MIT Offers 1800 Courses Online for Free
By the end of 2007, Massachusetts Institute of Technology will have materials for 1,800 courses cataloged and available free for use online through its OpenCourseWare project.
“We started this project because MIT believes that one of the best ways to advance education around the world is through the Internet,” said Anne Margulies, head of online curriculum.
These offerings sound more valuable than they are. Whereas OpenCourseWare will supply students with syllabi and course content - a resource that is invaluable for previewing and selecting classes - it is a mistake to believe that millions of internet users will pull Good Will Hunting duty and perfect the nuances of rocket science in their spare time.
Online students will not be able to earn an MIT degree or have contact with faculty at the university, located across the river from Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
At least they’re honest. It isn’t that internet users aren’t able to make use of the material; no one doubts the abilities of those who are interested in MIT’s courses, ~60% of whom are outside the United States and relish free access to such innovative tech/science education. Unfortunately, most who are eager to learn fail to realize the limits of distance education, which include a lack of instructor feedback, no proper guidance through problem-solving that avoids memorization of incorrect methods (that will prove quite harmful in the future), and the inability to process information directly with other people. Yes, even in the internet age we need to discuss things in person.
The OpenCourseWare project does have benefits and deserves praise. Not only can students look closely at course offerings, but educators anywhere can view examples of courses for use in their own classes. Also, MIT encourages the accountability of the professoriate by making available their materials for professional scrutiny.
I speak frequently with an engineer who works at Intel. He’s excited about OpenCourseWare because it allows him to review forgotten material when it rears its ugly head at his job.
