CU not one of the universities associated
Educational technology is transforming the way students learn in and outside the classroom.
Open Courseware Consortium, founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is an association of universities across the globe placing undergraduate and graduate courses on the Internet free of charge.
Anyone can access the courses, which include a syllabus, notes, quizzes, exams, reading material and sometimes videos. Users may follow the course as they wish, but receive no student-teacher interaction or certification.
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Open Courseware Consortium, founded by MIT, is an association of universities that have placed numerous courses online. The courses proved syllabi, quizzes, exams and sometimes videos. No teacher interaction is available, nor is certification granted. CU is not a member. The Sakai project is an open source courseware project where universities share education materials. CU is a member. EDUCAUSE is a locally based, international group of universities of which CU is a member. The group promotes intelligent uses of information technology.
– Gary Black
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The program is similar to a professor publishing work and placing it in a library, said Mark Werner, manager of Information Technology Services.
CU is not currently a member of the program, which includes universities on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. The University of Notre Dame, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Tufts University are all participating in the program.
CU is currently monitoring the program and Werner said there are no immediate plans to become involved.
“I have spoken with the people at MIT,” Werner said. “We’re keeping an ear to the ground.”
Some of the drawbacks to joining the program are costs and the large amount of time needed to consult with teachers.
CU joined two other Internet groups intended to advance higher education. The Sakai Project and EDUCAUSE are both Web sites geared toward university material sharing.
Lauren Redmond, a senior Spanish major, said the program could not make traditional courses obsolete because there are certain things a student can only get out of teacher interaction.
“I like how they’re approaching it right now,” said Anthony Bowe, a junior news-editorial major.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer at gary.black@thecampuspress.com
