Have you done anything with MIT Open Courseware?

[cathmom]

For high school? For yourself? How did you put it on your dc's transcript?

 

Thanks! I'm just exploring what they have to offer.

[Blue Hen]

My DS used MIT Open Courseware this past year to supplement two classes he was taking. I did list the MIT OCW within his course description document as a supplemental resource.

 

 

He was taking Physics and preparing for the AP Physics C exam independently. He watched lecture after lecture..... He was also taking AP Calc BC from PA HS'ers and watched classroom lecture after classroom lecture...........he loved the lectures and spent much of the winter complaining about how he wanted to go to college NOW. How he wanted to be around professors like the ones in the lectures so he could converse with them. On the one hand it was a positive experience of helping him understand the material and seeing what he might experience in the fall. But on the other hand he really wanted to be in that classroom and not at home with mom........

 

Carole

[Hunter's Moon]

I really wanted to do these classes... but then I realized I needed to purchase something to read the .zip files.

 

Is that the only way to view the course?

[Musicmom]

Ds has used two MIT OCW courses. The first, in 11th grade, was Introductory Biology (7.012), which he did as complete course (as opposed to a supplement.) One of the reasons we picked it was that it was quite complete (had lectures, syllabus, calendar with what to do when, problem sets w/solutions, and practice tests w/solutions.) We also got ds a tutor (grad student in a local medical school) to help with any questions, since the material was way over my head!

 

Ds is currently (in 12th grade) doing an Intro to EE lab skills course with dh, who is an electrical engineer. For this one, a knowledgeable person in the field is a must, as there are only lecture notes and the lab instructions (You also need lab equipment which most people don't have--dh has borrowed some from work in addition to a bunch of stuff he already has.)

 

Anyway, I listed these courses on ds's transcript like this:

 

Advanced Biology, MIT OCW**

Intro to EE Lab Skills, MIT OCW**

 

With the following footnote:

 

**Courses taken using MIT Open Courseware and tutor (Biology 7.012 and EE 6.091)

 

This is sort of like what you'd do for courses taken through outside institutions, though MIT does not provide any oversight or support. Then in my course descriptions I described in more detail.

 

If you use MIT OCW as a supplement, though, then you wouldn't mention it on the transcript itself--just list your regular course title (maybe call it "Advanced") and in the course description highlight the fact you used MIT OCW as part of the course material.

 

HTH

[cathmom]

I really wanted to do these classes... but then I realized I needed to purchase something to read the .zip files.

 

Is that the only way to view the course?

 

I think you can just watch them online, can't you?

 

Ds has used two MIT OCW courses. The first, in 11th grade, was Introductory Biology (7.012), which he did as complete course (as opposed to a supplement.) One of the reasons we picked it was that it was quite complete (had lectures, syllabus, calendar with what to do when, problem sets w/solutions, and practice tests w/solutions.) We also got ds a tutor (grad student in a local medical school) to help with any questions, since the material was way over my head!

 

Ds is currently (in 12th grade) doing an Intro to EE lab skills course with dh, who is an electrical engineer. For this one, a knowledgeable person in the field is a must, as there are only lecture notes and the lab instructions (You also need lab equipment which most people don't have--dh has borrowed some from work in addition to a bunch of stuff he already has.)

 

Anyway, I listed these courses on ds's transcript like this:

 

Advanced Biology, MIT OCW**

Intro to EE Lab Skills, MIT OCW**

 

With the following footnote:

 

**Courses taken using MIT Open Courseware and tutor (Biology 7.012 and EE 6.091)

 

This is sort of like what you'd do for courses taken through outside institutions, though MIT does not provide any oversight or support. Then in my course descriptions I described in more detail.

 

If you use MIT OCW as a supplement, though, then you wouldn't mention it on the transcript itself--just list your regular course title (maybe call it "Advanced") and in the course description highlight the fact you used MIT OCW as part of the course material.

 

HTH

 

Thanks! that's really helpful!

[eumyang]

I really wanted to do these classes... but then I realized I needed to purchase something to read the .zip files.

 

Is that the only way to view the course?

Are you saying that you can't access their material because you don't have the software needed to open the .zip files? If so... I thought that Windows XP/Vista/7 have built-in capability to open .zip files? In case I'm mistaken, there is free software to open and extract from .zip files. I use 7zip (http://www.7-zip.org/) because it's also available for 64-bit Windows -- I want to have less 32-bit software on my computer. (The modern operating systems -- Windows Vista/7, OS X, Linux, etc. -- are available in 64-bit.) I mention all of this because if you need/want this software, you have to download the right version, depending on your operating system.

 

 

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