I do think this is a genuine attempt to spread knowledge.
Even being cynical there is no real downside for them.
People will still want to go to MIT 'for real' and they will still fill their lecture halls with paying students - even if MIT could expand to take everyone that wanted to go there - this would dilute the MIT brand.
Allowing everyone else to get the knowledge for free simply kills the competition, there is no market for a staet-college online course when you can have the best for free.
Maybe if smaller state-colleges are smart they can leverage OCW to their advantage. Instead of doing their own lectures and coursework, they'll use OCW and focus on adding value where OCW cannot with things like instructor led discussion and Q&A sessions about the lecture you've just seen, helping with and grading coursework, one-on-one assistance with assignments, handing out certificates or diplomas upon completing a set of courses, and all the other good stuff an actual college can to better than a pre-recorded video. In fact I'd probably sign up and pay money for just that.
That was the idea, and why MIT were surprised that most people were using it on their own.
What I meant was that there was no market for a small college selling lectures online for $100s when you could get MIT for free. It won't change the economics of people going to college
Comments
I do think this is a genuine attempt to spread knowledge.
Even being cynical there is no real downside for them. People will still want to go to MIT 'for real' and they will still fill their lecture halls with paying students - even if MIT could expand to take everyone that wanted to go there - this would dilute the MIT brand.
Allowing everyone else to get the knowledge for free simply kills the competition, there is no market for a staet-college online course when you can have the best for free.
Maybe if smaller state-colleges are smart they can leverage OCW to their advantage. Instead of doing their own lectures and coursework, they'll use OCW and focus on adding value where OCW cannot with things like instructor led discussion and Q&A sessions about the lecture you've just seen, helping with and grading coursework, one-on-one assistance with assignments, handing out certificates or diplomas upon completing a set of courses, and all the other good stuff an actual college can to better than a pre-recorded video. In fact I'd probably sign up and pay money for just that.
That was the idea, and why MIT were surprised that most people were using it on their own.
What I meant was that there was no market for a small college selling lectures online for $100s when you could get MIT for free. It won't change the economics of people going to college
Exactly. Why cannot OCW serve as a sort of standardized curriculum for state schools to model their classes off of?