open-source education

September 4, 2003 2:42 PM

This year, MIT is free. Well, not really -- you won't get the degree, and you won't get to talk to the top minds in science or stay in a really cool dorm. But OpenCourseWare provides, as Wired puts it, "Every lecture [sometimes on video, sometimes only the notes], every handout, every quiz." Curious about Psycholinguistics? Urban Transportation, Land Use, and the Environment? Non-linear Programming? Cognitive & Behavioral Genetics? String Theory for Undergraduates? They are in Kenya.
posted by Tlogmer (14 comments total)

I was just gonna go be a janitor there and scam a free education. Nice to know there are other options.
posted by jonson at 2:46 PM on September 4, 2003

double
posted by pizzasub at 2:56 PM on September 4, 2003

Also here.
posted by rhapsodie at 2:58 PM on September 4, 2003

Right. What pizzasub said.
posted by rhapsodie at 2:58 PM on September 4, 2003

That was just the pre-program, with only a few courses. This year the program itself begins.
posted by Tlogmer at 2:58 PM on September 4, 2003

Well....Sept. 30th we go from 50 courses to 500. Quite a difference from a year ago. Not to mention we've redesigned the site, cinched up the Web standards, and added metadata to EVERYTHING.

The previous FPP was for our pilot. Sept. 30, 2003 is the real deal - or at least the start to it :)
posted by bkdelong at 3:03 PM on September 4, 2003

It's worth noting that at least some (and maybe many) of the courses offered on OCW don't actually have that much information in them. Take Cognitive and Behaviour Genetics, for example - a subject close to my heart. There are no lecture notes, no example questions, no past papers and no exercises. There's a reading list and a brief course outline, but that's it.

Hopefully they'll be expanding the information available soon, but it would be wrong to think that they have the total content of all 500 courses offered online.
posted by adrianhon at 3:31 PM on September 4, 2003

I immediately darted to the behavioral genetics course link too, only to feel the deep, deep sting of disappointment. Oh, you got a lotta splainin' to do Mr. Delong.
posted by dgaicun at 4:11 PM on September 4, 2003

Does this mean they will have their "hacks " open too, with full details of the seasonal wild antics/pranks of the brainy MITers?
posted by RubberHen at 5:23 PM on September 4, 2003

As far as I can tell, there is only one course up right now that is complete: Linear Algebra. It has the full course lectures in streaming video, reading list, assignments in PDF, study materials (including java applets), and other related resources. There MIT really does present more web courses like this for free, it'll be quite something.
posted by gwint at 5:24 PM on September 4, 2003

(There -> If)
posted by gwint at 5:25 PM on September 4, 2003

*fervently prays for video and full resources for other subjects as well*

It would be great to be able to browse (rather than search) courses by the amount and type of supporting material...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:57 PM on September 4, 2003

Well, I'm excited about it. Psycholinguistics, here I come! :)
posted by dejah420 at 9:38 PM on September 4, 2003

The cupboards are not bare at Magic, Witchcraft, and the Spirit World, Anthropology of the Middle East or Rhetoric--there is much food for thought in those pages.
posted by y2karl at 11:58 PM on September 4, 2003