MIT Open Courseware with 500 Courses

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MIT Open Courseware with 500 Courses

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Tuesday September 30, 2003 @07:34AM from the hit-the-books dept.

Comp Bio Guy writes "As promised, MIT has finally released 500 courses worth of lecture notes, syllabi, and exams to provide a 'free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around the world.' Take a look (and maybe a test or two) at MIT's OCW site."

21 of 318 comments (clear)

Hopefully this will start a trend by Muerto · 2003-09-30 07:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

I hope that information will someday be " free as in beer " for everyone. Now if you are born poor you will most likely stay poor... and this is changing. The internet has been a great gift to everyone... it brings people of all income levels to an even playing field.
1. Re:Hopefully this will start a trend by australopithecus · 2003-09-30 07:39 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  makes sense.
  its good to know that poor people will be able to scootch up to their home computer and...oh wait.
2. Re:Hopefully this will start a trend by Muerto · 2003-09-30 07:40 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  ahhh.. yes i was waiting for that point to be made... you forget the public library!
3. Re:Hopefully this will start a trend by swordboy · 2003-09-30 07:53 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I've always wondered why teachers don't "open source" some text books. When I was in school, it seemed that they changed the text every semester so that kids couldn't buy used books, or resell them after use. It almost seemed as if they were colluding with the publishers. I almost organized a book burning with the angry students who were finding that their $150 Accounting 101 book became worthless after the sememster was over. There are few scholarships/grants that will cover the cost of a text.
  
  Don't get me wrong - I kept all the good stuff (and still reference it today when google doesn't come through - there are few such cases but I have whacked a few).
  
  In any event, it would be simple - a book is created and is available for modification so as long as the modifications are submitted back to the original author. The text would evolve into something that could not be purchased from *any* publisher.
  
  Students Win. Society Wins. Evil Publishers Lose.
  
  --
  
  Life is the leading cause of death in America.
4. Re:Hopefully this will start a trend by kurosawdust · 2003-09-30 07:54 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Now if you are born poor you will most likely stay poor
  Whoa. I am a liberal in most cases, but this is just crap. If you have access to the internet and >= 3 or 4 free hours a day and don't have a learning disability, you have (within epsilon of) no excuses. In the case of something like computer science, there is (not even within epsilon of) zero excuse for your aptitude other than your desire and the amount of work you put in. It sounds just as romantic as the quote I am responding to, but it's true; if you plug someone in to the internet, they can learn about almost anything they want and in all probability be great at it - they just have to work.
5. Re:Hopefully this will start a trend by stanmann · 2003-09-30 08:04 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Yup, that and parents who valued learning. If more parents valued learning over entertainment and availed themselves of the Public Library vs paying $50 monthly for Cable, $300ea for a tv in each room and $60ea for a VCr to go with, they could afford to bootstrap themselves from poverty to educated.
  
  And no I'm not particularly motorvated, so I haven't gone as far as I could.
  BUT I've reached the goals I set for myself my senior year of HS and surpassed them. I'm a software engineer for the largest Employer in the US, I own a fully paid for new car, Cell phone, pager and home network. I didn't however realize that I was "born poor" till after I moved out, and the first year on my own, made more than my parents combined income.
  
  Frugal living, careful planning and inventive meal management. I never went hungry. And yes, living at the "poverty line".
  
  --
  Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
6. Re:Hopefully this will start a trend by phoenix_rizzen · 2003-09-30 08:12 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The problem with public libraries is that nobody uses them anymore. This means they are losing funding ... which leads to fewer new books ... which makes it even less relevant and fewer people will use them. The hours are being cut, making it harder for people to use them.
  
  It'd be nice to see a library that didn't open until after noon, and stayed open into the wee hours. Then it would actually be useful for students, those who work, and so on. Being open from 9 until 5 isn't really convenient for anybody.
7. Re:Hopefully this will start a trend by stanmann · 2003-09-30 08:18 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Well if learning is your goal, your local public college is the place. the library is typically open past 1am, and unless you want to take books with you, is free to non-students.
  
  --
  Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
8. Re:Hopefully this will start a trend by dmauer · 2003-09-30 08:26 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  When I was in school, it seemed that they changed the text every semester so that kids couldn't buy used books, or resell them after use. It almost seemed as if they were colluding with the publishers.
  This is an awfully well-known scheme the publishing houses use to sell books. The schools can't do anything about it, anyway. Here's how it works:
  
  1) Publish a new edition of your textbook at least every couple of years. Be sure to change the page numbering significantly, and ideally, move stuff from chapter to chapter. The harder it is to syncronize with the old edition, the better!
  2) Release it as soon as you're almost sold out of the previous edition.
  3) Laugh as bookstores can no longer carry new copies of the old edition, so professors have to require the new edition -- they can't assume that everyone will be able to find a used copy of the old edition, and it'll take way too much of their time to synchronize teaching from both editions.
  4) Rinse, Repeat
  5) PROFIT!
  
  Arseholes.
  
