----------------------------------------------------------------
MIT OpenCourseWare Update: September 2006
A Monthly E-mail Newsletter for Users
and Friends of MIT OpenCourseWare
----------------------------------------------------------------
The September 2006 MIT OpenCourseWare Update Contains:
1. New Courses Available
2. Updated Courses
3. A Brainteaser
4. MIT Teaches That?
5. RSS Feeds
6. Your Gift Sustains OCW Long-Term
1. New Courses Available
----------------------------------------------------------------
MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) announces the publication of 14 additional new courses as part of our Fall 2006 course publication cycle. We now offer open access to the educational materials from more than 1450 courses, including the following new courses:
3.A08 Attraction and Repulsion: The Magic of Magnets, Fall 2005
8.284 Modern Astrophysics, Spring 2006
8.513 Many-Body Theory for Condensed Matter Systems, Fall 2004
8.871 Selected Topics in Theoretical Particle Physics: Branes and Gauge Theory Dynamics, Fall 2004
18.727 Topics in Algebraic Geometry: Intersection Theory on Moduli Spaces, Spring 2006
18.786 Topics in Algebraic Number Theory, Spring 2006
18.906 Algebraic Topology II, Spring 2006
21M.011 Introduction to Western Music, Spring 2006
21A.231 Gender, Sexuality, and Society, Spring 2006
21M.710 Script Analysis, Fall 2005
21W.780 Communicating in Technical Organizations, Spring 2006
ESD.141 Technology Policy Negotiations, Spring 2006
STS.014 Principles and Practice of Science Communication, Spring 2006
STS.S28 Godzilla and the Bullet Train: Technology and Culture in Modern Japan, Fall 2005
When looking at the complete OCW Master Course List, look for the red NEW to indicate newly published materials.
2. Updated Courses
----------------------------------------------------------------
Several users have contacted us in recent months searching for "missing" courses. In fact, there are no courses that have been removed from the MIT OCW Web site, but more than 225 have been updated. MIT OCW began archiving some of its older courses and replacing them with updated versions of those courses in the spring of 2005 (with new years and terms). Some of the courses are substantially different in teaching methodology, while some now offer additional teaching and learning resources.
The latest updated courses include:
8.04 Quantum Physics I, Spring 2006
12.005 Applications of Continuum Mechanics to Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Spring 2006
12.812 General Circulation of the Earth's Atmosphere, Fall 2005
17.50 Introduction to Comparative Politics, Spring 2006
18.175 Theory of Probability, Spring 2005
Users may have bookmarked their favorite courses on the MIT OCW site. If those bookmarks no longer work, it is because that course has been updated and has a new Web address, not because we took the course down. Please see the complete list of updated courses at /OcwWeb/web/courses/archived/index.htm.
3. A Brainteaser
----------------------------------------------------------------
For those of you who like intellectual challenges, we will present a brainteaser in each email newsletter, the answer to which can be found in one of the courses published in MIT OCW. This month's brainteaser is from a course in Calculus with Theory:
How many saddle points can you find on a squirrel?
And how many if the squirrel is eating a bagel?
(The answer can be found in on the home page of course 18.024 Calculus with Theory II, Spring 2003.But before you check the answer, ask a colleague if they can figure it out!)
4. MIT Teaches That?
----------------------------------------------------------------
MIT is known primarily for academic excellence in science and engineering. But with 35 excellent departments in five different schools, there are many interesting course subjects that may not be noticed on initial browsing of the MIT OCW site. This month we would like to draw your attention to one of these courses:
21F.084/21A.224, 17.55 - Introduction to Latin American Studies, Fall 2005.
Designed as an introduction to Latin American politics and society, the course covers topics such as the legacies of conquest and slavery, the Latin American debt crisis, the breakdown of Chilean democracy, land disputes in Brazil, and corruption and criminal justice in Mexico. Check it out.
5. RSS Feeds
----------------------------------------------------------------
In an effort to keep MIT OCW users informed about new courses and other updates to the MIT OCW site, we have recently added RSS feeds to MIT department pages and to our Master Course List to announce new courses and changes to the MIT OCW site. Users may still go to the Master Course List on the MIT OCW web site to find newly published courses (marked with NEW) if they choose. Because the OCW course publication schedule peaks twice a year, the greatest change in the feeds will be observed as we reach the end of our publication cycles in November and April of each year.
To learn more about our RSS feeds, visit the MIT OCW RSS Feeds page.
6.Your Gift Sustains OCW Long-Term
----------------------------------------------------------------
In offering free and open access to MIT courses, the MIT faculty are giving their educational materials to the world. But maintaining these courses, and evolving MIT OCW to meet the needs of our diverse user audience, has its costs. Thus, we depend on the generosity of users to sustain the MIT OCW project long term. We now offer a quick link to the Donating to MIT OCW section on every page on the MIT OCW Web site. Look for the following button at the top of every page:
Hit this button, and you will find that giving your gift to MIT OCW is easy, and that the Giving to MIT Web site is a safe and secure way to financially support MIT OCW. MIT OCW will always be a free and open digital publication, however, your $50, $100, or $500 donation will enable us to continue to offer a high-quality publication of MIT's course materials.