MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), available at http://ocw.mit.edu/, is a large-scale, web-based publication of the educational materials from virtualy all of the MIT faculty's courses. This unique initiative enables the open sharing of MIT teaching materials with educators, enrolled students, and self-learners around the world.
OCW provides open access to the core academic content—syllabi, lecture notes, course calendars, problem sets and solutions, exams, reading lists, and even a selection of video lectures—from MIT courses representing 33 academic disciplines and all five of MIT's schools. As of January 2009, the initiative includes materials from more than 1,880 courses, presenting virutally the entire curriculum of the Institute.
At MIT, OCW's impact has been felt across the campus. Students use resources such as problem sets and exams for study and practice. Some instructors refer students to OCW for part of their coursework, and a number of faculty members use OCW materials in their classroom teaching. Alumni access OCW materials to continue their lifelong learning.
Course materials contained on the OCW website may be freely used, copied, distributed, translated, and modified by anyone, anywhere in the world for noncommercial purposes. Truly a global initiative, OCW materials have been visited by more than 53 million individuals to date. Visitors have come to the site from more than 215 countries, territories, and city-states around the globe—including every member of the United Nations—and materials already have been translated into at least 10 different languages.
MIT has also been instrumental in establishing the OCW Consortium, which brings together practitioners from more than 200 institutions around the world.
For more information about MIT OpenCourseWare, contact
Steve Carson, Room E70-810,
1 Broadway, 8th floor, MIT,
617-253-1250, ocw@mit.edu.