e-klavya

This seems rather late in the day decade, but I just found out that MIT has made about 1800 courses available online:
OCW. They started in 2001 (I found out only a few days ago). Sometimes I wonder, if all I should have done is invested in a super-fast internet connection years ago. It would have saved a lot of time and cash.

I am really interested in the access data. There is a long report on it which should make interesting reading on the knowledge needs(with some caveats) of the rest of the world.

The statistics are quite revealing. Not surprisingly, most of the access to the OCW is out of the US (>60%). North America(39%), China and Southeast Asia (21%), South Asia(7%), Europe(19%), South America(4%), and sub-Saharan Africa(1%). Are the South Americans and Africans not interested, or do they simply lack internet connections? Students from India have made their presence, and their gratitude felt.

The most visited course is Linear Algebra (link), a subject that needs to be emphasized more. The most visited courses are mainly mathematical or engineering courses, the traditional domains of nerds. Only psychology and macroeconomics manage to squeeze in as humane elements.

There are many courses that I will 'attend' in the next few months as snow drifts pile up at my door. I always find video-taped courses provide the much needed benefit of using fast-forward and being able to listen to them in your bed. This is a dream.

PS: I am trying to find a course that Chomsky taught.

4 comments:

Ashdin said...

hey bro..thanks for the wishes...
hows marriage doin ?

Wavefunction said...

Please let me know if you find the Chomsky course! I learnt quite a bit from some of those courses in the last three years.

hirak said...

Hmm, if you didn't find it in three years, you think I can do better? :)

Anonymous said...

Prof. Strang is steady and meticulous, but if you want to have real fun, check out Walter Lewin's Physics Lectures 8.02 and 8.01. Freshman Physics was never so much fun!

The lectures leading up to Maxwell's equations are out of this world.