CONTACT:
Jon Paul Potts
MIT OCW Communications Manager
Phone: 617-452-3621
Email: jpotts@mit.edu
Web: http://ocw.mit.edu
QUICK FACTS ABOUT MIT OPENCOURSEWARE
MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) offers free and open access to the educational materials from
701 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses, spanning 33 of MIT’s academic disciplines and
all five of its schools — the Schools of Architecture and Urban Planning; Engineering; Science;
Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; and the Sloan School of Management. MIT OCW enables
the open sharing of course materials and pedagogy with educators and learners around the
world in a way that befits MIT’s reputation as a leading institute of world-class teaching and
research. It is true to MIT’s mission to advance education and serve the world.
2003 Publication
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MIT OCW available at http://ocw.mit.edu
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511 courses published on September 30, 2003
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37% of MIT’s faculty participated
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700 of MIT’s total teaching personnel participated
2004 Publication
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190 more courses published in March 2004
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Course highlights include:
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Course 2.670 — Mechanical Engineering Tools, January IAP 2004
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Course 5.301 — Chemistry Laboratory Techniques, January (IAP) 2004
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Course 8.01 — Physics I, Fall 1999
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Course 11.001J — Introduction to Urban Design and Development, Fall 2001
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Course 15.667 — Negotiation and Conflict Management, Spring 2001
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200 courses scheduled for publication in September 2004
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Working with faculty to publish more complete course content
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Augmenting course content with selective, strategic video offerings
External Indicators
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Traffic from users in more than 215 countries, city-states, and geographic areas
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11,068 average site visits per day from October 1, 2003 to April 17, 2004
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20.6 million page views from October 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004
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21,000 subscribers to monthly MIT OCW email newsletter
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Translations
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50 courses translated into Spanish and Portuguese through partnership with Universia, a
consortium of 724 colleges and universities in Spain, Portugal, and either other Latin
American countries, based in Madrid
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Courses to be translated into Chinese through partnership with CORE (Chinese Open
Resources for Education), a consortium of 70 Chinese universities, supported by the
People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Education
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Materials translated into at least seven other languages, including Ukrainian, Italian,
French, German, Vietnamese
Internal Indicators
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MIT OCW faculty survey tells us so far that faculty are satisfied with the process, and that
faculty are using the materials available on MIT OCW
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74% of participating MIT faculty said it took 10 hours or less to prepare materials for MIT
OCW publication (including 42% at five hours or less)
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32% report using MIT OCW to advise students, do research, and (most often), prepare to
teach
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68% agree, or strongly agree, that “MIT OCW has or will help me advance the learning of
others”
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MIT faculty beginning to ask about traffic date for their sites
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MIT faculty making mention of MIT OCW sites and participation in grant proposals
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No faculty complaints about being contacted by MIT OCW users
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Department Heads are increasingly taking a strategic view of MIT OCW’s ability to showcase
departmental curriculum
Awards
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Kyoto Digital Archives Award – recognizing vision of MIT OCW, content available
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Microsoft Certified Partners Award — with Sapient Corp., recognizing underlying technology
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Massachusetts Interactive Media Conference — two awards, first honoring MIT OCW as best
educational Web site, second for overall best user experience out of hundreds of entries
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InfoWorld100 — with Sapient Corp., recognizing underlying technology
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Computerworld Laureate — recognizing MIT OCW’s vision and leadership, nominated by Bill
Gates
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Webby Awards — nominated on April 20, 2004, for the leading international honor for the
world’s best Web sites
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