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MIT's OpenCourseware is causing big waves doing that right now. Anyone can log in and participate in classes.
Originally posted by NoHomers
I have always thought knowledge should be free. I can't figure out why we (in the U.S.) don't take some of the billions of tax dollars we spend every year and create a free website for education. I think it would be a worthwhile investment to create a free K-12 online curriculum and then add college courses as they can be created. Why wouldn't we, as the general public, want everybody to be as educated as possible? I realize some higher-learning institutions may lose money ultimately if such a site were constructed, but we didn't prevent the introduction of the automobile in order to keep stage coach companies in business.
Originally posted by Zaxxon
reply to post by FNetV1
isn't it ethical to allow the creator of original works and research be the person making the choice on whether their work is freely released
...it costs money to employ someone to scan and post the media, maintain the storage systems and software, pay for the bandwidth used....
...provide such an infrastructure from the volunteering of time and the universities volunteering the resources....
Originally posted by David_Reale
This is incredible! Awesome! I cannot star this enough! I sincerely hope all libraries start to follow this pattern! It would mean the beginning of the world that all (most) pirates dream of, where information truly, and without execptions, is free! And that, of course, would mean the beginning of the end for the Powers That Be!
I applaud their efforts from the bottom of my heart!
[edit on 11-8-2010 by David_Reale]
Originally posted by ImaginaryReality1984
I've always thought that students should be given special access to resources that often cost a lot.
there are numerous ways to do this but i think for one when it comes to software universities should buy one copy and be allowed t distribute it to all students for the duration of their courses.
Originally posted by NoHomers
I think it would be a worthwhile investment to create a free K-12 online curriculum and then add college courses as they can be created. Why wouldn't we, as the general public, want everybody to be as educated as possible? I realize some higher-learning institutions may lose money