Be a guinea pig and study electronics for free at MIT!

[IanB]

Apparently MIT is running a prototype on-line course in electronics free of charge, starting on March 5. On successful completion you will get an electronic certificate from MIT. The course provides an introduction to circuit theory and analog design, taught by Anant Agarwal, Gerald Sussman and Piotr Mitros. It could be of great interest to anyone new to the field and wanting to learn more about electronics. Apparently a reasonable background in physics and mathematics is required, to at least advanced high school/university foundation level.

https://6002x.mitx.mit.edu/

(I am not connected with MIT at all, I just came across this in a news article.)

[McMonster]

I've registered. Could be interesting even if I won't complete the course, you don't have an opportunity to take a course on MIT very often in this part of the world. I think this mere electronic certificate is worth much more than formal degrees on many Polish universities from a potential employer's point of view. Coincidentally today was the first day of my postgraduate studies.

[harnon]

Not sure if it's the same thing but 6.002 is already available as open courseware ocw.mit.edu and on itunesu. You don't get a certificate I guess...

[IanB]

It's based on 6.002, but this is more than just open courseware. You have to register, study the material, and pass the tests.

[harnon]

Actually, on checking out the website that looks like it will be OCW on steroids

[Mr J]

This is great, I'm in Plymouth, ma about 50 min drive time south of MIT

[george graves]

In order to succeed in this course, you must have taken an AP level physics course in electricity and magnetism.

[Mint.]

This awesome! Thank you for sharing, I signed up!

[HLA-27b]

Signed up immediately. This should be good, can't wait.

[8086]

Enrolled.

Should be fun

[sacherjj]

Even though I got an EE degree, I went into primary software.  I signed up too.  It may be boring and review, but I know I'm rusty on a bunch of my analog.  I'm more interested in seeing how they manage the process and the idea of online learning.  I think that will be the future.

[ivan747]

In order to succeed in this course, you must have taken an AP level physics course in electricity and magnetism.

Something I don't have.   
Do you think I can finish an Open Courseware on that on 2 weeks?

[sacherjj]

In order to succeed in this course, you must have taken an AP level physics course in electricity and magnetism.

Something I don't have.   
Do you think I can finish an Open Courseware on that on 2 weeks?

There are no negatives to trying to take this course and failing exams.  Nothing.  So, do what you can to learn Physics, Electricity and Magnetism.

I will promise you one thing.  Even if you don't "succeed in this course", you will end up with more knowledge than when you started.

I would also suggest http://www.khanacademy.org/  Specifically the electronics related portions of the Physics section.  You can go through those videos and take exams on the site to validate that you are learning the information.

[nanofrog]

My analog skills are past rusty, so I enrolled. Certainly can't hurt. 

[george graves]

There are no negatives to trying to take this course and failing exams.  Nothing.  So, do what you can to learn Physics, Electricity and Magnetism.

No disrespect - but.............I doubt you'd be so bold to walk into a classroom on the first day and say that to the professor.  It's no different just cause it's "free" or "online".  Just my 2 cents. 

I will promise you one thing.  Even if you don't "succeed in this course", you will end up with more knowledge than when you started.

Eeek!  Well, I'll let others chime in, but this thread is a bit awkward, really.  I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but...

The class is almost all math and theory.  The first few chapters are interesting.  Lots of resistor networks and how to solve them - but then it goes off the hook and you'll be doing integrals and stuff for the rest of the class.  Never will there be an arduino mentioned, or even the difference between a real op-amp and an ideal op-amp.

I guess what I'm saying is that for someone wanting to learn, that isn't up on the electo/mag college level physics class(that's 3'rd semister physics on a college level) - it's going to be ugly - I don't think you'll like it - and I don't think it will be worth your time.  (perhaps reading Chris Anderson's book on the "free" economy would actually suite this topic quite well- lol - it's quite apropo and stuff.)

I wish you the best of luck - how about you report back after chapter 3 and prove me wrong?  I'd love to hear that you're doing well on it.

Again - I'm all for people learning, and I love that MIT is offering this class for free (hopefully the 1000:1 drop out rate won't be a burden on them).

There is a college class like this, it''s more of an AC/DC circuit class - it's a non-calc class, I don't even know if they teach it at MIT - maybe not - but that class would be much better suited to someone that hasn't taken all the calc and pzx classes.  I learned a lot in it.  Tons of good "how to build/tune a filter"

Anyone have a link to an non-calc AC/DC series of lectures?

Anyways, just my 2 cents.

[electrode]

I looked at the syllabus for this course, and it's basically like the intro to electrical engineering course I did in my first year of my degree.

Yes there's a lot of maths, but there's an awful lot to learn even if you just take some of the maths for granted, and grasp a qualitative understanding of the effects of different sized passive components, parallel networks, etc.

I might do it just so I can say I went to MIT.

[george graves]

I think that's part of the attraction...  So you can say you did a MIT class... urrrr........I'll let others chime in....

[sacherjj]

There are no negatives to trying to take this course and failing exams.  Nothing.  So, do what you can to learn Physics, Electricity and Magnetism.

No disrespect - but.............I doubt you'd be so bold to walk into a classroom on the first day and say that to the professor.  It's no different just cause it's "free" or "online".  Just my 2 cents. 

I actually have been so bold as to do that.  Have you never heard of someone auditing a course that is far enough out of their range of study that it would be difficult to be completely successful in?  I've done that a few times in school. 

This course cost NOTHING but time.  Please show me the error in my statement: "There are no negatives to trying to take this course and failing exams." 

