In John's January Newsletter
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Recent History Shows Its Relevance
A photo of Boris Yeltsin waving while Vladimir Putin stands to his right.

On December 31, 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned as head of state, leaving the presidency to then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. (Image by ITAR-TASS. Source: The website of the President of the Russian Federation.)

Back in November, we told you about a novel history course in which MIT students built a printing press out of a single beam of wood following a 16th-century design. The idea was to get students involved in a hands-on project so they could have an insider’s view of a technology that revolutionized the world, while keeping in mind the ways digital technology is reshaping the world today.

21H.343J Making Books: The Renaissance and Today is but the latest of a string of OCW publications from MIT’s Department of History that have deep, one might even say, haunting relevance for the problems we confront today. A glance at any day’s news will make clear the value of setting current events in historical context.

Click below for a sampler of recent OCW course sites from History, with brief descriptions from their syllabi.

> Read the complete article

New Courses
A calico cat with black, orange, and white markings sitting on a brick wall with a garden in the background.
7.342 The RNA Revolution: At the Frontiers of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine
A photo of three men sitting on stairs while eating salads.
11.S941 Healthy Cities: Assessing Health Impacts of Policies and Plans
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Updated Courses
Illustration of a lightning bolt striking a brick wall.
18.405J Advanced Complexity Theory
A photo of a woman taking a selfie while standing in front of a landscape of mountains.
WGS.111 Gender & Media: Collaborations in Feminism and Technology
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OCW Educator
Collage of a Pure Data patch, consisting of several labeled boxes connected by lines, overlaying a black-and-white photo of a steam locomotive with steam blowing up out of the whistle.

One of the sound design exercises in 21M.380 challenges students to synthesize a steam train drive-by, with each group working on a different sound related to that problem. (Steam train photo is in the public domain, from Flickr Commons.)

Mind and Hand and Ears

People love sound effects. They have for generations. Just think of the original King Kong’s roar, created for the 1933 film by weaving together lion and tiger roars and playing them backwards. What would the movie be without that signature sound?

Certain sound effects are so iconic they have legs, so to speak. Like that bird whose call tells you the setting is deep in the jungle, no matter the continent. Or the scream of the guy who meets his doom by being attacked or falling from a cliff. That same scream has been used again and again in over 50 years of movies.

And what about those sounds that must be fully imagined? Like those space ships careering across the galaxy? The sound of the engines is so compelling the audience is happy to forget that, in the vacuum of space, sound does not exist. How did that sound get made?

> Read the complete article
MITx News
Competency exam certificate now available for MITx 7.00x Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life

One of the most popular MITx on edX courses now challenges online learners to put their knowledge to the test. MITx 7.00x (Introduction to Biology – The Secret of Life), which has been an exciting educational option for learners to engage with biology since 2013, now offers a rigorous competency exam certificate. The next competency exam opens on Feb. 21 and is available to learners enrolled in the verified-certificate track.

The competency exam is designed to test a learner’s mastery of the course learning objectives, tying together techniques and materials from different topics to provide a more thorough and robust means of evaluating online learners — and a more meaningful certificate for those who excel.
 

> Read the complete article
Highlights for High School
You can make it snow anywhere
MIT graduate student, Ankur Gupta, teaches mathematics at a light board.

The Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) is considered to be one of the hardest examinations in the world. Each year over one million students register to take the exam, yet only 200,000 are considered for admission to one of the public institutes of higher education. Typically students spend two years studying for the exam, and often employ rigorous and expensive coaching services. However, many students don’t have the means to purchase costly training and are left to study on their own.

We are happy to introduce a free resource to help students prepare for the JEE. A group of MIT graduate students, led by Ankur Gupta, are creating a serious of instructional videos using innovative light board technology.  Currently we have nine mathematics videos on our site with plans to add more in different subjects.

> Click here to view the IIT-JEE videos

Views from OCW Supporters
OCW supporter

"I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for making all of this amazing material available. I work at a factory at a dead end job. I've always had a voracious appetite for knowledge. I have a electronics lab setup in my kitchen, and plan on setting up an organic chemistry lab in a spare room. My knowledge has always come either as a product of my own inquiries, or in a catch as catch can manor from the internet and books.

I discovered this site recently and I am dumbfounded at the amount of knowledge you are making available to the public. If only everyone in the world looked at knowledge as a treasure, not as one to be horded, but one to be invested in, and added to.... It seems like many of the people I encounter in my area believe that if you didn't go to college, the pursuit of knowledge is pointless. But every book I read, every new bit of mathematics or science I learn changes the way I look at everything around me.

My family has never been well off, and I could never have afforded a degree at your school, but by having made all of these resources available to me free of charge you have opened a door for my mind. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

If only more institutions and individuals shared this commitment to the betterment of minds, and people learned to pursue knowledge not for grades or degrees, but the improvement of themselves.... It's staggering to think what the world would be like. So thank you again."

- Daniel, Independent Learner

> Read more
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