Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62198
Technology OpenCourseWare Launches at MIT Last fall, after more than two years of preparation and much fanfare, MIT launched the pilot of its OpenCourseWare (OCW) project. Through OCW, all materials for 32 MIT courses in 16 academic depart- ments and the Sloan School of Management have been made avail- able online for free. For their part, Sloan School faculty members pro- vided course materials for three MIT's OCW is free, but course credit is not. Those who take advan- tage of the online materials will not have an official claim to an MIT education or degree. Even so, MIT officials believe The knowledge available through that OCW promises to "serve as a model for university dissemination of knowledge in the Internet age," according to a school press release. "We are fighting the commercializa- tion of knowledge, in much the same way that open-source people are fighting the commercialization of software," university spokesper- son Jon Paul Potts told News.com. OCW is not meant to be a Fox School Makes Access to Tech a Priority Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has taken two very different approaches to technology on its campus. The goal, says John DeAngelo, the school's associate dean for information technology, is to create an incredibly "tech-accessi- ble" environment for Fox's students and faculty. The "Digital Concierge" — Rather tion to Optimization," "Logistical and Transportation Planning Methods," and "Systems Optimiza - tion: Models and Computation." The materials available online are courses, including "Intro duc - school officials believe the online materials might be especially useful to developing countries seeking to expand their base of knowledge. According to its Web site, MIT attracting users worldwide, as well as MIT students who are using the materials to supplement their own notes or to make up for missed lec- tures. Faculty participation in OCW is voluntary, but MIT offiicials pre- dict that participation will grow steadily as the project continues. Within the next ten years, the school expects OCW to include the materi- als for more than 2,000 undergradu- ate and graduate courses. 50 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2003 means for distance learning, which, by its nature, involves an exchange of information among students and faculty, stress the program's administrators. Rather, OCW is meant to be a source of supplemental educational sup- port for MIT's own students, as well as an aid to faculty from all institutions in developing course content. In addition, than require students and faculty to trek to a tech support office with their computer issues, the school decided to bring tech support straight to them via a free-range "digital concierge." David Feeney, director of digital education at the Fox School, roams the business school with a laptop and wireless connection seeking students and faculty in technological distress. At the beginning of the semester, estimates that development costs for the project will initially range from $7.5 million to $10 million each year. The project will remain in its pilot phase for at least another year. "Although we have not yet fully designed or decided on our long- term technical architecture and sys- tems, we're committed to using open systems and will share our approach and experiences with those who may want to launch similar efforts," says Anne H. Margulies, OCW's executive director. Feeney sets his laptop up in the school's corridors where students stop by to ask him questions about using Blackboard, the school's plat- form for its online community. "David helps them change or identi- fy their user names and passwords. He might help them enroll in cours- es or delete them from courses where they're inappropriately enrolled," says DeAngelo. Faculty members also can locate him easily for help with class- room technology. The concept D ATA B I T was developed in 2001 as a way to San Diego County, California, recently installed a wireless network that reaches from San Diego to San Clemente Island, a span of 72 miles, including a distance over water. The 2.4 gigahertz link will be used to transmit seis- mographic and global posi- tioning data, among other information.