Gates to donate millions for education tech

Bill Gates has been taking online classes for years. Now, he thinks it's time to make sure a whole lot more students do the same.

Today, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is announcing a new multiyear grant program that will give millions of dollars to those with novel ideas on how to use technology, and in particular online courses, to improve education. The Next Generation Learning Challenges are aimed at both funding new ideas and getting various groups to partner and expand on some of the good ideas that are being tried out, but only at small scale.

Online classes can be a big part of the solution, particularly at the college level, Gates said. But it's not enough to just put classes online. Schools have to adopt them as part of their degree programs if they are going to appeal to people other than self-learners like Gates himself. Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20019107-56.html?tag=mncol#ixzz123ALgPhj

For more on this interview read on CNET News.