Sunday, March 13, 2005

Site Profile: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health OCW This is a valuable new open courseware site modeled after MIT's OCW. "The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is pleased to welcome you to the initial phase of its pilot OpenCourseWare (OCW) project, providing free and open access to the School's most popular courses to students, self learners, and educators anywhere in the world. We are launching our OCW web site with two courses and expect to publish eight additional courses by April 2005, followed by many more courses in the coming years." The first two courses are "Understanding Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health Care" and "Statistical Reasoning." Both courses are well organized; each includes a Syllabus, Schedule, Readings, Lecture Notes, and Assignments. "At the heart of every public health triumph is an individual. OpenCourseWare provides encouragement for the self learner to seek formal education, complementary materials for the student at JHSPH or another institution, information with which faculty can plan a course curriculum, and continuing education for the public health practitioner. We have provided Frequently Asked Questions to assist as you navigate the site, and we welcome your feedback to help us increase and improve the courses we will publish." "The philosophy behind JHSPH OCW is to make JHSPH course materials now used in the teaching of almost all undergraduate and graduate subjects available on the Web, free of charge, to any user anywhere in the world. JHSPH OCW will not only advance technology-enhanced education at JHSPH, but it will also serve as a model for universities to disseminate knowledge in the Internet age. This venture builds on the tradition at JHSPH, and in American higher education, of open dissemination of educational materials, philosophy and modes of thought, and will help lead to fundamental changes in the way colleges and universities use the Web as a vehicle for education." The OCW movement and the LOR movement are both progressing at various institutions and in various countries--both movements offer important resources for students and instructors; it remains to be seen which will have the greater influence in higher education (and to what extent they will overlap and interpenetrate), but they are both welcome additions to the learning toolkits available to learners and teachers. 9:17:54 AM    COMMENT []