New discovery: MIT OpenCourseWare
So now that I finally have some time to myself, it's time to report on something I discovered while putting off writing for Script Frenzy (14 pages, by the way), and putting off all those entries to write, and all those pictures to upload, and all that work to do.
MIT OpenCourseWare.
That's right. Free versions of courses that were actually offered at MIT. You can search the site by discipline for a specific course, or you can just browse around for whatever strikes your fancy. There are syllabi and lecture notes and assignments and exams or whatever the professor(s) who taught the course is comfortable putting on the site. So I looked around, and a few of these courses and their names struck my fancy--and not just the math courses. For your sake I won't list all those courses that sounded interesting.
24.906J / 21F.024J The Linguistic Study of Bilingualism, Fall 2006
24.251 Introduction to Philosophy of Language, Spring 2006
9.402 Language and Thought, Fall 2002. I have wondered all those questions. Seriously.
9.57J / 24.904J Language Acquisition, Fall 2001. Yet another thing I've always been curious about and tried to figure out. That cartoon is hilarious, even though I originally read it as "Is Mama Bear touching herself?"
9.59J / 24.905J Psycholinguistics, Spring 2005. And this is where the drooling really starts. If I could be a lifelong student, or at least a student in something completely different for the next few years, I'd do linguistics next.
21F.013 Out of Ground Zero: Catastrophe and Memory, Fall 2005
21F.039 / 21F.037 Japanese Popular Culture, Spring 2003
24.118 Paradox and Infinity, Fall 2006. The math won't be very new, but I'm curious about the philosophy behind it.
SP.240 / ESG.SP240 Composing Your Life: Exploration of Self through Visual Arts and Writing, Spring 2006. I think the concept for this course is really fascinating, and something I've been exploring for years. Offering such an idea as a course is completely foreign to me, though, but something great for me to do on a deadline.
SP.242 / ESG.SP242 Gender Issues in Academics and Academia, Spring 2004. Another idea that makes a fascinating course, especially given that this was offered at MIT in particular.
SP.2H3 / ESG.SP2H3 Ancient Philosophy and Mathematics, Fall 2006.
21H.234J / 11.339J / 11.026J Downtown, Spring 2005. Downtown as an idea sounds really cool, especially since I'm a city person.
21A.350J / SP.484J / STS.086J / WGS.484J The Anthropology of Computing, Fall 2004. The topics in this class just sound cool. Identity in cyberspace? The hacking aesthetic? So cool.
21W.730-2 The Creative Spark, Fall 2004. How do we describe creativity, anyway? No, really. I know I describe it in different ways in a writerly sense than I do in a mathematical sense, but the basic idea is the same--the ability to see something from a different angle and express it. But how exactly does this work?
21W.730-1 Imagining the Future, Spring 2004. I'd love to see what people of the future think of what we think of their era. Just saying. This still sounds cool, though.
So there's a good bit of stuff here. If you're looking to learn something on your own, or if you want to supplement something you're learning now, this doesn't look too bad. One con is the lack of interaction with others who are learning the same thing, so if you really like group work or contact with someone who can answer your questions, using this as a sole method of learning a topic may be less helpful. But otherwise, this doesn't look too bad. I'll have to try this sometime.
**
I cleaned the war zone under my bed this afternoon. Those dust bunnies really like it down there. OUT, YOU BEASTS!
I also finally finished my Dr. Nbook version on the Andrew trip. Finally. Took long enough, eh?
Also, only 12 entries in March? Have I really been that busy?
MIT OpenCourseWare.
That's right. Free versions of courses that were actually offered at MIT. You can search the site by discipline for a specific course, or you can just browse around for whatever strikes your fancy. There are syllabi and lecture notes and assignments and exams or whatever the professor(s) who taught the course is comfortable putting on the site. So I looked around, and a few of these courses and their names struck my fancy--and not just the math courses. For your sake I won't list all those courses that sounded interesting.
24.906J / 21F.024J The Linguistic Study of Bilingualism, Fall 2006
24.251 Introduction to Philosophy of Language, Spring 2006
9.402 Language and Thought, Fall 2002. I have wondered all those questions. Seriously.
9.57J / 24.904J Language Acquisition, Fall 2001. Yet another thing I've always been curious about and tried to figure out. That cartoon is hilarious, even though I originally read it as "Is Mama Bear touching herself?"
9.59J / 24.905J Psycholinguistics, Spring 2005. And this is where the drooling really starts. If I could be a lifelong student, or at least a student in something completely different for the next few years, I'd do linguistics next.
21F.013 Out of Ground Zero: Catastrophe and Memory, Fall 2005
21F.039 / 21F.037 Japanese Popular Culture, Spring 2003
24.118 Paradox and Infinity, Fall 2006. The math won't be very new, but I'm curious about the philosophy behind it.
SP.240 / ESG.SP240 Composing Your Life: Exploration of Self through Visual Arts and Writing, Spring 2006. I think the concept for this course is really fascinating, and something I've been exploring for years. Offering such an idea as a course is completely foreign to me, though, but something great for me to do on a deadline.
SP.242 / ESG.SP242 Gender Issues in Academics and Academia, Spring 2004. Another idea that makes a fascinating course, especially given that this was offered at MIT in particular.
SP.2H3 / ESG.SP2H3 Ancient Philosophy and Mathematics, Fall 2006.
21H.234J / 11.339J / 11.026J Downtown, Spring 2005. Downtown as an idea sounds really cool, especially since I'm a city person.
21A.350J / SP.484J / STS.086J / WGS.484J The Anthropology of Computing, Fall 2004. The topics in this class just sound cool. Identity in cyberspace? The hacking aesthetic? So cool.
21W.730-2 The Creative Spark, Fall 2004. How do we describe creativity, anyway? No, really. I know I describe it in different ways in a writerly sense than I do in a mathematical sense, but the basic idea is the same--the ability to see something from a different angle and express it. But how exactly does this work?
21W.730-1 Imagining the Future, Spring 2004. I'd love to see what people of the future think of what we think of their era. Just saying. This still sounds cool, though.
So there's a good bit of stuff here. If you're looking to learn something on your own, or if you want to supplement something you're learning now, this doesn't look too bad. One con is the lack of interaction with others who are learning the same thing, so if you really like group work or contact with someone who can answer your questions, using this as a sole method of learning a topic may be less helpful. But otherwise, this doesn't look too bad. I'll have to try this sometime.
**
I cleaned the war zone under my bed this afternoon. Those dust bunnies really like it down there. OUT, YOU BEASTS!
I also finally finished my Dr. Nbook version on the Andrew trip. Finally. Took long enough, eh?
Also, only 12 entries in March? Have I really been that busy?