Seven years ago, Shimon Schocken and Noam Nisan organized what
was perhaps the first MOOC. In their groundbreaking course, From
NAND to Tetris, students were challenged to build a modern
computer starting from logic gates. How better to really
understand how computers work - build one from scratch. It's not
a new idea but ironically it gets harder as each year goes by to
get down to the lower levels and implement things from the
simplest hardware. This is the story that a recent TED talk
told, and it launched perhaps the very first of the Massive Open
Online Course (MOOC). "Shimon Schocken and Noam Nisan developed
a curriculum for their students to build a computer, piece by
piece. When they put the course online, giving away the tools,
simulators, chip specifications and other building blocks, they
were surprised that thousands jumped at the opportunity to
learn, working independently as well as organizing their own
classes in the first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). A call
to forget about grades and tap