It's hard to think that one could have access to an Internet-connected PC and could gain knowledge equivalent of an MIT-level education, but it's true -- and it's free. MIT's OpenCourseWare project spawned quite a maelstrom years ago when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- one of the pre-eminent universities in the world -- announced its intention to
"give away" educational materials for free to anyone who wanted them.
Initially, college professors worried about their future positions probably were sweating. But it's been years now and MIT's effort has attracted millions of fans -- including college professors. Want to be armed with the same knowledge a $100,000 education in particle physics can provide? MIT will give it to you, course materials, notes and all.
Of course, the environment of a classroom and student-professor interaction is not being replaced here (nor are hands-on labs, for example), but if you're astute and well-read, you can prepare yourself for an in-class college-level education as well as beef up on many subjects from English Lit to Physics to Zoology by accessing MIT's system and going through the motions to have access to MIT's vast education store of materials. Life is good, but it's even better with a DIY attitude for college-level education (and did I mention, for free?).
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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)
But... it is not true. Very few courses publish freely the textbooks; mostly they list the textbooks titles, and you must buy it.
ReplyThe dream of "MIT publish all its courses, so in the third world everyone with internet can study" is simply untrue. Without the textbooks the material exposed on the web can't suffice to study.
But money earned from MIT with this promise is real...