A recent newsletter from the MIT OpenCourseWare project includes this information.
As a permanent part of the MIT academic program, OCW continues to publish about 200 courses per year –– dozens of new courses that are introduced at MIT each semester, as well as updates to courses already on OCW. Here are some examples of what is happening in 2008:
- More than 50 new courses, including brand new courses from Health Sciences and Technology, Sloan School of Management, Literature, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- About 150 redesigned and refreshed courses from departments like Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Chemistry, and Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
- New video lectures for courses in Mathematics, Biological Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and the Engineering Systems Division –– Note: MIT is in the process of adding video subtitles and transcripts to improve access for hearing impaired users.
- OCW audio and video on distribution channels such as YouTube and iTunes U
- Expanded content in the new Highlights for High School section of OCW
- New pages that link OCW courses to key MIT initiatives in energy and the environment.
To see these items or learn more about OCW, visit their website (https://ocw.mit.edu).
I’d be interested in knowing whether faculty and students at Duke would be interested in having course content openly available in ways similar to the MIT project. What would be the pro’s and cons’ of distributing course material publicly?
I dont think it’s easy to transit from traditional paper learning to modern web-based learning, as well as teaching. One of our former dean had been in Duke in 1990s as a visiting scholar and he gave Duke much credit for its academic capability and fame. Yes, Duke is among the top in the US, but what else could Duke provide/present besides or beyond what MIT has done while MIT’s stuff contributed a lot in it symbolic meaning rather than practical value. The issue is, as what I believe, how can universities smoothly help the learners get what they want from the old style to the new style. Is OCW = classroom interactive knowledge acquisition?