I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard

Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by kaiser on Thursday January 29, 2009 @03:29PM (#457055)

Although it is great to have lectures, slides etc. online (check also the Open Course Ware initiative from MIT), it is still a difference if you are just listening to the lectures or if you can really interact with the people attending. Education is more about interaction and struggling for ideas than it is about listening to lectures. Still great complimentary resources ... (also for lecturers).

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by netcan on Thursday January 29, 2009 @05:24PM (#457252)

>Education is more about interaction and struggling for ideas than it is about listening to lectures.

I disagree. Education is about acquiring skills & knowledge. Lectures, interactions, books, tutors, classmates.. these are the way education is delivered. Maybe university experience is "more about interaction and struggling for ideas than it is about listening to lectures," but saying that about education as a whole sounds a lot like saying news is about printing.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by kaens on Friday January 30, 2009 @02:11AM (#457826)

I semi-agree.

I have been an autodidact all of my life, and poor (and occasionally homeless) most of my adult life. I'm still young.

I've been learning partially via online video lectures (specifically MIT's OCW) and course materials since they first started popping up a few years ago, and I've learned a great deal - however, I feel that I would have learned much more if I was in a situation where I was always very close to being able to interact with other people learning the same stuff in person. Not to mention that there are other benefits.

In fact, I'll probably be pursuing college after completing my next gig, which is 4-5 months down the road - mainly because the type of stuff that I'm very interested in (like friendly AI and cognitive science) are only really moving in colleges - I'd be put directly in contact with more people with more interests doing more relevant stuff once I sludged past the undergrad part.

It's not that I can't keep learning and applying my knowledge on my own, it's that I think I may have hit a point where it's just not as efficient (for my purposes) anymore.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by netcan on Friday January 30, 2009 @03:06AM (#457864)

Doubtless.

Colleges can be very useful. Access to lectures is only one of the ways they do what they do. That particular aspect, well you can do that without them.

I'm not saying this replaces colleges. Just saying that this also helps people become educated.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by yters on Thursday January 29, 2009 @08:32PM (#457507)

Education is about learning how to learn. You can either learn by yourself or with others. Learning with others is more effective and enjoyable, which is why sites like HN exist. Learning to learn with others is something you get from going to university, i.e. interaction and struggling for ideas.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by netcan on Thursday January 29, 2009 @09:33PM (#457574)

I don't disagree that this (the recent availability of online lectures) is not a mirror replacement for uni. It's also not entirely new. The possibility of getting a uni equivalent education without enrolling has always existed (at least partially). Books, uni Libraries. Many places will let you sit in on virtually all classes without enrolling. But it has always remained in the sidelines.

But... Pointing to any developed of this kind and saying 'this isn't uni' as if it means something really substantial is short sighted. The improvement & accessibility of free online learning materials is going to have a profound effect, most probably.

If Universities' value is kept only in the fringe: 'interacting with others,' 'the personal & social experience' & the rest of the things that cannot be replaced by online study, well... Universities have an educational (skills & knowledge, if you prefer) role and a gate-keeping role. If they loose their edge on those, they loose their edge.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by yters on Thursday January 29, 2009 @10:12PM (#457615)

Agreed. Just nitpicking over the definition of education as gaining knowledge and skills, thus uni not conferring any benefit.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by netcan on Friday January 30, 2009 @01:09AM (#457769)

If we're going to be nitpicky isn't 'learning to learn' a skill?

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by yters on Friday January 30, 2009 @09:00AM (#458063)

Yes, but it requires other people in the case I outline.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by dreish on Thursday January 29, 2009 @05:18PM (#457243)

If only there were some way for people around the world to communicate with each other as they watched these lectures ...

Not trying to be snarky. I just wonder whether there's an opportunity there.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by aneesh on Thursday January 29, 2009 @05:41PM (#457280)

Omnisio-style comments overlayed on the video itself would be a start, especially if you could control whose comments were displayed.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by jpcx01 on Friday January 30, 2009 @01:26AM (#457791)

Only if you could filter them somehow. Most omnisio comments weren't serious. Half of the lecture comments would be idiots making fun of the instructors hair.

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Re:I’m Attending MIT, Stanford & Harvard by Ras_ on Saturday January 31, 2009 @01:57AM (#459309)

OCW + Omnisio-layer + comments provided by the HN community = success

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