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Posted by Susan Hyde May 2, 2007 |
While very few of the world’s students will ever have the opportunity to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, now anyone with an internet connection and an interest can benefit from the wisdom of MIT’s remarkable faculty through the MIT OpenCourseWare Initiative, an innovative program that invites students and teachers from around the world to share core classroom materials from their world renowned faculty.
Already well-known for research excellence, the MIT faculty now also reveals the quality of its teaching. With course materials from at least 1,550 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses now available, the OCW Initiative embraces the idea that learning should be free and available for anyone with a thirst for knowledge.
Although MIT is most known for its math and science research, the coursework presented at the OCW website has course content for classes from any subject imaginable. Interested in Plasma Physics? How about Trials in History? Urban Design? SCUBA or Fencing? The opportunities are endless.
The OCW and programs like it at other universities provide opportunities for innovative teachers at all levels to build on their own lesson plans and curricula in order to maximize student learning. Likewise, enrolled students and self-learners from around the world have a fantastic resource for learning.
Along with American universities like Harvard, UC Irvine, Tufts, Johns Hopkins, world universities from Beijing to Venezuela are likewise collaborating in an OpenCourseWare Consortium that reaches beyond borders to offer shared resources.
As they build their own curricula and lesson plans, teachers of all levels have a wonderful opportunity to use these resources in their own classrooms.