CH 40: Auto-Didactic Ivy Leaguer
The Internet is obviously a revolution of information, and is fundamentally altering the way we receive, create, understand, purchase, trade, interpret, collect, and enjoy information.
There are not surprisingly, many examples of online education, but in recent times, the quality, breadth and accessibility of this content has gone up dramatically. This is perhaps nowhere better exemplified then the OpenCourseWare project at MIT. This is a website where you can access anytime, almost the entire MIT catalog of classes. For each class you have varying levels of detail but almost always the actual syllabus, assignments, and required reading. In some cases you even have access to YouTube videos of all the classes taught by the instructor. In this situation, practically the only difference between you and a real MIT student is you just can’t raise your hand for clarification. And with the video lectures, you can pause the professor to go get a snack, try doing that in real life. The site is also designed well; no surprise considering this is the brains at MIT. What is perhaps most remarkable about this venture is that it is entirely free. OpenCourseWare is truly one of the great examples of the way in which the Internet is leveling the playing fields between the haves and have-nots. For anyone that has dreamed of having an Ivy League education, OpenCourseWare is the closest thing to manifestation. While you cannot receive actual credit or a diploma, you can create for yourself or your learners you are instructing a very close model of what a MIT education entails. For teachers the world over, it provides an amazing template for plugging and playing the MIT course structure for many classes. It also works great simply as an accompaniment to a class. For more information, see Academic Earth or the Khan Academy.
Sayonara to so much Chalk & Talk