Reef lizardfish: 30 MIT OCW video courses available out of about 2150 coures, with 17 more video courses in the pipeline, How WUaS might also engage Yale University's 42 online courses, Accredit on both? MIT OCW director's letter

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I read recently in a MIT OCW - http://ocw.mit.edu/ - email that there are 30 video courses available out of about 2150 coures, with 17 more video courses in the pipeline (see letter below). In thinking ahead to matriculating undergraduates at World University and School for free, online bachelor's degrees, beginning in 2014 (http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/The_College_at_World_University_and_School) with particular interest in overachieving students, WUaS may be hiring graduate student instructors to teach using the Conference Method {http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_Method_of_Teaching_and_Learning} to these 47 MIT video courses ... developing.

But I'm curious, with WUaS's great universities' courseware-focus (Creative Commons' licensed), how WUaS might also engage Yale University's 42 online courses, - http://oyc.yale.edu/ - if they all had complete video lectures.

WUaS would consider accrediting on both MIT OCW and Yale OYC courses, if feasible, and especially if this could lead to flourishing for students, with more great OpenCourseWare, as well as choice.



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Dear Friend of OCW,

With the emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) like those offered by edX, online learning has recently kicked into high gear, and we couldn't be more excited for the potential these courses offer to help millions around the world learn more effectively and less expensively. These courses, especially the MITx courses, are an amazing complement to the materials available on MIT OpenCourseWare.

We've known for many years that in addition to supporting educators in creating courses and curriculum and allowing students to access additional resources to support their studies, OCW provides rich informal learning opportunities for independent learners. Through our OCW Scholar courses, we've enhanced our support for independent learning with enriched self-paced content and logical course sequencing. And now, MITx courses provide facilitated deep dives into specific MIT subjects.

We are entering a golden age of online education, where world-class resources such as OCW will work hand-in-hand with innovations like MITx. Already, you can see how our materials help to place MITx courses within the context of the MIT curriculum. We foresee even more ways these efforts will complement each other, and we remain deeply committed to maintaining OCW as the premier resource for sharing educational resources in use throughout the MIT community.

An update on OCW

Our OCW staff continue to work diligently in publishing courses that showcase the wide range of topics taught at MIT. To date, OCW offers 2,142 courses that cover both undergraduate and graduate levels and all 33 academic departments. You'll also find more than 40 supplemental resources to enrich your use of OCW courses.

We've also completed a total of 12 remarkably rich courses known as OCW Scholar courses. These self-paced courses, with enhanced materials and content arranged in logical sequences, cover subjects such as physics, mathematics, electrical engineering and computer science, biology, psychology, and economics. Within the next year, we plan to publish three more of these courses, Physics III-Vibrations and Waves (8.03), Engineering Dynamics (2.003), and Probabilistic Systems Analysis (6.041).

You've probably heard about our new reality web series, ChemLab Boot Camp. It's a unique look into a highly intensive course called 5.301 Chemistry Laboratory Techniques taught at MIT. In one month, freshmen students are trained in basic chemistry lab techniques. If they master these experiments, they might qualify to participate in a highly coveted original research project. The series is engaging and fun and you journey with these students as they try to overcome the many challenges in surviving this course. If you haven't already, sign up to receive notifications about each episode which will be released weekly later this month.

Making our materials more accessible remains a top priority. We now have 30 video courses with complete transcripts and 17 more in the pipeline. When completed, the entire inventory of video courses will have full transcripts and subtitles.

In the next few months, you'll also notice an improved OCW website. We'll update the look and feel of the site to help you find courses more quickly and allow us to highlight courses and resources more easily on the site.

Keeping OCW free and open

These are just some of the improvements and initiatives we have in store for this academic year, but we continue to publish high-quality, up-to-date MIT course materials, increase the use of OCW for teaching and learning, maximize the benefits of OCW for the MIT community, support worldwide Open Educational Resources (OER) and the OCW movement, and sustain the OCW program.

We are grateful for the funding we receive from MIT and foundations and institutions that provide significant support for our work. Donations from individuals like you have become increasingly important and your support is vital to keeping MIT OpenCourseWare growing and vibrant, and demonstrates to our other funders the value you place on OCW.

In the upcoming weeks, we will launch our Fall fundraising campaign. There are a number of ways you can help support OCW:

• Tell your friends and colleagues about OCW
• Make a donation to support our work
• Ask your company to match your gift to OCW
• Invite your company to make a corporate gift or become an OCW underwriter
• Help regularly build OCW's future one course at a time through the OCW Course Champions Program
• Shop via our Amazon.com links.

Your help can ensure that OCW will remain free and open, offering people anywhere in the world the opportunity to enhance their lives, communities and world.

Sincerely,

Cecilia d'Oliveira
Executive Director
MIT OpenCourseWare

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