With the vast array of students joining this class, I fully expect all exams to be automatically graded with some type of program.  Otherwise, the unknown number of students would need some associated group of people to process all the exam data.  So this is very little different from auditing a course.

Here is the problem I am addressing: People are completely scared of failing.  It is a growing problem.  Never fail.  Well, the most successful people either bite of more than they can chew or try something not done before and can fail.  Who cares?

If someone starts this course seriously under prepared, the will either be able to ramp up their knowledge by tons of available online resources or not.  It is pretty simple.  It is up to each to decide if that is possible.  I've done many things in life that I didn't know I could, because I thought that the worse thing that could happen is I would fail.

BTW - I took AP-Calculus in High School before my going to college for Electrical Engineering, so perhaps my view of the world is skewed.  However, there are enough resources on the web for anyone with the desire to have a college level education in most field.

[george graves]

Yea...but still.

[Shale]

There are no negatives to trying to take this course and failing exams.  Nothing.  So, do what you can to learn Physics, Electricity and Magnetism.

No disrespect - but.............I doubt you'd be so bold to walk into a classroom on the first day and say that to the professor.  It's no different just cause it's "free" or "online".  Just my 2 cents. 

I actually have been so bold as to do that.  Have you never heard of someone auditing a course that is far enough out of their range of study that it would be difficult to be completely successful in?  I've done that a few times in school. 

This course cost NOTHING but time.  Please show me the error in my statement: "There are no negatives to trying to take this course and failing exams." 

With the vast array of students joining this class, I fully expect all exams to be automatically graded with some type of program.  Otherwise, the unknown number of students would need some associated group of people to process all the exam data.  So this is very little different from auditing a course.

Here is the problem I am addressing: People are completely scared of failing.  It is a growing problem.  Never fail.  Well, the most successful people either bite of more than they can chew or try something not done before and can fail.  Who cares?

If someone starts this course seriously under prepared, the will either be able to ramp up their knowledge by tons of available online resources or not.  It is pretty simple.  It is up to each to decide if that is possible.  I've done many things in life that I didn't know I could, because I thought that the worse thing that could happen is I would fail.

BTW - I took AP-Calculus in High School before my going to college for Electrical Engineering, so perhaps my view of the world is skewed.  However, there are enough resources on the web for anyone with the desire to have a college level education in most field.

I agree. People are afraid to fail. They are taught that failure is a bad thing. Instead it should be a learning thing.

[alm]

No disrespect - but.............I doubt you'd be so bold to walk into a classroom on the first day and say that to the professor.  It's no different just cause it's "free" or "online".  Just my 2 cents. 

I don't see the issue. As long as the classroom is not full (so you're taking places of other, more motivated students) or you're taking up a lot of time with questions because you didn't do the required prerequisites, what's the harm? Especially online where the only costs are some server capacity and bandwidth, which is probably infinitesimally small for a single student. MIT is probably going to get lots of free publicity out of this, I wouldn't be surprised if other major universities did the same.

The class is almost all math and theory.  The first few chapters are interesting.  Lots of resistor networks and how to solve them - but then it goes off the hook and you'll be doing integrals and stuff for the rest of the class.  Never will there be an arduino mentioned, or even the difference between a real op-amp and an ideal op-amp.

I guess what I'm saying is that for someone wanting to learn, that isn't up on the electo/mag college level physics class(that's 3'rd semister physics on a college level) - it's going to be ugly - I don't think you'll like it - and I don't think it will be worth your time.  (perhaps reading Chris Anderson's book on the "free" economy would actually suite this topic quite well- lol - it's quite apropo and stuff.)

From what I've seen from 6.002 (no idea how different the mitx version will be), it's a typical college-level class, so fairly heavy on math. Expect some algebra and differential calculus. I believe they even state this in the prerequisites. Although if I remember correctly, the professor referred to solving the system of linear equations for a resistor network as 'if you want to fall asleep, now might be a good time, this is just me having fun on the black board'. You'll find that many college courses are like this, I would be surprised if a college offered an EE program without all the calculus. The lack of practical material is why books like the Art of Electronics and ANALOG SEEKrets were written, although some of this is usually taught during lab sessions.

[sacherjj]

I have to admit, part of this is to be able to say I studied Electronics at MIT, as a joke.  I had the chance to attend MIT, but could not justify the cost and distance from home. 

My wife went to Harvard....

...to buy a T-Shirt. 

[slateraptor]

My wife went to Harvard....

...to buy a T-Shirt. 

LMFAO!

I'm nudging my little sister into taking the course with me; she's a high school sophomore.

[harnon]

I have to admit, part of this is to be able to say I studied Electronics at MIT, as a joke.  I had the chance to attend MIT, but could not justify the cost and distance from home. 

My wife went to Harvard....

...to buy a T-Shirt. 

... and I moved from Australia to Oxford... and went to the "small" uni next door

Honestly I think most professors / lecturers / teachers expect drop out from our course and are more than aware of the failure rates.  About half our lecturers start their subject with "x% of people fail this  class" although I'm not sure if that is as motivating as it is meant to be for some people! 

Basically this is a college level course on a complex subject and you can't do college engineering without maths.  If you don't like this, well there are plenty of open courseware classes to teach you the maths - my personal fave is the linear algebra (Gilbert Strang is an awesome lecturer) but the single variable calculus one is pretty good as well.

[slateraptor]

Gilbert Strang is an awesome lecturer

If you think Prof. Strang is awesome, you should check out Prof. Osgood's Fourier transform course at Stanford; my Fourier analysis professor was pretty good, but Prof. Osgood takes the cake for lecture style and gusto in mathematics.