NationMaster - Encyclopedia: MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to put all of the educational materials from MIT's undergraduate- and graduate-level courses online, free and openly available to anyone, anywhere, by the year 2007. MIT OpenCourseWare can be considered a large-scale, web-based publication of MIT course materials. The project was announced in 2001. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private research university located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is one of the worlds leading research institutions in science and technology. ... ... Quaternary education or postgraduate education is the fourth-stage educational level which follows the completion of an undergraduate degree at a college or university. ... Online means being connected to the Internet or another similar electronic network, like a bulletin board system. ... 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This page as shown in the aol 9. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

This project is jointly funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and MIT. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a foundation that has been making grants since 1966 to address current social and environmental issues. ... The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a foundation endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon. ...

The main challenge in implementing this initiative has not been faculty resistance, but rather, the logistical challenges presented by determining ownership and obtaining publication permission for the massive amount of intellectual property items that are embedded in the course materials of MIT's faculty, in addition to the time and technical effort required to convert the educational materials to an online format.

Copyright in OCW material remains with MIT or members of its faculty. Legal Disclaimer: this page contains legal information for reference and education, but it is not legal adviceâ€“the application of law to an individuals specific circumstances. ...

As of August 2005, 1435 courses are available online. While a few of these are limited to chronological reading lists and discussion topics, a majority provide homework problems and exams (often with solutions) and lecture notes. Some courses also include interactive web demonstrations in Java or Matlab, complete textbooks written by MIT professors, and even streaming video lectures. Java is an object-oriented programming language developed by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s. ... MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and programming language. ...

Subject matter

OCW subject matter is not limited to technology. As of June 2004, courseware is available in the following areas: 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Astronautics is the branch of engineering that deals with machines designed to work outside of Earths atmosphere, whether manned or unmanned. ... Anthropology (from the Greek word Î¬Î½Î¸ÏÏ‰Ï€Î¿Ï‚, human or person) consists of the study of humanity (see genus Homo). ... The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Architecture (from Latin, architectura and ultimately from Greek, Î±ÏÏ‡Î¹Ï„ÎµÎºÏ„Ï‰Î½, a master builder, from Î±ÏÏ‡Î¹- chief, leader and Ï„ÎµÎºÏ„Ï‰Î½, builder, carpenter) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ... Biological engineering (a. ... Biology is the branch of science dealing with the study of life. ... Rendering of human brain based on MRI data Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence (e. ... Chemical engineering is the application of science, in particular chemistry, physics and mathematics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms. ... Chemistry (derived from alchemy) is the science of matter at or near the atomic scale. ... The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland. ... Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improving the environment (air, water, and/or land resources), to provide healthful water, air and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to investigate the possibilities for remediation of polluted sites. ... Media studies is an area of scholarly inquiry approached from both humanities and social science perspectives that considers the nature and effects of mass media upon individuals and society, as well as analysing actual media content and representations. ... ... Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. ... Planetary science, also known as planetology or planetary astronomy, is the science of planets, or planetary systems, and the solar system. ... Buyers bargain for good prices while sellers put forth their best front in Chichicastenango Market, Guatemala. ... This article treats electronics engineering as a subfield of electrical engineering, though this is not typical use in some areas. ... Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ... A foreign language is a language not spoken by the indigenous people of a certain place: for example, English is a foreign language in Japan. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... Health science is the discipline of applied science which deals with human and animal health. ... For other senses of this word, see history (disambiguation). ... Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. ... Philosopher in Meditation (detail), by Rembrandt. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Euclid, a famous Greek mathematician known as the father of geometry, is shown here in detail from The School of Athens by Raphael. ... The W16 engine from a Bugatti Veyron Mechanical engineering is a very broad field of engineering that involves the application of physical principles for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. ... New media art (also known as media art) is a generic term used to describe art related to, or created with, a technology invented or made widely available since the mid-20th Century. ... Music is a form of expression in the medium of time using the structures of tones and silence. ... For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed... Nuclear engineering is the practical application of the atomic nucleus gleaned from principles of nuclear physics and the interaction between radiation and matter. ... Thermohaline circulation Oceanography (from Ocean + Greek Î³ÏÎ¬Ï†ÎµÎ¹Î½ = write), also called oceanology or marine science is the study of the Earths oceans and seas. ... Physics (from the Greek, Ï†Ï…ÏƒÎ¹ÎºÏŒÏ‚ (physikos), natural, and Ï†ÏÏƒÎ¹Ï‚ (physis), nature) is the science of the natural world, which deals with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results of these forces. ... Political science is an academic and research discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. ... Management (from Old French mÃ©nagement the art of conducting, directing, from Latin manu agere to lead by the hand) characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organisation, often a business, through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). ... This article needs cleanup. ... Urban planning is concerned with the ordering and design of settlements, from the smallest towns to the worlds largest cities. ... Womens studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. ... See also Creative writing. ...

Implications

By making their educational materials openly available, MIT is demonstrating that they can give away such materials without threatening the value of an MIT education, or in other words, that there may be something in the educational process that cannot be captured in a book. However, MIT president Charles Vest stated that OpenCourseWare could improve teaching methods. This fits in with the premise of the book "Talking About Leaving- Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences" by sociologists Seymour and Hewitt.

