麻省理工计算机远程教育,麻省理工全部课程将在网上免费提供

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will become byyearsend the first U.S. university to offer all of its roughly1800courses free on the Internet, a school official said onFriday.

“We started this project because MIT believes that one of thebestways to advance education around the world is through theInternet,”said Anne Margulies, head of online curriculum.

Online students will not be able to earn an MIT degree orhavecontact with faculty at the university, located across theriverfrom Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

MIT launched its “OpenCourseWare” program in 2003 andalreadyoffers hundreds of courses online. A small number of otherU.S.schools are following suit. Stanford put some classes on linelastyear and Bryn Mawr plans to do so soon.

Last month, 1.5 million users went to the MIT coursesite,sampling offerings like Cognitive Robotics, Inventions andPatents,and Superconducting Magnets.

Most users,come from outaside Unite Sates, gravitate towardthesubjects MIT is best-known for: computer science, physicsandmathematics, Margulies said.

麻省理工学院官员上周五表示，该校截至年底前将在网上免费提供其大约1800门的全部课程。此举将开美国大学免费在线提供课程的先河。

远程课程项目主管马古列斯表示：“我们之所以开展这个项目，是因为麻省理工相信，通过互联网推广远程教育是在全世界推广教育的最好方式之一。”

通过远程学习的学生将不能取得MIT学位，或者与该校教师取得联系。

麻省理工在2003年展开其“开放式课件”计划，已在线上提供数百个课程。美国少数其他学校也仿效其做法。斯坦福去年把部分课程放到网上，BrynMawr计划不久后也跟进。

约有150万名使用者在上个月到麻省理工课程的网站去体验了其各种课程。

马古列斯认为大部分非美国用户会被计算机科学、物理和数学等学校知名的学科所吸引。

作者：董莉