This is so amazing!!! I cannot wait to start reviewing MIT course material :)
"Over at BBC News they have an update on the MIT initiative to give away all course material for free over the Internet that we read about on Slashdot quite a while ago. The full story details how they are doing it in the hopes that other Universities will follow suit. This seems an amazing thing considering the more recent moves toward pay-per-use services but definitely a good thing and I wish them the best of luck. The only question I see is whether or not this will help in the way of "official qualifications" - what if we know a large portion of a certain course... how do we go about proving it?"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2270648.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2270648.stm)
http://slashdot.org/articles/02/09/22/1634209.shtml?tid=146 (http://slashdot.org/articles/02/09/22/1634209.shtml?tid=146)
To some extent, I find this a little disappointing. It says to me that MIT and probably society as well believe the knowledge you gain in college is not what you are paying for, but rather it is only the diploma that costs thousands of dollars and the knowledge is free to anyone. I am still in favor of this kind of information sharing and I still believe that the interactive portion of college is worth the expense, but I think that students and academics alike should evaluate what getting a college education really means to them and the people they teach.
Perhaps you might look at going to college like training at a gym. Sure you could run and do sit-ups, etc. without any equipment, and you could buy 'gym quality' equipment for your home.
Paying for your college education is like paying for a personal trainer to guide you and motivate you.
You don't pay for information when you are going to a university. You pay for the experience. Anyone can read a book or experiment on his own to gain the knowledge that a university is willing to share with you. That is not the point. The real benefit of a college education comes from the experiences that you are encouraged to share in. Experiences such as leaving home for the first time, and hopefully learning some critical thinking skills along the way. Really a college education is supposed to help free you from the socialization that culminated with you obtaining a high school diploma. That in my mind is even more important than the economic benefits that college graduates obtain throughout their lifetimes.
Victor
After talking to Dr. White about this I am not as excited about seeing MIT lectures. He mentioned the fact that MIT is a purley research based institution and that teaching skills are pretty low on thier priority list. This being the case, lectures are pretty lousy, especially for graduate level courses. Regardless, I am still eager to see what the online content has to offer.
Peter