Open Educational Content
Description
"In 2002, the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology launched a proof-of-concept site titled MIT OpenCourseWare. It offered 32 courses and their resources online to anyone who wished to access them. It is, as its own site describes it, “A web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.”
This was a vital first step in the move towards open educational content. Just the logistical challenges in 2002 of clearing intellectual property and setting up that kind of web infrastructure were massive. It now offers thousands of different classes worth of material. But if its application is new, the concept itself that was at the heart of MIT’s open education initiative isn’t. Public lectures have been around since there were lecterns to speak from behind and an audience who to wanted to listen. What changed was the technology." (http://www.unlimitedmagazine.com/2010/09/an-open-education-primer/)