FREE DISTANCE EDUCATION SITES TO HELP INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS PREPARE FOR AN AMERICAN STYLE EDUCATION  Steve Perry, *IRO *Information Resource Officer  U.S. EMBASSY, ACCRA GHANA  AUGUST 2012

MIT COURSES ONLINE:

MIT [ MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ] courses with an Audio or Video Component

Can do an advanced search in the MIT SITE for courses with lecture notes

MIT Chemistry courses with lecture notes

Detailed Lecture Notes for a Physical Chemistry Class

Course on Sustainable Development at MIT

MIT Lecture Notes on Sustainability

ACTUAL SYLLABI FOR COURSE

ANOTHER COURSE ON THE U.S. CONGRESS IN THE POLITICAL SCIENCE SECTION: LECTURE NOTES FOR THE U.S. CONGRESS

RELATED RESOURCES FOR THE U.S. CONGRESS

MITx allows for increased interactivity with students: mitx.mit.edumitx.mit.edu

The first MITx course will be offered on Circuits and Electronics  Spring 2012 Course offering Circuits and Electronics, 6.002x  More information & Enroll ‣ More information & Enroll ‣  Circuits and Electronics is on-line and MIT’s first undergraduate analog design course. This prototype course will run, free of charge, for students worldwide from March 5, 2012 through June 8, Students will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the material and earn a certificate from MITx.

TUFTS:

TUFTS HAS A SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY, MEDICINE AND VETERINARY SCIENCE

TUFTS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: ONLINE COURSES

NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY: OCW.ND.EDU

OTHER OCW PARTNERS MORE UNIVERSITIES JOINING ALL THE TIME :

More on the OCW CONSORTIUM

YALE UNIVERSITY:

YALE UNIVERSITY: (Yale not a member of the OCW concept)

Example of a class at YALE UNIVERSITY

FREE LECTURE NOTES

Actual Class Lecture

OPEN CULTURE: (“Get free online courses from the world’s leading universities. This collection includes over 250 free courses in the liberal arts and sciences. Download these audio & video courses straight to your computer or mp3 player.”)

Courses on Open Culture:

COURSES ON POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LAW FROM OPEN CULTURE: Many of these courses are from Stanford University in the U.S.

U CALIFORNIA BERKELEY courses on VIDEO via YOUTUBE: courses now offered: videos of actual courses can be played over and over again and show interaction of professors with students

ACADEMIC EARTH:

More on Academic Earth:

Subjects offered in ACADEMIC EARTH

A Brand New web site offering free courses from leading Universities is Udemy: one has to register for Udemy, but Udemy is freehttp://udemy.com

Example of free courses in udemy.comudemy.com

COURSERA now also offers free courses from a variety of top- flight Universities:

More Coursera Offerings:

edX:

Here are some of the courses provided by edX

For those of you with iTUNES, there is this fantastic possibility

ABOUT THE NEW REVOLUTION IN OPEN FREE DISTANCE EDUCATION: ARTICLES  Articles in the NEW YORK TIMES: “MOOCS”: large-courses-open-to-all-topple-campus- walls.html?_r=2 large-courses-open-to-all-topple-campus- walls.html?_r=2  “The Need for Open Education for a Global Economy” education-for-a-global-economy/ “The Need for Open Education for a Global Economy” education-for-a-global-economy/  Article in College and Research Libraries:

Study Skills Every One Needs to Know (Emory University) killsconsultations/tips.html

What to expect of an IRC or American Corner or the U.S. EMBASSY?  Look to them for advice, networking and partnerships. Share useful print materials  While you subscribe to listservs, the IRC also subscribes to different listservs with valuable information – share the information and network! .

International Students need to know how to research so they won’t fail when in US Colleges  IRCs have college level research materials and IRC folks can teach them the correct way to research, to cite materials, and the most time-efficient way to use databases.  But I know many free materials you can access with just an Internet connection. This are listed on the next few slides: most important is DOAJ:

There are a number of free, research level databases IROs and IRCs know about: these are in all fields.  Here are a few:  MEDLINE  SSRN:  DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals now covering 8100 journals in all fields.  Free Full-Text Dissertation/Thesis Sites (full text)as noted in web site:

SSRN: Social Sciences Research Network:

RESULTS OF SEARCH FOR EGYPT

DOAJ:

Pharmacy Journals for Research and Reference – these articles are all free: can click on any of these journals to browse the issue and then click on any article to read it.

These are merely a few of the free databases that Embassies use – network to find more.  These databases will allow students to practice and refine their research skills that they will truly need at a U.S. College.  I will conclude with a few hints for you on what you might advise your students as they look for the college best for them.

CONSIDERATIONS IN APPLYING TO U.S. COLLEGES I’ve taught INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS for many years and this is what we’ve learned together:

HAVE THE STUDENT CHECK THE COLLEGE WEB SITE  IS THERE AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS SECTION with CLUBS, RESIDENCES?  LOOK FOR WHAT ENROLLED STUDENTS ACTUALLY HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THEIR COLLEGE – best are web sites where you can ask questions and get confidential answers

WEB SITE  LOOK FOR FAST FACTS or STUDENT PROFILE ON WEB SITE: HOW MANY INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ARE THERE?  THE HIGHER THE PERCENTAGE THE GREATER LIKELIHOOD THAT INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS CAN FIND SOMEONE OF A SIMILAR BACKGROUND

COLLEGE WEB SITES  CHECK COURSE OFFERINGS: SUCH AS HISTORY, POLITICAL SCIENCE: DOES THE UNIV CONSISTENTLY TAKE A MULTINATIONAL OR A MULTICULTURAL PERSPECTIVE IN ITS COURSES? If so, a good sign.  LOOK FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS: A UNIVERSITY THAT HAS IS MORE LIKELY TO TAKE A BROADER WORLD VIEW –SAYS WE VALUE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE. Study Abroad Programs?

WEB SITES  KNOW WHAT YOU (AS A STUDENT) WANT AND WHAT YOU VALUE - -DO YOU SEE THAT REFLECTED IN THE COLLEGE WEB SITE?  LOOK AT INTERNATIONAL CLUBS (MESA, MSA) AND ASK STUDENTS FOR INFORMATION – the clubs will often have an address.

ADVICE  START THE PROCESS EARLY  EMPHASIS IS ON GRADE TRANSCRIPTS, PERSONAL ESSAYS, TEACHER RECOMMENDATIONS  A WELL-WRITTEN REFLECTIVE PERSONAL ESSAY THAT REALLY TELLS ADMISSIONS OFFICERS WHAT YOU ARE ALL ABOUT WILL MAKE YOU STAND OUT.

BE PREPARED FOR AN AMERICAN STYLE EDUCATION WHERE CRITICAL THINKING IS KEY!  LOOK AT MIT WEB SITE: ocw.mit.edu  LOOK AT OTHER SCHOOLS THAT PLACE FREE COURSE CONTENT ONLINE:  LOOK OTHER DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSES.  YOUTUBE.COM/UCBEREKELY is one example showing in free video format the style of an American Education.  Check the free thesis and dissertation sites, such as U Maryland and MIT, for those students who will have to write a dissertation or thesis in the US.

FREE THESES/DISSERTATION SITES NOW AVAILABLE ON THIS WEB SITE to give you an idea of what goes into a thesis written in the U.S.  WEB SITE MAY BE FOUND HERE: 

GOOGLE CUSTOM SEARCH ENGINE  Here is a Google Customized Search Engine that searches all these Distance Education sites at once:

ALL THE BEST!  GOOD LUCK!  IRC ACCRA:  and IRO STEVE PERRY:   Updated AUGUST, 2012