The Brick and Mortar University Is Not Dead

The college environment is just as important as book learning. Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. On April 4, 2001, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that it intended to give away its product for free. Over the ensuing decade, thousands of lecture notes, exams, and, increasingly, recorded classes were uploaded to the public MIT OpenCourseWare website. Other universities, as well as dozens of other non- and for-profit organizations, soon followed with their own “massive open online courses” (MOOCs). Noah Swank is a writer and researcher based in Washington, D.C. More We Think You’d Like