Stanford University is collaborating with Harvard and MIT on a computer system that allows colleges to offer free online courses.

Stanford already has its own platform for delivering so-called massive open online courses, or MOOCS. But Vice Provost John Mitchell says the school has decided to suspend work on it in favor of the software developed by the two East Coast universities, called edX.

Mitchell says that with the demand for online learning increasing rapidly, it makes sense for academic institutions to team up instead of compete.

Under terms of an agreement announced Wednesday, elements of Stanford’s Class2Go system will be incorporated into edX and some future Stanford courses will be produced with the program.

But unlike other universities that use the edX web site to register students, Stanford plans to retain its own online course portal.