In 1999, MIT Faculty considered how to use the Internet in pursuit of MIT's mission—to advance knowledge and educate students—and in 2000 proposed OCW. MIT published the first proof-of-concept site in 2002, containing 50 courses. By November 2007, MIT completed the initial publication of virtually the entire curriculum, over 1,800 courses in 33 academic disciplines. Going forward, the OCW team is updating existing courses and adding new content and services to the site.
View video of the MIT OpenCourseWare Milestone Celebration held on
November 28, 2007, marking the completion of the initial publication.
|
2001 |
OCW announced in The New York Times. |
|
2002 |
50 courses published
Pilot version goes live with 50 courses.
Spanish and Portuguese translations added. |
|
2003 |
500 courses published
Official launch in October 2003.
Chinese translations added. |
|
2004 |
900 courses published
OCW adopts Creative Commons license.
Other institutions work with MIT to create their own OCWs.
First mirror site established in Africa. |
|
2005 |
1250 courses published
OCW begins updating previously published courses.
OCW wins over a dozen major awards.
OpenCourseWare Consortium formed. |
|
2006 |
1550 courses published
OCW Consortium meets in Kyoto, portal launched.
OCW Secondary Education concept developed.
Thai translations added. |
|
2007 |
1800 courses published
New monthly traffic record set: over 2 million visits.
Publication of virtually all MIT courses completed.
Highlights for High School launched. |
|
2008 |
Audio/video content added regularly to YouTube and iTunes U.
Course images added regularly to flickr.
Persian translations added. |
|
2009 |
1925 courses and counting! |