Review: MITx's online circuit and analysis course [Education

Abstract

MIT's anant agarwal has a thing for chain saws. The professor of electrical engineering and computer science said so himself as he welcomed his vast horde of online students. And it was a horde: More than 150 000 of us from dozens of countries had signed up for MIT?s inaugural MOOC, or massively open online course, which began in early March and ended in June. The course, dubbed 6.002x, was an adaptation of MIT?s undergraduate class in circuit design and analysis and was part of the university?s MITx initiative, which aims to offer anyone with an Internet connection access to a selection of its courses. Participants were lured by some powerful enticements: MIT?s prestige, the opportunity to learn from a renowned professor, and the price-free. Although MIT has made course materials publicly available for over a decade, this is its first online class involving scheduled instruction, supervision, and testing. Only participants who formally signed up for the 6.002x course were eligible to earn a credential certifying successful completion; MIT has not announced when the course will be offered again. In an early recorded lecture, which