Get a Free Education from MIT!
Through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Open CourseWare (MIT OCW) Project, you can get free, searchable, access to MIT’s course materials for educators, students, and self-learners around the world. From Aeronautics to Women’s Studies, they currently have over 900 courses published online, with a goal of making virtually all course online.
Poking around for a bit, they have handouts, sample exams, lecture notes, even digital pictures of the blackboards! The only thing missing is the sound of the guy beside you snoring. I always wondered why someone couldn’t just walk into most university campus classrooms, sit down, and learn just about everything I did, minus the diploma. It would take time and some passion, but you could do it…
Find more in Deals & Offers | 5/23/05, 12:46pm | Trackback
May 23rd, 2005 at 1:58 pm
the other thing missing is a per-course forum for folks to discuss the materials even amongst each other, let alone with a professor.
May 24th, 2005 at 8:07 am
Thanks for the link
-Hemant
May 25th, 2005 at 2:05 pm
In Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon said, “You dropped 150 grand on [an] education you could
have gotten for $1.50 in late charges at the public library.”
There are obvious reasons why you can’t get a free education, but I’ll state them here anyway. First of all, most institutions prohibit outsiders from auditing courses. It may not be rigidly enforced, but I think if you started attending every lecture you’d get kicked out sooner or later.
More importantly, there is no group involvment or feedback on your progress. The professor critiques your work and you learn a lot through that process. You also learn by interacting with your peers on group projects and study sessions. All of that would be lost.
May 11th, 2007 at 9:01 am
thanks for the info. it’s still working!
October 25th, 2007 at 10:39 am
It looks like the home link changed. For those looking to follow the first MIT OCW link above, it is now: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm