[edtech] The MIT OpenCourseWare Update -- Vol. 3, Issue 1

ocw-mail@MIT.EDU ocw-mail at MIT.EDU
Mon Jan 24 12:41:08 EST 2005


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The MIT OpenCourseWare Update: January 2005

A Monthly E-mail Newsletter for Users
and Friends of MIT OpenCourseWare
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The January 2005 MIT OpenCourseWare Update Contains:
1. New User Feature: MIT Curriculum Guide
2. MIT OCW's Approach to Video and Audio
3. Digging Deeper: Course 21M.361
4. A Frequently Asked Question
5. Comments
6. Newsletter Available Online at 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/AboutOCW/newsletter.htm>http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/AboutOCW/newsletter.htm



1. New User Feature: MIT Curriculum Guide
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Many users have contacted MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW), asking for 
information about MIT's curriculum so they would be able to design 
their own course of self-study. In the interest of improving the user 
experience with MIT OCW materials, we are now offering a 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/OCWHelp/mitcurriculum.htm>guide to 
the MIT's undergraduate and graduate curriculum on the MIT OCW Web 
site. Users are reminded that following these MIT curriculum 
requirements does not make them eligible to receive a degree or any 
other sort of certification. This is merely an informational service 
that MIT OCW is providing for its users.

On this page, you will find a list of all 33 of MIT's academic 
departments, along with a 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/OCWHelp/mitcurriculum.htm>degree 
table that offers links to the degree requirements -- both 
undergraduate and graduate -- for each department. In addition, we 
provide the 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/OCWHelp/mitcurriculum.htm#undergrad>graduation 
requirements for MIT undergraduates, and an explanation of the 
various 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/OCWHelp/mitcurriculum.htm#grad>degrees 
MIT graduate students may pursue.

Again, users are reminded that MIT OCW is not a distance-learning 
initiative, there is no registration or enrollment process required 
for users to view course materials. Nor is there a certificate or 
degree granted upon completion of the materials. MIT OCW is a 
publication of the course materials that support the dynamic 
classroom interactions of an MIT education.

We hope this serves as a useful tool for educators, students, and 
self-learners interacting with the MIT OCW materials. Please feel 
free to <mailto:ocw at mit.edu>send us your feedback on this new MIT OCW 
user feature.



2. MIT OCW's Approach to Video and Audio
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Video lectures are useful for users of MIT OCW, and we continue to 
strategically publish video lectures from select faculty at MIT. But 
there are several reasons that MIT OCW does not include video in 
every course. The main concern is cost: While the technology for 
compressing and storing video is becoming more affordable, it is 
still not affordable, or feasible from a production standpoint, for 
us to be compressing 20 video lectures for all 915 of our courses. 
MIT OCW does not have that kind of storage capacity at this time.

We are hoping that by providing the syllabus, reading lists and 
lecture notes, we are offering a chance for educators and students to 
jumpstart their own teaching and learning within their chosen 
discipline. While the video lectures for 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-06Linear-AlgebraFall2002/CourseHome/index.htm>Course 
18.06: Linear Algebra, for example, are very easy for people with 
fast Internet connections to watch, MIT OCW is not intended to be a 
complete distance learning resource, it merely provides the raw 
materials of an MIT education.

We do, however, offer complete video lecture series for the following courses:
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-01Physics-IFall1999/VideoLectures/index.htm>Course 
8.01 -- Physics I, Fall 1999
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-02Electricity-and-MagnetismSpring2002/VideoLectures/index.htm>Course 
8.02 -- Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2002
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-03Spring2004/VideoLectures/index.htm>Course 
18.03 -- Differential Equations, Spring 2004
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-06Linear-AlgebraFall2002/VideoLectures/index.htm>Course 
18.06 -- Linear Algebra, Fall 2002
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-085Mathematical-Methods-for-Engineers-IFall2002/VideoLectures/index.htm>Course 
18.085 -- Mathematical Methods for Engineers I, Fall 2002
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Comparative-Media-Studies/CMS-930Media--Education--and-the-MarketplaceFall2001/VideoLectures/index.htm>Course 
CMS.930 -- Media, Education, and the Marketplace, Fall 2001

For more information about our video and audio lectures, please visit 
the new <http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/OCWHelp/avocw.htm>Video and 
Audio on MIT OCW page in the 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/OCWHelp/help.htm>Help section of 
our site.



