Even though Wikipedia will tell you anything you want to know, academics want to formalize online learning through the new Internet-only Peer 2 Peer University.

The concept is simple enough—create an educational social networking site, in which members have access to teachers through Facebook-like profile pages.

U of T’s Leslie Chan and Stian Haklev are among the team of nine students and professors spearheading the campaign for free, specialized, and interactive education on the net.

Chan is a senior lecturer in UTSC’s social sciences department and Haklev is an MA student at St. George. Other group members hail from schools around the world, including Harvard University and the University of Western Cape in South Africa.

The university’s temporary website, Peer2peeruniversity.org, announces their mission of providing accessible information, analysis, community, and structure for a diverse audience who would otherwise not have the time—or the money—to complete a traditional degree.

Not all are convinced, however. While educators fear that the project undermines the role of institutions in education, and relies too heavily on the “star power” of individual professors and volunteers, students simply fail to see the practicality of a free education without official accreditation.

“If I’m paying for my education already, why would I waste my time on a course that I couldn’t receive credit for?” asked Mark, a third-year commerce student. “I came here for my degree, any information I find on the web is just in addition to the education that I’m getting.”

MIT launched its open courseware project in 2001, putting lecture notes and other materials online. Other schools have followed suit—U of T students can browse course materials through Blackboard—but the growing availability of free course material is far from supplanting the importance of live lectures, critics say.

William Wolfson, an economics prof at U of T, said that though he posts lecture outlines on Blackboard, they are meant as an enhancement, not a replacement for lectures.

“It’s great to have the information about what the lecture’s going to be about before you go into class,” said Jane, an ECO101 student. “But the graphs are going to look like gibberish if you don’t fill them in during class. I mean, Blackboard helps, sure, but interaction with fellow students is what makes the class bearable.”

P2PU will try to recreate that sense of community online. The site launches in February 2009.