Was brought up in discussion recently that UBC has begun to offer free courseware to the public, representing materials that are being taught in an institution of higher learning. I remember a few years back looking at the MIT OpenCourseWare project which I toured again today. It has definitely expanded and increased available subjects.
So, like usual, I went to see what my local library systems have on the topic and came a cross a book by Taylor Walsh. Unlocking the Gates: How and Why Leading Universities Are Opening Up Access to Their Courses (Princeton University Press, 2011).
I brought to my attention earlier attempts at sharing courseware that failed, primarily due to being a fee service for materials that did not offer university credit. It also mentioned other successful efforts including Carnegie Mellon's Open Learning Initiative, Open Yale Courses, webcast.berkley and India's National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning.
Why would a university give away their course material for free? Why wouldn't it I would respond. I say so because students already share information with each other overtly and covertly in the form of exam questions. And undoubtedly some student is making public the lecture notes from courses. Also, in the opinion of Charles Vest, the president of MIT when OpenCourseWare was released, he deemed that it was a direct extension of MIT's basic educational mission.
So, go check out one of these offerings and learn something new.
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