A New Model for Open Sharing Anne H. Margulies

1. A New Model for Open SharingAnne H. Margulies November 5, 2003 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference

2. “… to enlarge the boundaries of knowledge by undertaking voyages of discovery.” • President Thomas Jefferson requesting funding for the Corps of Discovery in a Jan. 18, 1803, letter to the Congress

3. Agenda Vision Implementation Impact

4. Vision

5. Vision Institutional Decision-Making • Fall 1999 — Faculty committee appointed • Fall 2000 — OCW concept recommended to MIT President Charles M. Vest • April 2001 — MIT OCW announced in The New York Times

6. Vision Institutional Decision-Making “OpenCourseWare looks counter-intuitive in a market-driven world. But it really is consistent with what I believe is the best about MIT. It is innovative. It expresses our belief in the way education can be advanced – by constantly widening access to information and by inspiring others to participate.” – Charles M. Vest,President of MIT

7. Vision Vision to Reality • June 2001 — Funding partnership with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation • September 2002 — MIT OCW Pilot site opened to the public • 50 courses from 23 academic disciplines • September 2003 — OCW officially launched • 500 courses from all five MIT schools and 33 academic disciplines

8. VisionWhat Is MIT OCW? MIT OpenCourseWare IS NOT: MIT OpenCourseWare IS: • An MIT education • Intended to represent or replace the actual interactive classroom environment • A distance education initiative • A Web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content • Open and available to the world • A permanent MIT activity

9. VisionWhy Is MIT Doing This? • Furthers MIT’s fundamental mission • Embraces faculty values • Teaching • Contributing to their discipline • Counters the privatization of knowledge and champions the movement toward greater openness

10. VisionDual Mission • Provide free access to MIT course materials for educators and learners • Create a model other universities may use to publish their own course materials MIT OCW success rests on four pillars: • Responsive, professional organization • Sensible policies and efficient processes • Reliable, scalable technology infrastructure • Communication with MIT community, external audiences A foundation of continuous planning,evaluation, and feedback. OCW Organization Policies & Process Communications Tech Infrastructure Communications Tech Infrastructure Organization Policies & Processes Planning & Evaluation Planning & Evaluation

11. VisionPublication Timeline Phase I: Pilot 2002-03 Phase II:Expansion 2004-07 Phase III: Steady State 2008- • Publish courses from five schools, 33 disciplines • Publish hundreds of courses • Offer complete curriculum tracks • Work with like-minded institutions on “opencoursewares” • Publish 2,000 courses • Foster consortium 9/03Launch500 courses 9/07 Steady State 9/02Proof-of-Concept Pilot 50 courses

12. Implementation

13. ImplementationScaling Up to 500 Courses

14. ImplementationPublication Process Managing a Course Through the OCW Process • Plan • Transcribe, convert materials • Identify IP • Design layout • Publish • Test site • Final QA • Faculty signoff • Stage for publish • Support • Edit/add • Respond to inquiries • Troubleshoot Recruit faculty and courses • Build • Input content • Add metadata • Scrub content • Clear IP • Initial QA OCW = Snapshot of Completed Course

15. ImplementationTechnology MIT Facilities OCW Publishing Environment Origin Server Search, Feedback Content Distribution Network (Akamai) Thousands of servers around the world deliver MIT OCW course materials

16. ImplementationWhat It Took To Make It Happen • Technology • Implemented Microsoft CMS 2002 with workflow, metadata, and reports • Implemented Apache, Tomcat, Lucene Search Engine, Perl Publishing engine, and Akamai for content delivery • Implemented FileMaker for pipeline management, Netraker for external user surveys, Akamai Sitewise for site statistics

17. ImplementationPlanning and Evaluation

18. Impact

19. ImpactData Over Time OCW Monthly Traffic – Launch 2002 to October 2003 Page Views

20. ImpactGeographic Data Top 15 User Countries Outsidethe United States * *Web hits as of Sept. 30, 2003

21. ImpactUser Feedback Data • 9,500 emails to ocw@mit.edu • Majority (60+ percent) are grateful or congratulatory • Other inquiries • How to register • Technical questions • Inquiries from other educators • Vendors • Negative responses (less than 3 percent) • 17,000 subscribers to monthly email newsletter

22. 24 courses in Spanish and Portuguese site through Universia.net partnership Individual courses in 10 languages ImpactTranslations

23. ImpactBenefits for MIT Faculty • Enables faculty to contribute to their discipline • Providing a common repository of educational materials • Making their materials visible to colleagues • Leads to collaboration • Extending relationships between MIT faculty, students and the world • Stimulating interdisciplinary teaching and research

24. ImpactBenefits for MIT Faculty MIT Reaction: Faculty Musical composition by Jonathan Foust, from “A Touch of Grace”

25. ImpactBenefits for Educators • Facilitates curriculum development • Establish or revise course offerings • Enables pedagogical development • Develop or enhance methods for teaching a particular course • Establish or revise course syllabi and calendars • Contributes to course content development • Integrate new materials into an existing course • Add elements (e.g. simulations, problem sets, exams)

26. ImpactBenefits for Educators World Reaction: Educators Musical composition by Jonathan Foust, from “A Touch of Grace”

27. ImpactBenefits for Learners • Offers reference material and learning activities • Explore new areas and gaining new insights • Stay current in a particular area of interest • Review and update previous educational experiences • Utilize reading lists, resource lists as research tool

28. ImpactBenefits for Learners World Reaction: Self-learners Musical composition by Jonathan Foust, from “A Touch of Grace”

29. Other OCWs are beginning to appear Some using the materials, some usingthe format, some using the idea ImpactEmerging “OpenCourseWares”

30. ImpactWhat Does It Mean? • Continues to be tremendous excitement • The vision is achievable • The impact of MIT OCW will be significant

31. ImpactExtending OCW Beyond MIT • Share evaluation findings • Develop and implement outreach “how to” Web site to assist other institutions • Host an annual conference, workshops, and meetings • Provide advice as needed and able

32. “I trust that the discoveries we have made will not remain long unimproved… will promote the cause of liberty and the honour of America… and will relieve distressed humanity.” Meriwether Lewis in a speech at Charlottesville, Va., on Nov. 15, 1806

33. Thank You! • Implementing “OpenCourseWare” on your Campus • Discussion • Wednesday, November 5, 2003 • 1 to 2 p.m. • Anaheim Convention Center, Room 208A • MIT OpenCourseWare Poster Session • Teaching and Learning Track • Thursday, November 6, 2003 • 4:55 p.m. to 6:10 p.m. • Exhibit Hall B, Table 29