MIT makes its e-learning tool open source

 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) began to provide some of its courses online, 10 years ago. Now it plans to publish its online courses software as open source software.

Also, it starts the MITx, which provides certification to the students for following online courses through the software that will be soon open source. Anyone with an internet connection will be able to attend courses through this system.  This system is expected to be available in spring 2012. Students who can demonstrate their knowledge through tests, they could take certification from the institution.

The software is based on the OpenCourseWare program at MIT, which started 10 years ago. The OpenCourseWare program allows guests to attend lectures and study materials online. The MIT said that the existing online content will be enriched with tools that will help in taking up knowledge, such as exercises, workshops, grading from the public and automatic registration to lessons.

The MIT starts distributing MITx because learning through internet gains ground. Many universities and schools are interested in giving the contents of their teaching beyond their classes. MIT by being one of the pioneers in online education wants to provide a widely adaptable and free platform for each school to use it in its specific activities. MITx is not designed to replace the traditional courses of the institution but to improve online educational tools.

The online learning has flourished not only in MIT, but in many other universities that offer, for example, video teaching for various courses. It is worth noting Khan Academy, which offers a wide range of free sources. The project has been initiated by Salmvn Khan who has attracted funding from Google to complement the video lessons with many tools such as exercises and lessons.

Source :cnet