Ceaphas Stubbs | DP

Coursera co-founder and Stanford professor Daphne Koller speaks at College Hall. She hopes Coursera will contribute to the future of online education long-term.

Less than a year ago, 20 people were injured and one killed in a stampede over admission to South Africas University of Johannesburg.

Daphne Koller, co-founder and CEO of the free online course provider Coursera, hopes to end the education scarcity that produced this tragedy. Koller spoke to a full audience in College Hall Thursday afternoon about her companys mission.

Her presentation, entitled The Online Revolution: High-Quality Education for Everyone, began with the social justice implications of Coursera. We have come to the point in this modern world where it is very difficult for a person to make a good life for themselves without access to good education, she said. Coursera aims to bring this access to anyone in the world with Internet connection.

Today, there are 33 universities around the world offering a total of 198 classes through Coursera. Unlike most online course options, Coursera attempts to offer mass education without sacrificing quality. They have selected the best professors from the best universities, said College and Engineering senior Pratham Mittal, who has already taken three classes through Coursera. They havent compromised even a little bit on that.

However, Koller recognizes that there is more to a classroom experience than great professors, since students learn best from active participation. But do large lectures actually give students this opportunity?

When I ask a question in class, 80 percent of the students are still scribbling down what I just said, said Koller, who teaches at Stanford. Theres that group in the back row thats on Facebook, and then theres a smarty pants in the front row who comes out with the answer before everyone has the chance to realize that the question has even been asked.

She added, So the question is answered, the class moves on, and very few people had a chance to really engage with it.

Because it is online, Coursera also allows its students to learn at their own pace. You can actually go back and see the lecture all over again, pause or take a quiz in the middle of class, Mittal said. You also get really good feedback, which is not really common with other online learning platforms. Coursera employs a number of grading methods, including multiple choice and numerical answers.

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Coursera CEO discusses benefits, future of online education