Last year , 12,445 mellow schoolhouse bookman applied to theMassachusetts Institute of Technology , the No . 7 - ranked U.S. universityby U.S. News and World Report . Almost 11,000 of those pupil received slim , withering rejection varsity letter a few months after . The selective shoal admits a mere 12.5 per centum of applicant each year , shattering the dreams of K of young brainiacs [ reference : U.S. News & World Report ] .
MIT ’s OpenCourseWare opening move , however , may soften the blow for those deflated student by allowing them to access many of the schooling ’s class materials online free . The university ’s in high spirits criterion and gamy tutorship ( $ 45,000 , if you let in elbow room and board ) have foreclose many mass from studying there , but MIT OpenCourseWare is less acute , putting boundless noesis at the fingertips of anyone with anInternetconnection .
launch in September 2002,MIT OpenCourseWaregives people free entree to practically all of the content of the 1,800 graduate and undergraduate courses from all five of MIT ’s schools . Class syllabus , talk notes , trouble lot , test , reading lists and television speech are all available . In summation , MIT has partner with four other schools that are officially translate the material into Spanish , Portuguese , simplified and traditional Chinese , and Thai for their own vane sites .
Since the Web website give way live , more than 40 million unequalled visitors have hold back by , and it gets 1 million smasher a month . Those user have get along from more than 215 countries and territories around the world [ source : MIT : Site Statistics , The OpenCourseWare Project ] .
If you call back the majority of exploiter are disdain MIT applicants , think again . These knowledge - hungry people break down as follows :
[ source : MIT : Site Statistics ]
The MIT plan has the potential to sharpen anyone ’s game . encounter out how the great unwashed around the cosmos have used the online materials to stand out in their area of expertness and learn how the entanglement land site differs from the real thing next .
MIT OpenCourseWare in Action
Everyone loves a free dejeuner , or a free Department of Education , as the case may be . According to MIT , students praise the lineament of the OpenCourseWare video lectures , abduce them as essential tools in aid them to pass difficult courses they ’ve taken . Teachers , meanwhile , download lesson plans for their class , skirmish up on subjects they have n’t teach in a while and use OpenCourseWare to make up for the imagination their school lack . Self - learners , too , like the site ’s resourcefulness , using the lectures , videos and other materials for career development and to satisfy their curiosity .
But could MIT OpenCourseWare make you an expert in your field ? That ’s debatable . Not all courses are post in their entirety , and you may not always notice those helpful video lecture or resolution to release . And no matter how intemperately you work or how many courses you complete , you ca n’t realize an MIT degree or claim credit hours .
rent ’s say you want to become an architect . you could address through all 37 undergraduate and 69 graduate architecture - related course mail on the internet site until you ’re dark in the face , but you still ca n’t ostentate your master ’s grade in architecture subsequently . If you ’re a consecrate pupil , you could certainly become knowledgeable abouturban design , piece of furniture making and many other topics . If you ’re really sharp , you might even design your ownhouse , but you wo n’t necessarily be capable to get a line . Last prison term we go over , own a captain ’s academic degree in OpenCourseWare was n’t one of the standard for tally a contract bridge . After all , would you hire someone to build your domicile knowing that he bring in his expertise through a one - sided fundamental interaction with thecomputer ?
On the other hand , if you ’re reckon for utilization somewhere that hires based on acquirement alone , you may be able to utilize OpenCourseWare to your reward , particularly if you already have a good foundation from which to progress . With so much information promptly available , why could n’t you become an expert in your chosen area ? That assumes you’re able to make it through much of the admittedly difficult path material .
Even if you ’re looking to take less technological classes such as expository writing , you ’ll be at a distinct disadvantage . After all , as much as learning is an item-by-item pursuit , it rely upon the help of others . With MIT OpenCourseWare , you wo n’t get to enter in course of study word . Nor will you incur constructive criticism on your work or be able-bodied to need questions of your prof .
The winner of OpenCourseWare is due to those professors . It ’s their teaching materials that are being published for the world to see . More than 90 percent of MIT instructors have voluntarily contributed to the site [ source : MIT : President ’s subject matter ] . They also came up with the idea . Since a staff committee first proposed the OpenCourseWare idea in 2000 as a way to use theInternetto further the university ’s missionary station to circulate knowledge , more than 150 other universities have started their own versions [ source : MIT : President ’s Message ] .
Whether you ’re a educatee , teacher or just a curious person , you ’re constipate to find something in MIT OpenCourseWare that interests you . From aeronautics andnuclearscience to writing and humanistic study , the course of study ’s online resources could keep you busy for years to come . And while it ’s not the same as an MIT education , it may be the next good affair .
For more data on MIT OpenCourseWare and related subject , explore the nexus on the following varlet .
