[MLB-WIRELESS] A free MIT education online?

[Clae]

< edited, full story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2270648.stm >

BBC NEWS
Sunday, 22 September, 2002, 07:16 GMT 08:16 UK
Learn for free online

Students will have free access to MIT's knowledge

People will soon be given access to knowledge from one of the world's 
foremost technology institutes for free over the internet, as BBC 
World ClickOnline's Ian Hardy reports.

Many other colleges launched online degree courses aimed at anyone 
with a modem and a big wallet.
But MIT has taken a completely different direction with a project 
called OpenCourseWare (OCW) that could stop the trend of 
commercialising online education dead in its tracks.

The first group of courses are set to be published on the internet on 
30 September, including subjects like anthropology, biology, 
chemistry and computer science.

Over the next 10 years, MIT will move all its existing coursework on 
to the internet.

MIT are offering an eternal promise, rare these days on the world wide web.

"There is no revenue objective for OCW, ever. It will always be 
free," insisted Ms Margulies.

MIT staff point out that if this initiative is successful, and other 
institutions follow, it will put the net back on track towards its 
original goal of sharing information and knowledge around the world, 
rather than selling CDs and t-shirts.

-- 
David Clae Gason, Secretary, Melbourne Wireless
mailto:secretary at wireless.org.au  http://melbourne.wireless.org.au

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