They do not accrue towards an MIT degree (thus far), however, making them worth what you pay for them in the eyes of degree consumers.
But with the course outlines and a person’s willingness to buy the textbooks and self-study, you could challenge the exams and just pay the fee for the exams and get credit for the course.
There are really only a few courses overall that you’d actually have to participate because of the real need to do labs and other hands-on.
“The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) will announce on Monday that they intend to launch an online learning initiative called M.I.T.x,which will offer the online teaching of M.I.T. courses free of charge to anyone in the world.”
At any rate, I think any paper from M.I.T. if valid is a plus on the resume. Granted a degree is desired, but I don't see how this could hurt a job resume.
What's important though is that perhaps it will interest enough people to become scientist and engineers.
“They do not accrue towards an MIT degree (thus far), however, making them worth what you pay for them in the eyes of degree consumers.”
Sheepskins are highly over rated but knowledge is a tool of worth.