  --
  === "Some people see the glass as half-empty. Others see it as half-full. I see the glass as too big." -G. Carlin.
Finally, you too... by Atario · 2003-09-30 07:41 · Score: 4, Funny

...can feel dumb in the privacy of your own home.

--
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Not particularly useful without a teacher by Brahmastra · 2003-09-30 07:41 · Score: 4, Insightful

A lot of the course notes aren't particularly useful without a teacher actually explaining things to you. For example, look at the following link .
While some of the notes may be useful and educational, I don't think it replaces a real, live professor explaning things and available to answer questions.
1. Re:Not particularly useful without a teacher by f97tosc · 2003-09-30 07:52 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  A lot of the course notes aren't particularly useful without a teacher actually explaining things to you. For example, look at the following link . While some of the notes may be useful and educational, I don't think it replaces a real, live professor explaning things and available to answer questions.
  
  1. I don't think anybody was suggesting that this should replace real profs at MIT. This is extra resources for people outside of universities, who don't have the option of talking to a prof.
  
  2 Personally, I actually disagree with your point. I have found that I learn the most reading and solving problems, not when I listen to somebody talking (especially not in the big lecture format).
  
  Tor
Faculty members are very helpful too by stonebeat.org · 2003-09-30 07:43 · Score: 4, Interesting

I started going through one of the course few months back. And one few ocassions I email the instructors, for clarifications/explanations. And I always got a prompt reply. Even though I am not paying anything to MIT.

--

Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
Nuclear engineering 101, anyone? by chopper749 · 2003-09-30 07:49 · Score: 5, Funny

Just what the world needed! Free Nuclear Engineering classes! From the comfort of your own 3rd world country!
one problem by vraddict · 2003-09-30 07:53 · Score: 5, Insightful

The fact that the information is available, and even the fact that you can gain access to the instructors for clarification still does not put everyone on an even playing field. The one thing that most people seem to care about are degrees and resumes. The poorest yet most intelligent person in the world could study these courses, and gain an equivalent education to those with degrees, and could even possibly surpass their abilities. It won't do them any good in the present state to learn structural engineering, but not have a degree.
Optimist/Pessimist by boatboy · 2003-09-30 07:58 · Score: 4, Funny

The optimist in me says 'I always wanted to know more about the adiabatic approximation and Berry's phase.' The pessimist says 'methinks this will only lead to an increase in the number of people who think they know what they are talking about.'
Lecture videos for one course by bartc · 2003-09-30 08:05 · Score: 4, Informative

For anyone interested in the MIT course 6.004 Computation Structures: the lectures are very similar to ArsDigita University's "How Computers Work".

ArsDigita University put all its lectures online in realvideo format. Here's mirror of the "How Computers Work" course.
Poor places (Re:Hopefully this will start a trend) by Forge · 2003-09-30 08:09 · Score: 4, Informative

IF I lived in the US and made minimum wage I could live in a slum (Like the bad parts of New York) so rent would be cheap enough to leave me with enough money to buy a PC. $700 pays for a decent system and is ONLY 3 weeks pay at minimum wage. Or 3 months with aggressive saving.

What you should ask about is People who live in Poor countries (Like Jamaica) where Minimum wage is $33.5 per week and any PC costs at least 17% more (or $819) for my example system. I.e. 6 Months pay at minimum wage or 2 years of aggressive saving.

The price gap for Internet Bandwidth is even wider. I.e. Your ENTIRE salary at minimum wage would barely pay for entry level ADSL (256K up 128K down)

--
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
I've Been Using It For Awhile... by the_mad_poster · 2003-09-30 08:18 · Score: 5, Insightful

...and it's great! I'm stuck in a shitty little comm. coll. here where everything is "learn how to use vendor x's program y" and it stinks. I told several profs to their faces now that I'm not coming to any classes when we're not taking a test because there's nothing that I can learn there that I care about or that matters.

With the Open CourseWare site though, I've started plugging my way through an almost complete cirriculum! I finally got the motivation to learn Java so I could use it in the 6-170 course. The content, organization, and overall structure of the course is incredible (6-170 is by far one of the best classes I've ever had in any subject at any school with any professor ever)! I'm looking forward to following it into the next class I work through on OCW.

There's no way I can afford to go to MIT - as much as I would love to - but with OCW, at least I can benefit from a great deal of their wisdom with some elbow grease, even without the cash.

--
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Re:I'm still waiting on Richard Stallman's Guide.. by Patrik_AKA_RedX · 2003-09-30 08:22 · Score: 5, Funny

How to Get Laid, For Nerds.
That one will be published shortly after "Cold fusion reactors for dummies" and "101 fun things to do while riding the space elevator".
Will this make other schools more competitive? by clusterix · 2003-09-30 08:22 · Score: 4, Insightful

I have been through community college and umich and now live in Singapore. I can say that around the world a 4 year degree is not equal. I hope that this will encourage students to beg for better course designs and more advanced knowledge than what 90% of the world currently gets.
I also hope that engineering faculty will seriously discuss and compare their current curriculums and bring them up to par as much as possible (with in their and their students capability).