M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All

Though it's not comparable to class interaction, it comes free to anyone in the world and it's better than no education at all.

For Wall Street Occupiers or other decriers of the “social injustice” of college tuition, here’s a curveball bound to scramble your worldview: a totally free college education regardless of your academic performance or background. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) will announce on Monday that they intend to launch an online learning initiative called M.I.T.x,which will offer the online teaching of M.I.T. courses free of charge to anyone in the world.

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M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All - Forbes

MIT Oprn Courseware Website - Free Online Course Materials | MIT OpenCourseWare

I think thats great, I am a big supporter of information being free, especially on-line.

But unless there is some sort of evidence that one watched, comprehended, and remembered the videos and assignments, this does no one any good as far as obtaining a job, particularly a high level job or a job that requires licensing.

It could certainly be a great tool for someone to review some old coursework, or to augment what they are taking in a for-credit classroom.

imagep said:

I think thats great, I am a big supporter of information being free, especially on-line.

But unless there is some sort of evidence that one watched, comprehended, and remembered the videos and assignments, this does no one any good as far as obtaining a job, particularly a high level job or a job that requires licensing.

It could certainly be a great tool for someone to review some old coursework, or to augment what they are taking in a for-credit classroom.

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I think it's good for third world countries where many can hardly afford to go to college. Could also be MIT's way of publicity with the declining student enrollment and govt. funds.

I've come ot rely on their open course ware A LOT. . . I've clept-tested out of several courses with the aid of their online schooling and it's been GREAT to help study for courses in which my materials given to me by my teacher and the textbook just aren't enough for me to grasp the concepts (mostly in the math field).

I'll definitely be jumping into their free online certification program - how cool is that.

But dear god is that Simmons hall a fine example of Bauhaus or what?

What kind of certificate is it? Will it actually help uneducated individuals to gain important knowledge that can be applied to the real world? Just curious if these certificates will actually be the "answer" any of the occupy protestors issues.

This is at least slightly more demanding than leisurely-paced intellectual growth, but it is rather close to iTunes U, Khan Academy, and The Teaching Company (a company that I adore). It is still leisurely, and does not produce quite the same mentor-student relationship that I think is most beneficial at a traditional university setting. I don't think this is quite the game changer NYT is making it to be, but it is a worthy addition.

JennMcNeal23 said:

What kind of certificate is it? Will it actually help uneducated individuals to gain important knowledge that can be applied to the real world? Just curious if these certificates will actually be the "answer" any of the occupy protestors issues.

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There's no certificate.

Some people just want to, you know... learn. For the sake of it.

Unless the classes are dumbed down, I doubt that faux-classes from MIT would help the average person. Hell, I went to a top-notch business school and I'd be intimidated with someone educated by the Mass. Institute of Technology.

As a whole I'm against free secondary/tertiary education, but if this is what they want to do, more power to 'em.

Gipper said:

Unless the classes are dumbed down, I doubt that faux-classes from MIT would help the average person. Hell, I went to a top-notch business school and I'd be intimidated with someone educated by the Mass. Institute of Technology.

As a whole I'm against free secondary/tertiary education, but if this is what they want to do, more power to 'em.

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I have recently been watching a free online class offered on itunes and youtube for free by "open yale". There has yet to be a word spoken that I didn't understand, if anything, I wish that the lecturer would talk faster (although I have seen some online lectures that were at a very fast rate). I watched two weeks of lectures (first 6 class meetings) in just two days during my spare time. I intend on watching another lecture or two each day this week and finishing up with the entire semester next weekend. I did the same thing with a Harvard class on "game theory".

I really don't believe that MIT or Ivey League classes are any harder than the classes at state university or mytown jr. college. I mean most certainly if I wasn't familiar with basic chemistry, watching lectures on advanced chemistry, like they might teach at MIT would be over my head, but without understanding basic chemistry an advanced chemistry class would be over my head no matter what college taught it. Our community college teaches organic chemistry, and I promise, I would be wasting my time to take that class.

So why I am taking a Yale class online for no credit? The heck if I know. Seems kind of pointless. I guess I am just doing it to see if I am as smart as Ivy Leaguers.

In theory, I could get the equivilent to an entire bachelors degree worth of lectures in a year at this rate. For free. I already have one bachelors, but it would be cool if I could just take a test and get some more degrees, just for the heck of it. Imagine, just in my free time I could get 150 credit hours, ontop of the degree I already have. With that 150 credit hours, if I followed the Harvard or Yale curriculum, I could get like three more bachelors degrees since I already have met the general education and elective requirements. Or I could get for or five masters degrees. Or a couple of PhDs (minus the disertation). Not bad in a years time.

Oh I have zero respect for Ivy Leagues, but I don't link MIT to that. It's why I would never sully the name of Stanford by drawing a comparison to New England "old money" schools.