Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 11:01:00 -0400 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: Re: Paying for Net Foils "Public Space" Idea To: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor)
To: freematt@coil.com Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 06:54:12 -0400 Subject: Subject: L.A. Times column, 5/3/01 -- Public Space From: "T. K. Wilson" <ommani1@juno.com>
On Mon, 7 May 2001 11:09:22 -0500 Gary Chapman <gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu> writes:
>A similar rationale was behind a dramatic decision by official at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who announced last month that the university will offer nearly all its Web-based courses for free. This decision threw other universities--many of which were looking to distance education as a new source of revenue--into an entirely different position.<I would say that this is a pretty clear bid to put a stop to small independent online colleges who charge much less than the major "learning" institutions for their degrees, but who certainly can not afford to subsidize free internet classes and continue to exist. Leave it to MIT to come up with a solution to what most other big institutions could only whine about.
It is true that TANSTAAFL (from "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress") but it is also true that you can make someone else pay for your lunch if you have more ammo than they do. It just depends on whether or not the expenditure of ammo is worth the meal. Eliminating the competition will certainly allow greater access to the whole trough in the future. -T.K. ilson ###
>Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 03:07:01 EDT
>From: Rich Wiggins <wiggins@msu.edu>
>Subject: MIT OpenCourseWare misrepresented
>To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
>cc: Dr Galler <galler@g.imap.itd.umich.edu>
>
>
>Unfortunately, Gary Chapman's note in passing about MIT's
>OpenCourseWare initiative misrepresents what it is all about.
>MIT did not make an announcement about "Web-based courses."
>They announced that Web-based supporting materials for
>conventional courses will be freely available. MIT
>OpenCourseWare is NOT distance education.
>
>This may seem like a minor distinction, but in fact it is
>a huge one. MIT is not launching a new University of Phoenix.
>Their president, championing the OpenCourseWare initiative,
>says that the on-campus classroom/lab experience at MIT is still
>vital to an MIT education. This is about exposing the MIT
>curriculum, and details about MIT courses, to the world.
>It does not expose the courses themselves to the world.
>
>The MIT announcement may be very profound, or it may not.
>Many professors at many universities do post their syllabi,
>Powerpoint slides, homework assignments, etc freely on the
>Web. It's virtual courses that are protected. MIT has
>announced a university-wide initiative to provide what
>is informally available at most universities already.
>As such, materials may be better organized and more complete,
>but not necessarily different than what's at other schools.
>
>MIT cites a "consensus" of support for OpenCourseWare. Some
>argue that by exposing informal lecture notes in a world
>where others offer slickly-prepared virtual courses, that
>MIT will make itself look poor by comparison. There are
>dissenters at MIT. For details, see:
>
>http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb010423-1.htm
>
>/rich
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