If MIT is giving it away, why should I pay for it?

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Brian Douglas

The question is often asked of us. By way of background, several years ago MIT launched its Open CourseWare Initiative in which all their faculty are required to post their curriculum online for the world to share and use. Students, instructors from other colleges, in fact, anyone can browse through the lecture notes and lesson plans at their leisure. So why, if this information is free, should we bother trying to get students to register for our courses? Because of the difference between information and knowledge.

Google, Wikipedia, Open CourseWare - they all provide nearly unlimited amounts of information for free. If you want to know the preferred habitat of the Wild Black Cherry tree you can be sure it’s out there on the Internet somewhere. CSI: Miami has made you curious about the structure of mitochondrial DNA? Do a search, you’ll find it. But want to understand the complex relationships of the various components of cell biology - and understand it well enough to base a career on it - I humbly submit to you that for the vast majority of us mortals, that type of knowledge can really only be acquired by studying under a qualified instructor and in sharing in the learning process with other similarly directed students.