3. Digging Deeper: Course 21M.361
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While MIT is known as a world-class research and technology 
institution, there is a very rich tradition of the study of the arts 
and humanities at the school. Charged with the energy of new ideas, 
the <http://web.mit.edu/shass/>MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and 
Social Sciences (SHASS) attracts many of the world's finest faculty, 
students, and researchers. SHASS, in fact, is the common denominator 
of an MIT student's undergraduate education, providing a foundation 
of knowledge that enhances life-long learning in every field.

Among the 13 departments and programs offered by SHASS is the 
<http://web.mit.edu/mta/www/music/index.html>MIT Music and Theater 
Arts Section, which offers a variety of challenging and rewarding 
musical opportunities for students at every level of preparation and 
talent, including 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Music-and-Theater-Arts/21M-361Composing-with-ComputersSpring2003/CourseHome/index.htm>Course 
21M.361 -- Composing with Computers, a course taught by Professor 
Evan Ziporyn.

In this course students use computers and computer-aided technology 
as compositional tools, that is, as a means to music-making and an 
avenue to approach musical and acoustic concepts. Each unit of study 
consists of a series of short composition projects using specific 
types of hardware and software in clearly delineated ways. This 
involves live recording and digital editing, digital processing, 
analog sound synthesis (real and virtual), MIDI sequencing, and 
building interactive environments. For enrolled MIT students, the 
course culminates in a large, final composition and a public concert.

The course 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Music-and-Theater-Arts/21M-361Composing-with-ComputersSpring2003/Syllabus/index.htm>syllabus 
is divided into four units: Sound Structures, Feedback, Structuring 
Sound, and Interaction. There is also a 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Music-and-Theater-Arts/21M-361Composing-with-ComputersSpring2003/Readings/index.htm>rich 
list of suggested readings (including Computer Music: Synthesis, 
Composition, and Performance by Charles Dodge and Thomas Jerse), CDs, 
and video that help illustrate the principles taught in the course. 
In addition, Professor Ziporyn has compiled 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Music-and-Theater-Arts/21M-361Composing-with-ComputersSpring2003/Labs/index.htm>11 
labs that help teach students the principles of sound and music 
composition.

This course has been translated into 
<http://mit.ocw.universia.net/21M-361Composing-with-ComputersSpring2003/OcwWeb/Music-and-Theater-Arts/21M-361Composing-with-ComputersSpring2003/CourseHome/index.htm>Spanish 
and 
<http://www.universiabrasil.net/mit/curso.jsp?codcurso=82>Portuguese 
through MIT OCW's partnership with 
<http://www.universia.net/>Universia.net, a Madrid-based content 
provider for more than 800 universities in Spain, Portugal, and Latin 
America.



4. A Frequently Asked Question
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QUESTION: How do I find what courses are available?
ANSWER: MIT OCW offers the educational materials 
from <http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/all-courses.htm>915 MIT 
courses. There are three ways to access the materials: Utilize the 
Search function that can be found in the left-hand corner of every 
page on the MIT OCW site. Search for specific text, such as certain 
academic discipline area, across all courses or within just one 
course. To perform a detailed search, use 
our <http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/jsp/AdvancedSearch.jsp>Advanced Search.

A second way to see what courses are available is to click 
on <http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/all-courses.htm>Course List that 
is listed in the top right-corner navigation of every page on the MIT 
OCW Web site. This will allow you to view the list of every available 
course, grouped into the 33 MIT academic departments.

Or, view the courses currently available grouped by MIT department. 
The departments that have MIT OCW course sites available are listed 
in the left-hand navigation bar of the 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm>MIT OCW homepage. An example 
would be the MIT 
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Science/index.htm>Department 
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Click on 
the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science link in the left 
navigation bar on the MIT OCW homepage, and you will go to the 
department homepage, which includes a complete list of MIT electrical 
engineering and computer science courses offered, along with a brief 
description of the department and its curriculum goals.


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<http://ocw.mit.edu>MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) is a large-scale, 
Web-based publishing initiative with the goal of providing free, 
searchable access to MIT course materials for educators, students, 
and individual learners around the world. These materials are offered 
in a single, searchable structure spanning all of MIT's academic 
disciplines, and include uniform metadata about the contents of the 
individual subject sites.

"The MIT OpenCourseWare Update" welcomes your feedback and 
suggestions about this newsletter and the MIT OCW Web site. Please 
send your feedback to Jon Paul Potts, MIT OCW Communications Manager, 
at <mailto:jpotts at mit.edu>jpotts at mit.edu. Our mailing address is MIT 
OpenCourseWare, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 9-213, Cambridge, MA 
02139.

MIT does not share subscribers' email addresses and will not send 
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