A Very Interesting Experiment

In the late 1960s I taught 6.02 at MIT which was the core electronics course for incoming EE students. I had some 350 students and many sections which were handled by Instructors, some were even Associate Profs. So we had a high power group. Now each lecture was planned to the micro second, better than any Shakespeare play.

Now MIT is offering 6.002x, an on line version of this course almost 50 years later! So I enrolled. What the heck, can I still do this stuff, it is a bit of an FCC exam as well. But what is more interesting is the questions from the students! I am amazed, the flow of misunderstanding from across the world! Since it is free I would suggest that one enroll if for no other reason than reading the real time commentary.

Now for me some comments:

1. The lectures are a bit shaky, not fully structured as we did those 50 years ago, but I guess things change.

2. The lab is cumbersome at best. It finally works but not ready for prime time.

3. The problem sets are trivial, but unless you really pay attention you get killed in sloppy addition and subtraction. Here 50 years does make a difference, we are so dependent upon spread sheets.

4. The text is in my view overly verbose and lacks motivation, but that is style.

It will be interesting to follow along. Great idea any way!