In this TED talk, “What We’re Learning from Online Education,” computer scientist and Coursera founder Daphne Koller takes a look at the future of education.

Coursera offers students online courses from top universities for free, but Coursera is not just a set of free lectures, it is an effort to research how people learn.

While universities have been putting lectures online for years, Coursera supports the other vital aspect of the classroom: tests and assignments that reinforce learning. And each quiz, assignment, and keystroke entered by the student builds a pool of data that is studied to better understand how people learn.

Earlier this week, Coursera announced partnerships with 16 new universities.

HT: Jay P. Greene’s Blog, where Matt Ladner wrote about the implications of Coursera for K-12 education.