Online courses for free MIT are available via their OpenCourseWare program. These courses are for everyone, including high school and college students. They can also be accessed by adults seeking personal enrichment.
Coursework Overview
There are over 2000 courses available at the MIT OpenCourseWare project site. Among the most popular courses there are science, management, humanities, arts, and social sciences.
Other visited courses are Introduction to Computer Science and Programming, Introduction to C++, Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science I. The main type of digital video streaming platform used is YouTube. There is also an iPhone application provided.
Features
The majority of these courses consist of discussion topics and chronological reading lists. However, there are also courses with exams, solutions and homework problems. Many of them also have lecture notes. A few of these courses are more interactive. The demos are provided by way of Java.
Other features include streaming video lectures and complete textbooks created by professors of the university. There are more than 45 courses with complete video lectures. Videos can be streamed or downloaded for viewing offline.
Some of these audio and video files can be obtained from iTunes U. The contents were originally on a custom content management system set on the Microsoft Content Management Server. A new management system was employed in 2010.
History of the OCW Project
The idea for the project began with the MIT Council on Education Technology. The OCW project was developed so the university could position itself in digital age. The project also has a Highlights for High School program. These courses are for high school students and high school educators.
There are several topics provided including AP Physics, AP Calculus and AP Biology. There are also courses for resolving difficult problems, producing technical writings and others. Just like the rest of the OCW project, there are homework problems and lectures. They can also access competitions and labs on the site.
Other Information
There are other courses open for students. Among them are Introduction to Biology, Physics I: Classical Mechanics, Principles of Chemical Science and Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism. Other topics that are frequently taken up are differential equations, Introduction to Algorithms (SMA 5503) and circuits and electronics.
The success of online courses for free MIT has resulted in other universities adapting it. The widespread use of these services has made it possible for students to learn new things.