While it should be obvious that these FREE courses aren't for credit as a part of a program, people are still able to watch lectures and review materials that are used in these very classes. These aren't just any universities that are leading the way in this project either. Three of the most notable schools are MIT, Notre Dame, and the University of Washington. Future teachers in the social studies field should take full advantage of these resources to help supplement their own classes. It is a perfect opportunity for teachers to strengthen an area in the curriculum that they may be unsure about or to incorporate some of the primary source documents into their own classes. In searching further through the World History Blog, I found that it was not just Medieval history that was available for free, but also additional European history, Asian history, and African history just to name a few. The possibilities of use of this material are endless. Teachers should always be willing to expand their knowledge base so that they can best educate their students. Pedagogy is an important and necessary part of teaching, but it goes nowhere if a teacher is not knowledgeable in their content area. These free courses are a CHEAP and easy way for teachers to learn or refresh material for a unit that they will have to teach in their own classrooms.
Yes - MIT is a leader in all this opensource stuff. They have a really cool interactive game for kids - called Scratch. Check it out. There are also some amazing history-focused interactive games. Remind me to show you during class.
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