i'm a student at MIT. i'll assert that while OCW is extremely cool (albeit largely incomplete because many lack time or refuse to post everything for fear of cheating on future courses), going to college (any college) is a totally different experience than reading webpages and watching videos. you go to college not only to learn stuff, but also to interact with people of similar interests, do projects together, and generally be around the community that you like to be with. at MIT, for example, the big deal is research.if you plan to go to MIT as a full-time student, while your money goes toward feeding your professors, you are more paying for the research experiences and opportunities, social experiences (yes, this is very important in college - whether it's starting business ventures together or talking about projects in your own time with people in your dorm that actually care about the things you do), the use of facilities, and the support of others.i'll agree that OCW is a great step forward in making knowledge free as it should be, but OCW is not designed to replace the experience of going to college.
I think it is.take a mostly antisocial, non-ambitious, aloof and not-a-care-in-the-world guy like me.if it weren't for college, people would probably never notice me and hire me.i got my ticket to a life of slaving away for a big corp.I'm not happy or sad at all, but sort of grateful that I don't have to bust my ass trying to survive because I'm so calm and non-ambitious...
I disagree. There is a lot of intense non-math related course work in there too. Their Political Science section has some great classes. I take Poli Sci at UBC, which has a larger selection, but the MIT classes quite good. You have intro classes too, for those who don't know the details of realism, liberalism, constructivism, etc. etc.
vegangJan 4, 2007
Torrents lol(Yeah, I know, good luck finding any. It was a joke)
Closed AccountJan 4, 2007
i'm a student at MIT. i'll assert that while OCW is extremely cool (albeit largely incomplete because many lack time or refuse to post everything for fear of cheating on future courses), going to college (any college) is a totally different experience than reading webpages and watching videos. you go to college not only to learn stuff, but also to interact with people of similar interests, do projects together, and generally be around the community that you like to be with. at MIT, for example, the big deal is research.if you plan to go to MIT as a full-time student, while your money goes toward feeding your professors, you are more paying for the research experiences and opportunities, social experiences (yes, this is very important in college - whether it's starting business ventures together or talking about projects in your own time with people in your dorm that actually care about the things you do), the use of facilities, and the support of others.i'll agree that OCW is a great step forward in making knowledge free as it should be, but OCW is not designed to replace the experience of going to college.
liminaldustJan 4, 2007
I think it is.take a mostly antisocial, non-ambitious, aloof and not-a-care-in-the-world guy like me.if it weren't for college, people would probably never notice me and hire me.i got my ticket to a life of slaving away for a big corp.I'm not happy or sad at all, but sort of grateful that I don't have to bust my ass trying to survive because I'm so calm and non-ambitious...
mercurysquadJan 4, 2007
But no professor wants to bark at an empty lecture hall.
mercurysquadJan 5, 2007
You need RealPlayer to watch the videos (and only some courses have the videos).
ccoeJan 5, 2007
Yes, thanks. I realised my mistake later. A bit of an odd place to be giving out grammar tips though.
ccoeJan 5, 2007
I disagree. There is a lot of intense non-math related course work in there too. Their Political Science section has some great classes. I take Poli Sci at UBC, which has a larger selection, but the MIT classes quite good. You have intro classes too, for those who don't know the details of realism, liberalism, constructivism, etc. etc.