MIT's Online Education Prototype Opens For Enrollment 42
OldHawk777 writes with news that MITx, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's online learning initiative, has opened free enrollment for its first course: 6.002x: Circuits and Electronics.
"Modeled after MIT’s 6.002 — an introductory course for undergraduate students in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) — 6.002x will introduce engineering in the context of the lumped circuit abstraction, helping students make the transition from physics to the fields of electrical engineering and computer science. ... 'We are very excited to begin MITx with this prototype class,' says MIT Provost L. Rafael Reif. 'We will use this prototype course to optimize the tools we have built by soliciting and acting on feedback from learners.' To access the course, registered students will log in at mitx.mit.edu, where they will find a course schedule, an e-textbook for the course, and a discussion board. Each week, students will watch video lectures and demonstrations, work with practice exercises, complete homework assignments, and participate in an online interactive lab specifically designed to replicate its real-world counterpart. Students will also take exams and be able to check their grades as they progress in the course. Overall, students can expect to spend approximately 10 hours each week on the course."
Re:Now do the same thing for primary schools.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Better yet, YOU should make it free. It's easy to demand things from other people, but very difficult to share what you know.
Re:A brave new world...Indeed (Score:5, Insightful)
It's funny you chose that title, as Huxley would very much disapprove of what is going on here. Thousands of students planted in front of machines getting the knowledge they need placed inside of them... which is admittedly an exaggeration for effect, but one that I believe in.
I took Thurn and Norvig's into to AI class and was pretty thoroughly disappointed. But I am also disappointed in most of what went on in my undergraduate school, and equally disappointed with myself when I was yapping in front of calculus students at the UC when I was lecturing there. The problem is that lecturing is really crappy for actually learning anything. However, it's the easiest thing to do, and scales remarkably well. Furthermore, adult learners love it. Especially those who have already learned something about the subject. The process usually goes: student learns something marginally well, hears a concise explanation/lecture on the subject later, things connect and click into place, and then the learner says "well why the hell didn't they just do that in the first place?!?". The answer is that it wouldn't have worked in the first place. It works now because of the scaffolding afforded by your earlier education (re your HS courses being blown out of the water).
It was best said at a paper presentation I went to recently that "we need to get out of this mode of believing that if we can just find someone to explain things better than anyone else then we can record it, package it, and solve all of our educational problems." Students need to do, experience, build knowledge and skills. Sure, lecture can be a part of it, but I think most people find that exercises, study groups (especially the more collaborative ones), labs and other more constructivistic experiences are what made the content from lectures stick. So the answer isn't in the content, but rather the glue that does the blending you speak of above.
Re:Now do the same thing for primary schools.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Better yet, YOU should make it free. It's easy to demand things from other people, but very difficult to share what you know.
Hmm. Well, that's what I always do: Share what I know. In fact, the way I learn is to create 'How To' guides for how to do X. In the process of creating the guide I've learned it, or vise versa. Think of it as working around the material's copyrights and artificial obsolescence by creating my own unique texts. In fact, in the past people have purchased my "notes" because they were better than what the textbook and professor offered in the way of understandable explanations; I've also been a tutor both for free and for profit. I practically taught my HS Calculus class... (teacher had a heavy accent and wouldn't repeat anything). It's funny, but I never asked for monetary compensation for my time, folks just insist. We call this "donations" now...
I also make and use Free Software. In my spare spare time (not a typo), when I'm not sharing what I know, I've been going back over some of my notes and creating a tutorial: 'Zero to Hero - learn programming & geometry from the ground up' through creating a series of games -- From the 'Playing the Odds' (Higher / Lower, number-lines, etc ) thru Pung, Tetras, Brokeout, Poc-mon, Galaca, Maria, Masteroids (trig), and so on -- which I plan to share freely. I've always found math easier when embodied in working code examples; What better motivator for kids of all ages than games? In my experience, learning is more readily retained and enjoyable when the knowledge is reinforced through application than quickly crammed and forgotten when tested.
Also, I can still call up the GWBASIC programs & tutorials from when I taught myself linear equations & trig -- My school text books? Oh, why they're no where to be found, had to return them -- probably in a land fill somewhere now, but I've taught my nephew linear equations with my example programs (after converting them to JavaScript) far faster and easier than his text book was doing. He hated mathematics, now he can't just can't wait for a tutor session, and we're several chapters ahead of his class. Who knew making your own graphing calculator and extending it would be so much more fun and educational than just using one?
It's only difficult to share if you've got an aversion to sharing. It's so hard for me not to share I find myself helping people constantly. I just shared an afternoon (and some of my fresh-home-made pizza) with my 75 year old neighbour and taught him some more about Debian.
Much like the FUD about Linux usability (hey gramps can do it), FUD about sharing is unfounded as well.
That said, the problem with getting open learning resources in primary schools is that there are some folks with vested interests in keeping the proprietary text book market afloat... If only copyright didn't last so damn long. Compare a Math or English text book from the 1950's (~60 years ago) to today's primary schools' books, and it's clear we've really lowered the bar. It would be better to use public domain works for education IMHO, if only congress and Mega Media Corps hadn't effectively killed the public domain... Kids today aren't even using the latter half of their text books (here in Texas) thanks to the months of standardised testing "preparation" the kids endure -- The schools earn money the better the kids score. The crappy schools get less funding, and more crappy, then close. o_O The standardised tests cover bullshit they should already know from the previous years in every case I've seen.
I think a free and open education platform is exactly what we need, but bet your bottom dollar the established education system will want a cut -- Licensed testing, etc. That's fine! So long as the kids aren't taken away from their studies for months to cram for a test covering knowledge they should already know.