OpenCourseWare from MIT

[Karim]

Article:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/mit_pr.html

Website:

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

[Philliesfan980]

Nice idea, but who wants to do the college work , but not get the college credit.

[wbonnell]

uh, someone seeking knowledge?

[Easy Mac]

i.e. a nerd

[Philliesfan980]

lol, I was being sarcastic. Nothing wrong with a little self study. I would just have a hard time believing that after a long day of work, sitting through traffic, you're going to want to study "Cellular Neurophysiology" for a few hours, without it benefitting you financially (There I said it, I went to college to get a degree , which you need to make more money, and hopefully live an easier life).

And if you do that.. you're a better man than I am!

[Karim]

I see it more as an on-line resource for someone already enrolled elsewhere. I'll probably check out some of the engineering/math/physics quizzes later this semester.

I agree though, self-study of this magnitude with no degree at the end is... masochistic?

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by Philliesfan980
lol, I was being sarcastic. Nothing wrong with a little self study. I would just have a hard time believing that after a long day of work, sitting through traffic, you're going to want to study "Cellular Neurophysiology" for a few hours, without it benefitting you financially (There I said it, I went to college to get a degree , which you need to make more money, and hopefully live an easier life).

And if you do that.. you're a better man than I am!

So, avocational study is essentially worthless? After all, a degree in philosophy or history isn't likely to lead directly to a non-academic job...

Personally, I find studying (self directed with no deadlines) to be relaxing and salubrious. Television programming , even so called educational channels (with rare exceptions), is too superficial for my taste. Thus, the only thing I watch on television is the *very* occasional movie.

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
i.e. a nerd

huh?

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by Karim
I see it more as an on-line resource for someone already enrolled elsewhere. I'll probably check out some of the engineering/math/physics quizzes later this semester.

I agree though, self-study of this magnitude with no degree at the end is... masochistic?

enlightening?

[Philliesfan980]

So, avocational study is essentially worthless? After all, a degree in philosophy or history isn't likely to lead directly to a non-academic job...

Well, its only worthless if *YOU* don't get anything out of it (by definition). If you enjoy studying in your free time, thats fine. I sure wouldn't want someone debating what I do with my free time, so I'm not going to debate what you do with yours.

[GrantDawg]

Do they have video of the lectures? I couldn't find any on the pages I saw. I would love to peruse a couple of the courses.

[Philliesfan980]

Doubt it. To me it seems like the only thing they have is the sylabus's, lecture notes, and some quizzes/exams. Still not bad for free.

[sterlingice]

I found it a bit useful, but, then again, I'm still in school so I can just look at a comprable class over there and glean some information from their notes.

The size of lecture videos would make it impossible to post those. The shortest a video would be is an hour and even on a compression that gives miserable quality, you're still looking at 60 megs + per hour.

SI

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by sterlingice
I found it a bit useful, but, then again, I'm still in school so I can just look at a comprable class over there and glean some information from their notes.

The size of lecture videos would make it impossible to post those. The shortest a video would be is an hour and even on a compression that gives miserable quality, you're still looking at 60 megs + per hour.

SI

Actually, at least two courses have streaming video lectures including second semester physics (electricity and magnetism) and, IIRC, introductory philosophy. They will ostensibly add more lectures, but I tend to agree: the production cost is too high.

[Philliesfan980]

I didn't take the time to read the whole article about this internet setup, but how does MIT feel about this? They can't be too happy knowing that their professors are putting their lectures on an open web for everyone to see. I suppose that the professors can justify that these notes are "theirs" and nobody can tell them what they can do with them.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Philliesfan980
I didn't take the time to read the whole article about this internet setup, but how does MIT feel about this? They can't be too happy knowing that their professors are putting their lectures on an open web for everyone to see. I suppose that the professors can justify that these notes are "theirs" and nobody can tell them what they can do with them.

MIT as an institution made this decision. It's being done by them, not to them.

[Philliesfan980]

Quiksand;

Interesting. I wonder why they are doing this?

[QuikSand]

For the good of humanity, I believe. Honestly.

[NoMyths]

Great idea on their part. Too bad humanity doesn't want to be enlightened yet, evidently. If MIT were streaming porn they'd have more takers. Alas.

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by NoMyths
Great idea on their part. Too bad humanity doesn't want to be enlightened yet, evidently. If MIT were streaming porn they'd have more takers. Alas.

It seems to me that most- but not all- people are in pursuit of instant gratification. What they fail to understand is that long term pleasure is- at least for me- more fulfilling.

[Buccaneer]

At one time, I had seriously considered enrolling in Distance Learning at the American Military University, emphasis on Civil War Studies. I had or could read most of the books in the various coursework so I figured why not do it in an academic mode where questions and discussions would lead to new thoughts and ideas. But like anything else, this would have to become a priority (which I don't have much time for) and have to be fairly exclusive (which would rule out my readings in other favorite subject matters).

[Karim]

Originally posted by Philliesfan980
Interesting. I wonder why they are doing this?

The article mentioned the initial idea stemmed from MIT wanting to get into the distance learning field. They hired consultants who said they were already a couple years behind in that area so they decided on open courseware.

There is no interaction with instructors and the material (generally last year's lectures) is not updated. The article also mentioned that some professors worried about open courseware affecting their textbook sales, along with infringement on intellectual property. There are also the profiteers in third world countries offering degrees in "MIT Studies", and those copying the material to CD-Rom and selling it to those without internet access.

It certainly is generating good publicity, but like QuickSand, I don't think that was the intention.

[sterlingice]

MIT has nothing to lose. People know that the $120K spent on an MIT degree is worth it and it generates good publicity for them. All they have to do is spend a little money on computer infrastructure and it's not like MIT doesn't have the spare bandwidth.

SI

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by wbonnell

Personally, I find studying (self directed with no deadlines) to be relaxing and salubrious. Television programming , even so called educational channels (with rare exceptions), is too superficial for my taste. Thus, the only thing I watch on television is the *very* occasional movie.

Alright, be honest... you don't really use words like "salubrious" in everyday conversation now, do you?

Oh, and if you don't at least watch football on television, what the hell are you doing here?

[sterlingice]

For the rest of us, who don't know what it means:

from dictionary.com: salubrious was Word of the Day on August 5, 1999.

sa·lu·bri·ous, adj. Conducive or favorable to health or well-being.

SI

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
Alright, be honest... you don't really use words like "salubrious" in everyday conversation now, do you?

Oh, and if you don't at least watch football on television, what the hell are you doing here?

Okay, you caught me! No, I wouldn't use the word "salubrious" in colloquial conversation. However, in that context it was exactly the word I needed. I could have said "makes me feel good", but that's a little too vague, don't you think?

Believe it or not, football bores me; I haven't watched a game in 3+ years. In fact, I haven't watched a single sporting event in 6 months or so. Why am I here? Because I enjoy the conversation.