Posted on 09/22/2002 2:56:58 AM PDT by freedom9
People will soon be given access to knowledge from one of the world's foremost technology institutes for free over the internet, as BBC World ClickOnline's Ian Hardy reports.
Like almost every organisation in the US, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology spent the late 1990s struggling with the question of how to take advantage of the internet.
Many other colleges launched online degree courses aimed at anyone with a modem and a big wallet. But MIT has taken a completely different direction with a project called OpenCourseWare (OCW) that could stop the trend of commercialising online education dead in its tracks.
The first group of courses are set to be published on the internet on 30 September, including subjects like anthropology, biology, chemistry and computer science. Education revolution
"I genuinely think there was an 'a-ha' moment when they said our mission was actually to enhance education," said Anne Margulies, Executive Director of OCW.
"Our hope and aspiration is that by setting an example, other universities will also put their valued materials on the internet Professor Dick Yue, MIT
"Why don't we, instead of trying to sell our knowledge over the internet, just give it away." Over the next 10 years, MIT will move all its existing coursework on to the internet.
There will be no online degrees for sale, however. Instead, it will offer thousands of pages of information, available to anyone around the globe at no cost, as well as hours and hours of streaming video lectures, seminars and experiments.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. MIT wants to start nothing short of a global revolution in education. "Our hope and aspiration is that by setting an example, other universities will also put their valued materials on the internet and thereby make a truly profound and fundamental impact on learning and education worldwide," said MIT's Professor Dick Yue.
??????? Really? My dd is taking two classes online this semester (part of Florida's state university system).
There is plenty of interaction with the professor (as this is dd's first semester, she had no idea that one does not challenge the teacher -- so far the prof has corrected several quizzes and reworded two labs).
In both classes, the teachers are available at their offices on campus, by telephone, or by internet. Plenty of feedback (including a warning from the teacher that she wants Office XP used, not Office 97, so she took 2 points off a test. That upset my 14-yo who is not used to getting less than 100).
The meteorology class has a term paper requirement, along with an oral defense of it. And both classes met the first day to have instructors and students get to know one another; both will have final exams on campus.
My dh also took classes from OSU (OK)-- tests were administered by a proctor the school agreed upon. Off-campus classes are nothing new -- what is new is the lack of cost: seems to go with lack of academic credit, unless the student can take a CLEP exam.
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