It is possible to look at this initiative as a shot across the bow of those who are trying to turn curricula into a commodity. Consolidation in the publishing industry has led to the formation of huge corporations that sell books and teaching materials to schools. These companies are always trying to leverage the capital value of their curricula. For example, they are, increasingly, experimenting with on-line distributed education in order to sell their content more widely and in that sense they may be trying to replace the traditional school.

Faculty may not resist OpenCourseWare as an "addition" to the current system, but many will surely resist it as a "replacement" for the current system.

History

The concept of MIT OCW grew out of the MIT Council on Education Technology, which was charged by MIT's provost in 1999 with determining how MIT should position itself in the distance learning / e-learning environment. MIT OCW provides a new model for the dissemination of knowledge and collaboration among scholars around the world, and contributes to the “shared intellectual commons” in academia, which fosters collaboration across MIT and among other scholars. The project was spearheaded by Hal Abelson and other MIT Faculty. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Distance Learning is learning carried out apart from the usual classroom setting; in an asynchronous setting. ... Harold (Hal) Abelson is the Class of 1922 Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the MIT, and a fellow of the IEEE. He holds an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a Ph. ...

In September 2002, the MIT OCW proof-of-concept pilot site opened to the public, offering 32 courses. In September 2003, MIT OCW published its 500th course, including some courses with complete streaming video lectures. By September 2004, 900 MIT courses were available online. The response from MIT faculty and students has been very positive and MIT OpenCourseWare is seen as being consistent with MIT's mission (to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century) and is true to MIT's values of excellence, innovation, and leadership.

Technology

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation also supported USU's Center for Open and Sustainable Learning in the development of eduCommons, open source software that allows any organization to develop and manage their own OCW. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a foundation that has been making grants since 1966 to address current social and environmental issues. ... The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a foundation endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon. ... The three-letter acronym, USU, can stand for Utah State University Uniformed Services University Universidade Santa Ãšrsula (Brazil) Universal Student Unionism (Australia) University of Sydney Union Urals A.M. Gorky State University (Russia) Usu is also a Japanese mortar. ... ...

Video content for the courses are primarily in RealMedia format. Though the default videos provided are meant to be streamed from the MIT server, they are also provided in full for offline downloads. RealMedia is a multimedia container format created by RealNetworks. ...

Spin-off projects

Asia

Europe

North America

See also

Connexions is a government program for young people aged thirteen to nineteen in England. ... Rice University Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly called Rice University and opened in 1912 as Rice Institute, is one of the United Statess top teaching and research universities. ...

External links

	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
	Academics Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seal This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private research university located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is one of the worlds leading research institutions in science and technology. ...	Broad Institute • Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory • Lincoln Laboratory • Media Lab • OpenCourseWare • Sloan School of Management The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, formerly the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research (WICGR), is a multidisciplinary institution dedicated to fulfilling the potential of genomics for the biomedical sciences. ... MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, or CSAIL, is an interdisciplinary research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, formed on July 1, 2003 by the merger of MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. ... MIT Lincoln Laboratory, also known as Lincoln Lab, is a federally funded research and development center managed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and funded by the United States Department of Defense. ... The Wiesner Buildings Atrium The MIT Media Lab in the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology engages in education and research in the digital technology used for expression and communication. ... The MIT Sloan School of Management is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT Sloan is one of the worlds leading business schools, conducting research and teaching in finance, entrepreneurship, marketing, strategic management, economics, organizational behavior, operations management, supply...
	Culture	Alumni • Faculty • Presidents • Athena • Brass Rat • Hacks • IHTFP • The Tech This is a list of famous individuals associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including graduates, former students, and professors. ... This is a list of famous individuals associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including graduates, former students, and professors. ... Project Athena was a joint project of MIT, Digital Equipment Corporation, and IBM. It was launched in 1983, and research and development ran through June 30, 1991, eight years after it began. ... The ring is worn Beaver down until graduation The class ring of MIT, often called the Brass Rat, is crafted each year by a student committee to present a unique, yet traditional expression of their school experience. ... An MIT hack is defined as a clever, benign, and ethical prank or practical joke at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ... IHTFP is an abbreviation which makes up part of the folklore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ... Front page of The Tech, issue of January 18, 2006 The Tech, first published in 1881, is the oldest and largest campus newspaper at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as the first newspaper to be published online. ...
	Buildings	Chapel • Green Building • Infinite Corridor • Kresge Auditorium • Stata Center • Graduate Residences • Undergraduate Residences Exterior. ... Green Building, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ... The Infinite Corridor is the hallway, 251 meters (825 feet) long, that runs through the main building of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ... Kresge Auditorium from rear, looking toward I. M. Peis Green Building. ... Stata Center Building 32 at Night The Ray and Maria Stata Center is a 430,000-ftÂ² (40,000 mÂ²) academic complex designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ... This is a list of the graduate dorms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ... // This is a list of the undergraduate dorms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ...

Contents

Subject matter GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");