Gilbert Strang: MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW)
00:00:00.000 | - The fact that there is thousands,
00:00:04.400 | you know, hundreds of thousands, millions of people
00:00:06.440 | that watch that video, I think that's really powerful.
00:00:09.840 | So how do you think the idea of putting lectures online,
00:00:14.840 | what really MIT OpenCourseWare has innovated?
00:00:18.840 | - That was a wonderful idea.
00:00:20.280 | You know, I think the story that I've heard
00:00:24.280 | is the committee was appointed by the president,
00:00:28.280 | President Vest at that time, a wonderful guy.
00:00:31.560 | And the idea of the committee was to figure out
00:00:35.020 | how MIT could be like other universities,
00:00:40.020 | market the work we were doing.
00:00:44.140 | And then they didn't see a way, and after a weekend,
00:00:47.240 | and they had an inspiration,
00:00:48.800 | came back to President Vest and said,
00:00:51.560 | "What if we just gave it away?"
00:00:53.800 | And he decided that was okay, good idea.
00:00:58.800 | So--
00:01:00.080 | - You know, that's a crazy idea.
00:01:02.200 | If we think of a university as a thing
00:01:04.240 | that creates a product, isn't knowledge,
00:01:07.580 | the kind of educational knowledge,
00:01:11.120 | isn't the product and giving that away,
00:01:14.200 | are you surprised that it went through?
00:01:17.680 | - The result that he did it,
00:01:19.840 | well, knowing a little bit President Vest,
00:01:22.280 | it was like him, I think.
00:01:24.640 | And it was really the right idea.
00:01:27.920 | You know, MIT is a kind of,
00:01:31.880 | it's known for being high-level technical things,
00:01:36.420 | and this is the best way we can say,
00:01:39.840 | tell, we can show what MIT really is like.
00:01:44.120 | 'Cause in my case, those 1806 videos
00:01:48.920 | are just teaching the class.
00:01:51.480 | They were there in 26-100.
00:01:55.200 | They're kind of fun to look at.
00:01:56.400 | People write to me and say,
00:01:57.880 | "Oh, you've got a sense of humor,"
00:01:59.840 | but I don't know where that comes through.
00:02:02.440 | Somehow, I've been friendly with the class,
00:02:05.240 | I like students, and linear algebra,
00:02:10.240 | we gotta give the subject most of the credit.
00:02:14.400 | It really has come forward in importance in these years.
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