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My Pseudo-year at Free MIT

June 9, 2008

Renaisauce's picture

I've taken a prolonged blogging sabbatical in the last month to reevaluate my online life. My real one is good, but my online one was unfulfilling. I needed something more. And I found it.

I have recently been introduced to the MIT Opencourseware System. MIT has put many of their courses online, free, for anyone to access. Have you ever wanted to take their course on advanced geometric computation? Boom! There it is. Of course, you can't take the course for credit, or contact the professor, or have anything on your CV about it, but there's enough information so that you could pass an exam if it was given to you. And that's all you need, right?

So I've decided to create a second BS (Bachelor of 'Sauce) to supplement my current level of education. I call it "Biological Systems in Nature and Medicine". It will be heavy in neuroscience, systems biology and circuits, with sprinklings of geology, science policy and tech writing. Sounds like good summer fun, doesn't it?

My goal is to "finish" 32 classes in 52 weeks. Finishing means reading and watching all the notes and lectures, and knowing enough about it to be able to pass the exam (by my own judgment). To keep me on task, I will be writing regularly about what I learn on my own site, and I'll put things of general interest right here on Science Blogs. That way, I'm responsible to the public, and you know how hard they can be.

Now, I'm pretty sure that I'm not the first one to come up with this idea since MIT put their classes online. If anyone else has had this same thought, let me know. I'd love to see how other people are maintaining their advanced scientific education.

As a discussion point for the comments, what do you think of this idea? Is it worth it? Is the online course the key to science education for the masses? How many universities should make their classes public, and to what end? Is there a better way?

I'm so psyched for the first day of school. What will I wear?

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Comments

WHERE HAS RENAISAUCE GONE?

September 12, 2008 by Anonymous, 42 weeks 5 hours ago
Comment id: 31954

We miss you!

Let the countdown BEGIN: 97 days since the last post.

good idea, but...

June 9, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30591

While I heartily endorse your planned program to expand your mind (I also went through a large number of MIT’s courses), there are a number of problems I see. The #1 biggie is that we learn until we know the information well enough, as you put it, in our own opinion. There is no external corrective feedback, no expert to tell us when our understanding is superficial or even incorrect. Unfortunately, I see no solution to this. Even if you publish your understanding online for others to correct, there seems a very good chance that their understanding is no better than yours, unless you can somehow attract the attention of people who are experts in the areas you are studying.

Another problem I found was that too many of the courses I was interested in had no lecture notes. The only information was in the form of recommended reading. Unfortunately, many of the books were unavailable at the local libraries and were far too expensive for me to purchase.

There is also the lack of encouragement and stimulation you get from interacting with other students with the same interests. Perhaps if you announce ahead of time what course you are going to take, other people will also look into it and provide some online interaction, at least.

The only other university whose online courses I have seen are the Yale courses, which currently only have some basic introductory courses: http://oyc.yale.edu/.

Shortcomings aside, I still think it a worthwhile endeavor and wish you the best of luck in your project!

re: good idea, but...

June 9, 2008 by Renaisauce, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30596

I've looked at some of those issues. I understand that there's no way for me to know how much I have truly learned. I think that's the the main issue of life-long education. There's no way for me to expect to master any of this material. But I can master the notes.

I recognize that a lot of the courses are sparse in how much they provide. I'm banking on that, actually. If it was all super-involved, there's no way I'd make my deadline. Wouldn't it be a good idea to have an online advanced university with full lectures and intractability? I'm talking about graduate level scientific coursework. I feel like that's a niche that could be filled.

As for the role of student interaction and encouragement, I always studied alone anyway. I think the development of my own ability to self-start will be enough.

I should also note, in response to other comments, that there's no way I could do this if none of it had anything to do with my current field, at least not yet. All of my classes were chosen to be supplementary to what I do now. Otherwise, I would totally include "Digital Poetry". (It's on the list!)

graduate courses online

June 10, 2008 by coglanglab, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30599

There's a famous joke:

What do you call a graduate student who gets As in every class? Someone who didn't spend enough time on doing research.

The idea of graduate work in science being available online sounds nice, but I'm not sure how it would work. The main problem would be that coursework isn't really the point of a graduate degree in science: research is. My graduate program in psychology is on the low end in terms of required coursework (about 4-5 semester-long classes), but at other programs with more classes (psychology programs in particular), I've heard faculty grouse about students wasting too much time on classes.

Finally, most of my classes, at least, are discussion-based. It is hard to do achieve that using OpenCourseware.

That said, I think OpenCourseware is great. I've used it and plan on using it more in the future. But I think it probably works best for introductory material (i.e., undergrad material). I wish you luck in the project. Let us know which classes are best.

Please try my web-based experiments

Great idea to enrich personally

June 10, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30600

I agree that the voluntarily motivating one self to learn more is a great value in itself especially when idle brain can be devil's workshop...but then what?

Would not it be nice to put that learning into practice expressly as in teaching, coaching, mentoring, practicing, etc formally or informally for profit or not.

Viswa Sadhaka

Yeah, I started doing that...

June 9, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30590

I watched the first few lectures to some advanced course (I can't remember which) and then realized it would probably be a good idea to finish my 'first' college degree before starting on the 'second'.

Anyways, good luck on keeping the motivation flowing.
-Joe DiPilato
http://joe.dipilato.googlepages.com/home

Great Idea

June 9, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30588

I think it's grand. I've blogged it, and added your RSS to my reader. Looking forward to it.

Looking forward to it, Renaisauce

June 9, 2008 by Fred Bortz, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30585

I suggest you take a course in bowtie tying, then borrow one of mine. I'll e-mail you a jpeg of a few to choose from, then you can doctor a picture to put it on you! :)

Fred Bortz -- Science and technology books for young readers (www.fredbortz.com) and Science book reviews (www.scienceshelf.com)

Easy, easy Fred

June 9, 2008 by Renaisauce, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30587

I need to start with the easier stuff, like systems computation and neural networks, before I get into bow-tie mechanics. Maybe I'll wear a clip-on for a while so I can get used to all that localized weight. I will say that it's been hot enough around here lately that I'd consider getting one of those spinning ones for the built-in cooling properties. Is there a high-velocity tie that also sprays a fine, cool mist?

Spinning bowtie neuro-actuator

June 9, 2008 by Fred Bortz, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30592

Renaisauce,

Don't just study neural networks; get practical by designing an interface between the high-order thought areas of the brain and a bowtie-spinning actuator that draws its power directly from the firing synapses. The more you think, the faster the bowtie spins, thereby providing exactly the amount of cooling you need.

Your from Rube Goldberg Land,

Fred Bortz -- Science and technology books for young readers (www.fredbortz.com) and Science book reviews (www.scienceshelf.com)

Exam only courses

June 9, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30584

I recall hearing a while back that there are universities that will let you sit the exams only on material that you already know in order to achieve credit.

I am uncertain what universities do it, but it may be worthwhile to try to find out if there are any given you'd be doing all that work anyway

re: free on-line ed

June 9, 2008 by dnlee5, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 30583

that's great. I'm a fan of informal ed because of the no-pressure hassle of having to make good grades. For some people, they actually learn more when there is 'nothing on the line'. so good luck with classes.
DN Lee
Urban Science Adventures
www.urban-science.blogspot.com



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