首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Free College Courses Feed Global Hunger for Learning In 2002, when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) started to
Free College Courses Feed Global Hunger for Learning In 2002, when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) started to
admin
2013-06-17
48
问题
Free College Courses Feed Global Hunger for Learning
In 2002, when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) started to make course content available free online, project organizers surely had no idea that their site would become a favorite destination for science junkies (上瘾者)across the globe. They posted lecture outlines and other materials primarily as a resource for fellow educators. But a whopping 55% of the 750,000 monthly visitors come from the ranks of "independent learners’ who simply want the knowledge that once required a student ID. "Our biggest surprise was the great number of independent learners," says Steve Carson, external relations director for MIT Open Course Ware (ocw. mit. edu). "It demonstrates that there is the unsatisfied hunger for learning that’s out there."
Independent learners are reaping a harvest of new, free opportunities with the purpose of either brushing up on skills or pursuing an education that had always been out of reach before. Through those that are known as "open courseware", anyone that has the Internet access can freely tap materials from about 5,000 courses at more than 150 colleges and universities around the world.
Resources from physics to family finance
The resource base is expanding quickly. Last year, Utah became the first state which has publicly funded open courseware by establishing the Utah Open Course Ware Alliance, which provides a lot of materials from seven institutions. Last fall, Yale University launched the first seven in a planned collection of nearly 30 open courses, all of which involve complete sets of videotaped lectures (open. yale. edu). And Apple’s iTunes U website enables the free access to audio and video of lectures supplied by dozens of schools. Through open courseware, Yale’s "Fundamentals of Physics" and "Modem Poetry" are as accessible as Utah State University’s "Family Finance" and "Vegetable Gardening and Lawn Care". Those education scholars see the vast potential. "In this way, independent learners might use course materials to fill in gaps in their educations and save a lot of time because experts have packaged a wealth of information for them", says Janette Hill, an associate professor of instructional technology at the University of Georgia.
Take it or give it
The open courseware has really excited a lot of people; at the same time, it also is raising some questions, such as how much interaction is necessary to make learning successful. "Do you believe that it is really enough just to have the information?" Hill asks. "The power of learning occurs in some kind of discussion forum where people can share ideas with each other about what they’ve been reading, what they’ve been listening to. and extend that to each other."
Users truly have many reasons for dabbling in open courseware, which, unlike those online degree programs, doesn’t offer any course credits. Those sanitation (卫生设施) engineers in developing countries sometimes need technical know-how, Carson says, so they’ll try to seek out an MIT engineering course. The Alumni and parents monitor courses at the University of Notre Dame site to stay in touch with intellectual life on campus, says Terri Bays, project director for Notre Dame Open Course Ware.
Some people are even charting a discount path to obtain a degree. Shirley Thomas of Owings Mills, Md. , says she wants to pursue a new career after her 27 years in nursing, but she’s not sure yet what she can take to study. Finally came her solution: Test the waters by studying international economics through USU’s open courseware. Later she hopes to get credit through the College Board’s College-Level Examination Program (CLEP). which allows test takers to earn college credit for what they have already known. "Don’t feel like sitting in a classroom after working a 12-hour shift." Thomas says. "It is extremely important for me to be able to take classes for free, especially since I haven’t decided which degree I really intend to pursue. ’
Others, however, have become frustrated because they have to spend a lot of time sorting through piles of materials without any guidance from experts or sounding board for questions. Seventy-year-old retiree Diana Hatfield Bixby browsed MIT’s open courseware from her home in Palouse, Idaho, but she soon try to give up because of the absence of any back-and-forth communication. "What I’d like to have is one-on-one with people responding to e-mail. (but) there’s no way I could afford online education, which involves paying some tuition (学费) ", Hatfield-Bixby says. "With this type of open courseware program, there shouldn’t be any lack of education. But how one is expected to achieve that knowledge has to be clearer, more defined and less intimidating."
More important than just a degree
As open courseware matures, its forms begin to vary as widely as its content. Notre Dame’s "Introduction to Philosophy" for instance, supplements a reading list with lecture outlines. "Introduction to Non-violence", another open courseware at the University of California-Berkeley, involves watching 28 lectures on YouTube.
