Friends: The Open University in the UK is going to make available its course materials free on the Net. The vice chancellors of open universities in India may consider following this model. If we really want to usher in the knowledge revolution in India, we should think of such out-of-the-box solutions. The Open Course ware project of MIT and several other American, Chinese and Japanese universities are already very popular. The Internet and the Web have made it possible to do many things which we could not have done in the past. We should take advantage of the new technologies to the maximum extent possible. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ------------------------------------ Open University to bring course content online 06 April 2006 The Open University will become the first institution in the UK to offer free course materials online to students and the wider public later this year. The university will select educational resources from all levels from access to postgraduate study and from a full range of subject themes, including arts and history, business and management, languages and science and nature. The material will be free to teachers and students studying in the UK and abroad, with the project following a long partnership with the BBC, which broadcasts the university's television programs. The material will not only be course or subject specific and students will also be able to access a range of study skills material to improve their research. In 2001, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) made nearly all of its course materials- including lecture notes, course outlines, reading lists and assignments- available online for free. The US institution now has material for 1250 of its courses online and expects to have all of MIT's undergraduate and graduate courses on the web by next year. The university plans to provide both educational material and a range of learning support, with one site aimed for learners, where material with suggested learning pathways will be offered. The second site will be mainly for course creators to encourage the sharing and re-use of materials. The Open University has more than 210,000 students studying courses this year, with around 40,000 studying outside the UK. The online project will start in October. Source: The Guardian Friends: The Open University in the UK is going to make available its course materials free on the Net. The vice chancellors of open universities in India may consider following this model. If we really want to usher in the knowledge revolution in India, we should think of such out-of-the-box solutions. The Open Course ware project of MIT and several other American, Chinese and Japanese universities are already very popular. The Internet and the Web have made it possible to do many things which we could not have done in the past. We should take advantage of the new technologies to the maximum extent possible. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ------------------------------------ Open University to bring course content online 06 April 2006 The Open University will become the first institution in the UK to offer free course materials online to students and the wider public later this year. The university will select educational resources from all levels from access to postgraduate study and from a full range of subject themes, including arts and history, business and management, languages and science and nature. The material will be free to teachers and students studying in the UK and abroad, with the project following a long partnership with the BBC, which broadcasts the university's television programs. The material will not only be course or subject specific and students will also be able to access a range of study skills material to improve their research. In 2001, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) made nearly all of its course materials- including lecture notes, course outlines, reading lists and assignments- available online for free. The US institution now has material for 1250 of its courses online and expects to have all of MIT's undergraduate and graduate courses on the web by next year. The university plans to provide both educational material and a range of learning support, with one site aimed for learners, where material with suggested learning pathways will be offered. The second site will be mainly for course creators to encourage the sharing and re-use of materials. The Open University has more than 210,000 students studying courses this year, with around 40,000 studying outside the UK. The online project will start in October. Source: http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,1728283,00.htm The Guardian