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MIT OpenCourseWare introduces courses designed for independent learners

web.mit.edu

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Re: MIT OpenCourseWare introduces courses designed for independent learners

#21

Post by thebigredjay »

andrewacove wrote: post #14
lars512 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, by attending a traditional institution you're really paying firstly for experts to take partial responsibility for your learning, enough to stake some of their reputation on it, and secondly for entrance to a club of peers of similar ability to learn with. With more and more material available online, I can see how taking full responsibility for your own learning is less daunting than it once was. I'm still cur…

In my experience at one of those traditional institutions, those experts often couldn't care less about any responsibility to undergrads. Their job is to do research, and to get grants to support that research. The number of professors for whom teaching was clearly a nuisance was one of the most depressing parts of the experience. Having similarly capable peers is really the primary advantage, especially if those rel…

I agree completely, particularly with undergrad educations. Professers aren't picked on their teaching ability. They really don't have an incentive to improve the education of their students, other than personal diligence.

Re: MIT OpenCourseWare introduces courses designed for independent learners

#22

Post by silentbicycle »

thebigredjay wrote: post #6

As a young autodidact struggling to fit into the traditional education world this is a welcome gift. To me a traditional diploma granting institution is now akin to a rubber stamp. You're not paying for the education, you're paying for the brand under the assumption that it will get you a job. I could rant, but I plan on doing it in a cohesive and informed blog release or something at a later date. MIT diffuses my cy…

I, too, am self-educating, and would love to keep in touch. Same nick on twitter, etc.

My academic experience is mostly in history (esp. historiography, history of science and medicine), because I also want to be a librarian, but I've been programming since I was 5.

Re: MIT OpenCourseWare introduces courses designed for independent learners

#23

Post by ernestipark »

kmfrk wrote: post #12

Great to see that MIT are addressing the most important problem with OCW: organizing the knowledge intelligibly. I'm currently having fun with their introduction to programming that uses Python: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput... . (Get the lectures on iTunes U.) Granted, I don't know if that's the best gateway drug to programming, but it has the irrefutable advantage of assignments that…

If you're looking for intros to programming, 1.00 is also a fantastic course (it's what made me switch to a CS major) which uses Java. The materials are a bit older than for 6.00 though.

Re: MIT OpenCourseWare introduces courses designed for independent learners

#24

Post by pendragon »

wisty wrote: post #17
thebigredjay wrote: post #6

As a young autodidact struggling to fit into the traditional education world this is a welcome gift. To me a traditional diploma granting institution is now akin to a rubber stamp. You're not paying for the education, you're paying for the brand under the assumption that it will get you a job. I could rant, but I plan on doing it in a cohesive and informed blog release or something at a later date. MIT diffuses my cy…

Knowledge, interaction, communities, infrastructure, and facilities are all important. Knowledge is a commodity, but that's been true since Gutenberg. It's just a little more true now. Unis could have mailed out videos of lectures in the past, for a relatively small fee. Interaction and communities are important. I'm guessing that online 1:1 interaction is a lot weaker (though Skype could help a bit) because it's so…

I was at a Polytechnic for my degree. It is pretty much a uni, just doesn't have the prestige. The lecturers are as good and have taught at universities in the past. I say this as I think they are often confused with community colleges in america. It was really good in that the classes were small (it ended up being 15 students in first year). We could even talk to our lecturers at lunchtime.

I felt free to listen in to my lecturer's discussions at lunchtime, or raise a topic of interest and discuss it with them. They also had real world experience which was great. For example: the head didn't have a degree in my field. It was in commerce, not Information Systems. The Information Systems part was from working in that field for years.

There is a place for completely studying solo, but meetups in physical space do allow people to innovate better (bouncing ideas off each other without impediment). Creating a study group with red_beard08, squizgirl77 and has a certain amount of artificialness to it. Perhaps due to not knowing them. Maybe social tools like twitter will help alleviate that.

Re: MIT OpenCourseWare introduces courses designed for independent learners

#26

Post by dagw »

rtghnthyjnm wrote: post #8
nickpinkston wrote: post #2

Khan giving them a bit of scare? I bet...

I do think this is a genuine attempt to spread knowledge. Even being cynical there is no real downside for them. People will still want to go to MIT 'for real' and they will still fill their lecture halls with paying students - even if MIT could expand to take everyone that wanted to go there - this would dilute the MIT brand. Allowing everyone else to get the knowledge for free simply kills the competition, there is…

Maybe if smaller state-colleges are smart they can leverage OCW to their advantage. Instead of doing their own lectures and coursework, they'll use OCW and focus on adding value where OCW cannot with things like instructor led discussion and Q&A sessions about the lecture you've just seen, helping with and grading coursework, one-on-one assistance with assignments, handing out certificates or diplomas upon completing a set of courses, and all the other good stuff an actual college can to better than a pre-recorded video. In fact I'd probably sign up and pay money for just that.

Re: MIT OpenCourseWare introduces courses designed for independent learners

#29

Post by chopsueyar »

lars512 wrote: post #10
thebigredjay wrote: post #6

As a young autodidact struggling to fit into the traditional education world this is a welcome gift. To me a traditional diploma granting institution is now akin to a rubber stamp. You're not paying for the education, you're paying for the brand under the assumption that it will get you a job. I could rant, but I plan on doing it in a cohesive and informed blog release or something at a later date. MIT diffuses my cy…

Well, by attending a traditional institution you're really paying firstly for experts to take partial responsibility for your learning, enough to stake some of their reputation on it, and secondly for entrance to a club of peers of similar ability to learn with. With more and more material available online, I can see how taking full responsibility for your own learning is less daunting than it once was. I'm still cur…

...secondly for entrance to a club of peers of similar ability to learn with.

I do not know what university you attended, but honestly, the learning ability of 'peers' within most universities varies greatly.

If they were so similar, all the 'peers' would have similar SAT scores, undergraduate grades, majors, and graduation rates.

Educating is not a priority for the majority of undergrad programs in the US (in terms of academics).

Re: MIT OpenCourseWare introduces courses designed for independent learners

#30

Post by chopsueyar »

dagw wrote: post #26
rtghnthyjnm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do think this is a genuine attempt to spread knowledge. Even being cynical there is no real downside for them. People will still want to go to MIT 'for real' and they will still fill their lecture halls with paying students - even if MIT could expand to take everyone that wanted to go there - this would dilute the MIT brand. Allowing everyone else to get the knowledge for free simply kills the competition, there is…

Maybe if smaller state-colleges are smart they can leverage OCW to their advantage. Instead of doing their own lectures and coursework, they'll use OCW and focus on adding value where OCW cannot with things like instructor led discussion and Q&A sessions about the lecture you've just seen, helping with and grading coursework, one-on-one assistance with assignments, handing out certificates or diplomas upon completing…

Exactly. Why cannot OCW serve as a sort of standardized curriculum for state schools to model their classes off of?
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