Founded in 2011, The Floating University is a new educational media joint venture between The Jack Parker Corporation and Big Think, a knowledge forum where the world's top experts engage the thinking public to explore the big ideas and core skills defining the 21st century. The Floating University's first course, 'Great Big Ideas: An Entire Undergraduate Education While Standing On One Foot,' is being used to teach courses at Harvard, Yale, and Bard and is also available to the general public. The primary "text" is not a book, but rather a video lecture series comprising the world's greatest thinkers and leading scholars.
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The (NY) Metropolitan Museum of Art For the first time in more than three centuries, Harvard and Yale are concurrently offering the same course. At Yale, 145 students registered for Great Big Ideas, making it the third most popular course on campus even before its first day of class. Great Big Ideas is a survey of twelve major fields delivered by their most important thinkers and practitioners, including former Big Think guests Leon Botstein, Steven Pinker, Michio Kaku, Larry Summers, Doug Melton, Paul Bloom and many others. There are no tests or written assignments — just straightforward, easy-to-access videos, readings, and discussions that let you learn and participate at your own pace.

Great Big Ideas is just the first of what will be a vast library of Floating University courses. Each lecture explores the key questions in the field, lays out the methods for answering those inquiries and explains why the field matters. It is an effective introduction to thinking differently, and a primer in the diverse modes of problem solving essential for success in the 21st century. "We presented each lecturer with a challenge," said Peter Hopkins, Co-Founder of The Floating University and President of Big Think. "Tell us everything a non-professional needs to know about your subject in less than 60 minutes. As a result, our video lectures are highly focused, and rich in content, animation and graphics that make knowledge come alive. It is like reading a 600-page book in one hour." The Floating University e-learning platform is fully compatible with the iPad.

Floating University is based on the premise that anyone, anywhere, deserves access to the most important knowledge. Their offices and studio are based in New York City at the headquarters of Big Think. Principals of The Floating University are: Founder Adam Glick, President, The Jack Parker Corporation; Peter Hopkins, Co-Founder and President, Big Think; and Victoria Brown, Co-Founder and CEO, Big Think. Big Think is built upon the belief that success today and in the future is about knowing the ideas that allow you to manage and master this universe of information. A longstanding nexus for thought leadership, this is a natural progression for Big Think to lend itself to the democratization of education. Here's a video.