MIT lança programa inédito de conteúdo aberto

[Imre Simon <is@ime.usp.br>]

O MIT lançou, em 4 de abril de 2001, um programa de 10M$ anuais para
dar assistência aos seus professores para que, num período de dez
anos, todas as disciplinas tenham o seu conteúdo integral refletido na
teia. O acesso ao material será absolutamente aberto. A participação é
opcional, mas o presidente da instituição pensa que a adesão será
praticamente total. Há um enorme entusiasmo pelo projeto.

O projeto chama-se MIT OpenCourseWare, a home page da notícia da
iniciativa é: 

  http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2001/ocw.html

e o próprio título da notícia é inspirador:

  MIT to make nearly all course materials
  available free on the World Wide Web

  Unprecedented step challenges 'privatization of knowledge'

O New York Times noticiou o evento no artigo abaixo, mas a página
acima do MIT e seus links tem muito mais informação:

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  M.I.T. Course Materials Free Over Web


  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS



  Filed at 5:10 p.m. ET



  CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- At a time when online knowledge can be a
  valuable commodity, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology plans
  to offer nearly all its course materials on the Internet for free.

  The $100 million project aims to make information from MIT's 2,000
  courses accessible to everyone within 10 years. The Web site will
  include lecture notes, course outlines, reading lists and
  assignments.

  Visitors to the site will not earn college credit.

  The plan counters a trend toward the ``privatization of
  knowledge,'' where ideas are owned by companies or institutions,
  said professor Steven Lerman, chairman of the MIT faculty.

  The school is still considering ways to use the Internet to
  generate revenue, such as selling research updates to alumni, said
  MIT President Charles Vest. But this venture is essentially
  altruistic, he said.

  ``It expresses our belief in the way education can be advanced by
  constantly widening access to knowledge and inspiring
  participation,'' he said.

  Other universities offer course materials on the Internet, but the
  information is often available only to students, and no school has
  proposed offering all of its course materials online.

  The project is voluntary, and some professors may decide not to
  participate, said Hal Abelson, a computer science professor
  involved in the project.

  The Web site will fall short of the student experience at MIT,
  where tuition costs about $26,000 a year. The site will contain
  just the ``raw materials'' of the courses, not the teaching,
  Abelson said.

  Students were receptive to idea of the school giving away the
  knowledge they pay for.

  ``There's no sense in covering it up,'' said Manuel Roth, 27, a
  graduate student. ``If it's general stuff about math and physics,
  why not?''

  The project could provide course models for colleges around the
  country and help developing countries improve their higher
  education systems, Vest said. The school's reputation also gets a
  boost, he said.

  Vest said he envisions the funding coming from private,
  philanthropic sources.

  Andy Rosenfield, chief executive of the Internet education company
  UNext.com, said MIT's move will not increase competition with
  services such as UNext, but will instead stimulate interest in the
  courses they offer.

  As for other schools following suit, Kenneth Green, a visiting
  scholar at Claremont Graduate University in California who
  researches high tech in higher education, said the questions of
  funding, planning and faculty involvement that MIT has already
  addressed are major hurdles.

  ``The MIT initiative will be watched with varying degrees of public
  and private envy,'' he said. ``Envy and angst.''

  ^------

  On the Net:

  MIT: http://www.mit.edu


  http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-MIT-Web.html?searchpv=aponline?ex=987493169&ei=1&en=9460353a3aa42f00

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