we don't give degrees, it would be ok. Right?
Joanna