Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science I now available in MIT OpenCourseWare’s innovative OCW Scholar format

6.01SC is the fourth of seven courses OCW will publish this spring specifically to meet the needs of independent learners.

CAMBRIDGE, MA, February 28, 2012 -- MIT OpenCourseWare has released a new version of Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science I in the innovative OCW Scholar format designed for independent learners. Coordinated by Professor Dennis Freeman, 6.01SC includes contributions from a half dozen MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) faculty members, and features lecture and recitation videos.

6.01 is one of two introductory courses required of all MIT EECS majors. It was developed as part of a new EECS curriculum introduced in 2005, and is designed to introduce students to electrical engineering and computer science through both theory and practice. 6.01 also provides prerequisite information supporting study in the new 6.002x course being offered this spring through MITx, the online learning initiative MIT announced in December 2011.

OCW Scholar courses represent a new approach to OCW publication. MIT faculty, staff and students work closely with the OCW team to structure the course materials for independent learners. These courses offer more materials than typical OCW courses and include new custom-created content. 6.01SC provides a complete learning experience for independent learners, including lecture videos, recitation videos, course notes, software and design labs, homework assignments and additional exercises, and quizzes and exams.

The first five of a planned 20 OCW Scholar courses were launched by MIT OpenCourseWare in January 2011, and have collectively received more than 800,000 visits in less than a year. The initial OCW Scholar courses included Classical Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Solid State Chemistry, Single Variable Calculus, and Multivariable Calculus.

Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, and Principles of Microeconomics were published earlier this year, and Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is the fourth of seven OCW Scholar courses that will be published in 2012. Upcoming OCW Scholar courses are Introduction to Psychology, Fundamentals of Biology and Introduction to Computer Science and Programming. OCW Scholar courses are published on the OCW site with the support of the Stanton Foundation.

About MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT OpenCourseWare makes the materials used in teaching most of MIT's undergraduate and graduate courses—more than 2,100 in all—available on the Web, free of charge, to any user in the world. OCW receives an average of 1.75 million web site visits per month from more than 215 countries and territories worldwide. To date, more than 125 million individuals have accessed OCW materials. MIT OpenCourseWare is supported by donations from site visitors, grants and corporate sponsorship, including underwriting from our Next Decade Alliance sponsors Dow Chemical, Lockheed Martin and MathWorks.

About the Instructors

Leslie Kaelbling is Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Research Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT. She has previously held positions at Brown University, the Artificial Intelligence Center of SRI International, and at Teleos Research. She received an A. B. in Philosophy in 1983 and a Ph. D. in Computer Science in 1990, both from Stanford University.

Jacob White is an Associate Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) at MIT. Professor White is a pioneer in numerical methods, particularly in computational prototyping tools and techniques for integrated circuit interconnect, circuit packaging, and micromachined devices.

Harold (Hal) Abelson is Class of 1922 Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and a Fellow of the IEEE. He holds an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from MIT. In 1992, Abelson was designated as one of MIT's six inaugural MacVicar Faculty Fellows, in recognition of his significant and sustained contributions to teaching and undergraduate education.

Dennis M. Freeman is a principal investigator in the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) at MIT. He received his B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University in 1973, and his S.M. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT in 1976 and 1986 respectively.

Tomas Lozano-Perez is the School of Engineering Professor of Teaching Excellence at MIT, where he is a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Professor Lozano-Perez has all his degrees (SB '73, SM '76, PhD '80) from MIT in Computer Science. He has been Associate Director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Associate Head for Computer Science of MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Isaac Chuang came to MIT in 2000 from IBM, where he was a research staff member. He received his doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, where he was a Hertz Foundation Fellow. Prof. Chuang also holds two bachelors and one masters degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering from MIT, and was a post-doctoral fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley.

About the Stanton Foundation

The Stanton Foundation was created by Frank Stanton, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest executives in the history of electronic communications. During his 25 years as president of CBS, he turned a lesser-known radio network into a broadcasting powerhouse. Stanton made many historic contributions to the industry and to the society it served. In 1960, he initiated the first televised presidential debates—the famous Nixon-Kennedy “Great Debates”—which required a special Act of Congress before they could proceed. He also spearheaded the creation of the first coast-to-coast broadcasting system, allowing CBS to become the first network to present a news event live across the continental United States, a speech by President Truman at the opening of the Japanese Peace Conference in San Francisco. Frank Stanton was the commencement speaker at MIT in 1961.

Contact:

ocw@mit.edu