BY PAMELA S. ZURER

Some pundits are calling it "MIT for free." Over the next 10 years, Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced earlier this month, the university will post materials for almost all of its courses on the World Wide Web, accessible to one and all at no charge.

	VIRTUAL MIT Enrollment is not required to access MIT course materials. PHOTO BY DONNA COVENEY

Web pages for college and university courses are already common at MIT and elsewhere. A quick tour of the MIT website reveals that professors in many departments are already posting a great deal online. The new MIT venture differs in the scale of its undertaking, the commitment of substantial resources--estimates range up to $10 million per year--to implement the plan, and the promise that the materials will be available beyond the university community.

MIT calls the initiative OpenCourseWare, invoking the "open source" software movement in which the guts of computer software programs can be accessed for improvement or elaboration.

The material that's placed on the Web will vary across disciplines and from course to course. The goal, however, is to post all core teaching materials, including course outlines, reading lists, lecture notes, and assignments. The university says it will encourage more technologically sophisticated content as well, such as videos or interactive demonstrations. Necessary software and services will be developed during a two-year pilot program.

MIT's chemistry department is among those that already post a lot of material on the Web, although access to a small amount is restricted to MIT users. The chemistry faculty are receptive to the new initiative, according to department chairman Stephen J. Lippard. He expects that he and other faculty members will take advantage of the new university resources and infrastructure to help them develop and maintain course websites. "We're proud of MIT for taking this initiative," Lippard says.

Participation in the project is voluntary. Faculty members can choose not to take part or to limit access to some or all of their materials. The university's current intellectual property policies on textbooks and other course materials will still pertain, MIT says, with faculty retaining ownership in most cases.

Ambitious as the initiative is, it is not, in reality, an opportunity to receive an MIT education for free. Unlike distance learning programs, which involve regular exchanges between faculty and students, there will be no course credit or degrees offered to people who access OpenCourseWare.

"We are not providing an MIT education on the Web," said President Charles M. Vest as he announced the program. "We are providing our core materials that are the infrastructure that undergirds an MIT education. Real education requires interaction."

Vest expects that having routine course material available online will enhance the educational experience of students in traditional campus settings. "We think that OpenCourseWare will make it possible for faculty here and elsewhere to concentrate even more on the actual process of teaching, on the interactions between faculty and students that are the real core of learning," he said.

The university has already received positive feedback from around the world. Here's a sampling:

• "I run an Internet-connected resources center in Ghana. If you succeed, and I hope you do, we will pioneer remote MIT classrooms in our cafes."
• "What I saw from your initiative is the possibility of a major global upgrade of education--professors in the U.S. and around the whole world, including those in little Uganda where I am from, will be inspired and motivated to be on par with MIT standards."
• "This is very good news for many people like me. I'm writing from Ecuador. People from undeveloped countries like this have no easy access to the research and the topics used by professors at universities like MIT."

Those enthusiastic responses indicate that with OpenCourseWare, MIT may be on the right track toward using the global expanse of the Web to broaden educational opportunities. "This is about something bigger than MIT," Vest said. "I hope other universities will see us as educational leaders in this arena, and we very much hope that OpenCourseWare will draw other universities to do the same. We would be delighted if--over time--we have a World Wide Web of knowledge that raises the quality of learning--and ultimately, the quality of life--around the globe."

Free course material on the Web, however, is of no use to those without access to the Internet. The "digital divide" is an unfortunate reality. Even in the U.S., Internet access is not universal. For example, a National Science Foundation-funded education consortium is working to develop affordable access via satellite in rural settings, such as certain tribal colleges, where connecting via land lines is too expensive.

The situation in the developing world is more acute. Access to a reliable power supply, let alone computers and affordable means to connect to the Web, is just a dream for millions. Nevertheless, MIT's OpenCourseWare initiative points to the boundless opportunities that the power of the Web makes possible.

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