The power and knowledge that education brings to somebody is priceless. MIT is cutting the price for that priceless education down to its namesake – free.
Bloomberg is reporting that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will begin offering a free online course today that anybody can take. Students around the world can take the class and upon completion will receive a certificate signifying their accomplishment.
The class titled “6.002x: Circuits and Electronics” is the first free course offered by the school and will begin March 5. The course will focus on the inner-workings of smartphones and other “cool gadgets” according to Anart Agarwal, the lead instructor for the course. Subsequent classes will be offered with a small fee.
This isn’t the first time that MIT has dabbled in free education and materials for aspiring students. For the past 10 years, the school has provided documents and lecture notes online through its OpenCourseWare program. It’s new MITx initiative will have non-MIT students’ performance assessed and be rewarded certificates if they show mastery in the subject.
“Anybody anywhere that has the time, motivation, drive to learn this kind of material should be given the opportunity to do so,” MIT Provost L. Rafael Reif said. The new program will feature more interactive features than the current OpenCourseWare does.
Students will receive video lectures, midterms and final exams, weekly deadlines to complete homework and labs, and access to a discussion forum. The school said that students can expect to spend about 10 hours a week on the course.
Enrollment in the first course in unlimited, but the college isn’t sure how many students will apply for the program. They do require that students interested in the “introductory course” have a background in advanced physics and mathematics.
For those interested in free education, you can sign up here.