Campus Life - Letterf from MIT

Free knowledge for all

By Shin Kuwaki

MIT OpenCourseWare のサイト (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html)。

The initiative to make Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) courses open to the public has advanced to the point where materials from nearly 80 MIT courses are now available on the Web free of charge. Under the name of MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), the project intends to make effective use of e-learning (learning through the use of materials available on the Internet) so that MIT's extensive knowledge, innovation, technology and leadership may be shared with scholars, students and individuals around the world.

Until recently, I was unaware that MIT's online learning program had expanded to such an extent. The MIT OCW allows access to study materials for various courses to virtually anyone who can use the Internet. Clicking on a particular course will provide an outline ofthe syllabus and listings of lecture notes, readings and other additional materials. The program is not restricted to MIT coursework and there are often links to other relevant online resources. It is a sincere initiative to promote the spread of knowledge.

The OCW makes full use of computer technology and the possibilities of this unique media by incorporating visualizations, animations and texts available for download. For example, the Physics courseware provides many animated demonstrations of various topics like magnetic forces and wave motions. Surprisingly, they were the same demonstrations that I had encountered in my Physics class during my first year at MIT. In a lecture hall surrounded by hundreds of students, I remember our professor standing at the podium with his laser pointer, explaining the details of some intriguing animation on the screen upfront.

In a similar manner, the material available on the Web can be used as a part of a class demonstration by people outside the Institute. It can also be used as a resource for individual research projects, as guidance for educators who need hints on preparing instructional materials, or simply as a way to make good use of free time. In these ways, the OCW can be a beneficial and significant tool for the availability and expansion of knowledge in the educational community.

Although the OCW Web site is constantly being updated with the addition of many new courses, I feel that it still has two major drawbacks at the moment. Firstly, the project still has a long way to go before it will reach its goal: to have virtually all MIT courses available on the Web by the year 2007. For instance, looking under the Physics category, there is only one course listed out of the nearly one hundred courses offered at the Institute. Only five are listed under Biology, and only three under Economics. Where it currently stands, I feel that the OCW is insufficient to meet all of its users' needs.

Secondly, the OCW program is still only a glimpse of what a full MIT education can offer. There is no real-time student-professor interaction, no spontaneous responses to students' questions, no TA (teaching assistant)if you need extra help, no sleepless nights with other students working in the dormitory lounge to finish the last question on the problem set.

Nevertheless, the program has taken a leading step into a new arena of educational possibilities. In the eyes of MIT and many other educational organizations that support this type of free learning, a higher education is no longer a privilege for the lucky few that get accepted into competitive colleges or have the financial resources for obtaining such an education. Although at its current state the program still has its limitations, it will continue to expand its resources so that eventually all MIT courses will be freely accessible online. As MIT continues to develop this program, I hope that it will serve as a motivation for students of all cultural, ethnic and educational backgrounds to seek higher levels of knowledge, and as a means of exploring their own interests and capabilities.

Shukan ST: April 18, 2003

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