Thursday, September 18, 2003

MIT OpenCourseWare Update Here's the latest update from MIT OpenCourseWare. The project is trying to meet its goal of 500 courses by the official opening date in two weeks. Right now they have 262 courses open for viewing. JH ______ ---------------------------------------------------------------- The MIT OpenCourseWare Update: September 2003 A Monthly E-mail Newsletter for Users and Friends of MIT OpenCourseWare ---------------------------------------------------------------- The September 2003 MIT OpenCourseWare Update Contains: 1. New Courses Bring Total to 262 2. How Are You Using MIT OCW? 3. Digging Deeper: Course 2.875 4. A Frequently Asked Question 5. Comments 1. New Courses Bring Total to 262 ---------------------------------------------------------------- The official "launch" of MIT OpenCourseWare, with the publication of approximately 500 courses, is now just two weeks away. However, over the course of the summer, we have employed a rolling publication schedule, releasing batches of new courses to the public site on a weekly basis. This issue of the newsletter, we are pleased to highlight the course materials from 50 new MIT subjects, including: Mechanical Engineering (link to list of courses from this department) 2.27: Turbulent Flow and Transport 2.875: Mechanical Assembly and Its Role in Product Development 2.971: Second Summer Introduction to Design Materials Science and Engineering 3.00: Thermodynamics of Materials, Fall 2002 3.91J: Mechanical Behavior of Plastics Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 6.013: Electromagnetics and Applications, Fall 2002 6.035: Computer Language Engineering, Fall 2002 6.345: Automatic Speech Recognition 6.823: Computer System Architecture 6.824: Distributed Computer Systems, Fall 2002 6.867: Machine Learning 6.976: High-Speed Communication Circuits and Systems 6.977: Semiconductor Optoelectronics: Theory and Design Physics 8.05: Quantum Physics II 8.06: Quantum Physics III 8.231: Physics of Solids I 8.251: String Theory for Undergraduates 8.513: Many-Body Theory for Condensed Matter Systems, Fall 2002 Brain and Cognitive Sciences 9.10: Cognitive Neuroscience Urban Studies and Planning 11.128 Information Technology and the Labor Market 11.364: International Environmental Negotiation Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences 12.620J: Classical Mechanics: A Computational Approach Ocean Engineering 13.012: Hydrodynamics for Ocean Engineering Economics 14.02: Principles of Macroeconomics 14.06: Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory 14.12: Economic Applications of Game Theory, Fall 2002 14.128: Dynamic Optimization & Economic Applications (Recursive Methods) 14.41: Public Economics 14.453: Macroeconomic Theory III, Fall 2002 Sloan School of Management 15.279: Management Communication for Undergraduates 15.343: Managing Transformations in Work, Organizations, and Society 15.433: Investments 15.821: Listening to the Customer 15.822: Strategic Marketing Measurement 15.834: Marketing Strategy Political Science 17.01J: Justice, Fall 2002 17.537: Politics and Policy in Contemporary Japan Anthropology 21A.215: Medical Anthropology Foreign Languages & Literatures 21F.704: Spanish 4 21F.711: Advanced Spanish Conversation & Composition: Perspectives on Technology and Culture History 21H.223: War & American Society 21H.346: The French Revolution 21H.418: Technologies of Word 1450-2000, Fall 2002 Literature 21L.704: Studies in Poetry: "Does Poetry Matter" Writing and Humanistic Studies 21W.730-1: Expository Writing: Exploring Social and Ethical Issues through Film and Print Nuclear Engineering 22.105: Electromagnetic Interactions Engineering Systems Division ESD.140: Organizational Processes Health Sciences and Technology HST.176: Cellular and Molecular Immunology HST.730: Molecular Biology for the Auditory System Media Arts and Sciences MAS.863: How to Make (Almost) Anything For a complete list of all MIT OCW offerings, visit the complete course list. Look for notice of new courses in subsequent issues of "The MIT OpenCourseWare Update" email newsletter. 2. How You Are Using MIT OCW? ---------------------------------------------------------------- The hope is that educators around the world will be able to utilize the course materials presented on the MIT OCW Web site for curriculum development, and self-learners will be able to draw upon the materials for self-study or supplementary use. As we move forward to the publication of the course materials from 500 more MIT subjects at the end of this month, the staff of MIT OCW is focused on evaluation and measurement of the MIT OCW Web site. We are trying to answer such questions as: How accessible are the MIT OCW course materials? How are people using the materials? What is the impact of MIT OCW? Are educators able to adapt MIT OCW materials for their own teaching? We would like to ask you to share your story with us for the purposes of developing user profiles, we will interview you and post your photo on the MIT OCW Web site. Please contact Jon Paul Potts, the MIT OCW Communications Manager, at jpotts@mit.edu, if you would like to tell us about yourself. 3. Digging Deeper: Course 2.875 --------------------------------------------------------------- Each month, this newsletter offers subscribers an in-depth guide to one particular subject. This month, we delve into Course 2.875: Mechanical Assembly and Its Role in Product Development. MIT Professor Daniel E. Whitney, a senior research scientist at the MIT Center For Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development, presents a systematic approach to design and assembly of mechanical assemblies, which should be of interest to engineering professionals, as well as post-baccalaureate students of mechanical, manufacturing, and industrial engineering. While much is written about the design and manufacture of individual parts, there is surprisingly little information about how those parts go together into a product that actually does something. This course addresses the following question: What is a competently designed assembly, and how would we know one if we saw one? Specific objectives for students include understanding a systematic approach to analyzing assembly problems; appreciation of the many ways assembly influences product development and manufacturing; seeing a complete approach that includes technology, systems engineering, and economic analysis; and practicing the systematic process on a semester-long project of their own. The course site offers a complete set of Project Guidelines. Professor Whitney's Lecture Notes delve into such topics as Assembly in the Small, Design for Assembly, Assembly System Design Software and Discrete Event Simulation, and offers students a case study in design for the 767 Horizontal Stabilizer. 4. A Frequently Asked Question ---------------------------------------------------------------- Q. Will MIT OCW publish 500 courses? A. With just two weeks left until September 30, we are a little more than half-way to our stated publication goal of 500 courses. The MIT OCW staff is working days, nights, weekends (and every other hour!) to achieve that goal, and it is well within reach. The publication of 500 courses, spanning 33 of MIT's academic disciplines and all five of its schools, will be the culmination of a process that began with the announcement of MIT OCW in April 2001. By offering 500 courses from all of MIT's academic disciplines, MIT OCW will have delivered on the promise of open knowledge sharing in a way that befits MIT's reputation as a leading institute of world-class teaching and research. Stay tuned for the big announcement and 500 courses on September 30! ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 jpotts@mit.edu. To subscribe a friend to this newsletter, forward the following link to them: http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/ocw-mail If you choose to not receive the "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter, you may unsubscribe at: http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/ocw-mail 7:23:31 AM    COMMENT []