Not everyone prefers multimedia platforms. In Indonesia, limited bandwidth (带宽)means it’s easier to download static files than to deal with streaming video or audio. Because many materials from MIT and USU don’t require multimedia platforms, teachers across Indonesia are able to access them and benefit, even though they’re not studying for credit. "Learning materials and process are much more important here than just getting a degree," says Ferry Haris. a computer programmer for the Indonesian government, "especially when books are very costly for most of ns here."
As more institutions supply open courseware, those independent learners, who might not be MIT-level whiz kids, will find that subjects are presented on a more accessible level, according to David Wiley, director of the Center for Open Sustainable Learning at USU. MIT has led the way, but now that MIT has made all of its 1,800 courses available, organizers there will be glad to see others catching up. "We’re losing market share by the day," Carson says, "and that’s really exciting."
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
B
解析
由题干中in 2002可定位到第一段首句In 2002...project organizers surely had no idea that their site would become a favorite destination for science junkies across the globe.[精析] 否定结构处设题。本题考查MIT将教学材料上网时的想法。根据原句可知,他们这么做时并没想到该网站竟成为科学爱好者们的热门网站。由此可见,题干说当初他们就希望将该网站建成世界最受欢迎之的网站的说法与原文不符。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/CvM7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Asweknow,itisveryimportantthatafirmshouldpayattentiontothetrainingofitsstaffasthereexistmanyweakpartsin
A、Helikestheblackandwhitesweater.B、Hedoesn’tlikeeithersweater.C、Helikesthewhitedress.D、Helikesbothoftheswe
Manystudentsfindtheexperienceofattendinguniversitylecturestobeaconfusingandfrustratingexperience.Thelecturersp
The【B1】______ofclosed-circuittelevisionandothernewelectronicteachingtoolsissogreatthatitis【B2】______tovisualize"
Internethaslongbeenthefocusofresearch.Recently,alargestudy【C1】______thatotherwisehealthyteenagersaremuchmore【C2
Somanyofusholdontolittleresentmentsthatmayhavestemmedfromanargument,amisunderstanding,orsomeotherpainfulev
Thegreenhouseeffectcausestroublebyraisingthetemperatureoftheplanet.The【1】riseisnotverymuch,buttheEarth’secos
AgriculturalexpertshavelaunchedalandandwatermanagementprojectintheMiddleEast.Theprojectseekstoincreasefood【B1
A、Thewomanshouldhavewatchedthevolleyballmatch.B、Hedidn’twatchthevolleyballmatcheither.C、Hewasn’tpleasedwithth
A、Theirsimilarsocialstatus.B、Theirinterdependence.C、Theircommoninterest.D、Theiridenticalcharacter.C短文中提到,艾琳和帕特都喜欢去剧院
随机试题
输入50名学生的出生年月份,统计并输出每个月份过生日的学生人数。#defineN50voidmain(){inti,month;intbirth[13]={0};/*birth[1]—birth[
男性,45岁。有胃病史10余年,近1年症状加剧,胃纳不佳就诊。胃镜检查见胃角溃疡,幽门螺杆菌(+)。在问诊时最有诊断价值的病史是
博美犬,分娩后第4天早晨出现震颤,瘫痪,吠叫,呼吸短促,大量流涎。体温42℃,血糖5.5mmol/L,血清钙1.2mmoL/L。该病治疗药物的首选给药途径是()。[2010年真题]
固定义齿修复的最佳时间一般是在拔牙后
患者,男,48岁。颈增粗20年,近1年内体重减少]0kg,并有突眼、食欲亢进、心悸。体检发现双侧甲状腺多个结节。基础代谢率31%,2小时内甲状腺摄碘29%。该患者最可能的诊断是
[2003年第063题]图B.4.3中的居民分别处于哪个地区?
本批货物的唛头是“HYEC8ET74”。( )报检单的“标记及号码”栏应填为“N/M”。( )
下列关于行政管理的表述,不正确的是()。
计算并填写下表:【3】
Everydayyou______toyourself:"Ihaveplentyoftime.I’lllearnmylessontomorrow."
最新回复
(
0
)