NYU has launched a pilot Open Education program that will make taped lectures available to the public.
The initiative, funded by the Office of the Provost and supported by Information Technology Services, places cameras and recording equipment in lecture halls to capture the class.
Editing is completed by ITS staff and undergraduate volunteers, but the slow process requires substantial funding. Current equipment was purchased for previous usage and adopted by the OpenEd staff.
The ambitious project cites Pennsylvania's university system, which is considering making foreign language courses online only.
According to NYU, in the future professors may reuse taped lectures or create online assignments so class time can be spent on discussion.
Professors will be asked for permission to record their lectures, and class material is scanned for copyrighted works prior to being posted online. All videos are closed captioned.
Professor Dalton Conley, lead administrator for NYU's Open Education program, said putting materials online will benefit students.
"For NYU students, this program allows them to review classes they've attended, or to catch up on sessions that they might have missed," Conley said. "This program's also going to be a help to prospective students and their parents, in order for them to get a sense of what NYU classes are like."
Professor Daniel Walkowitz is one of the staff members who agreed to participate in the Open Education program. Footage from his course, "New York City: A Social History," is freely available online.
"I presume I was asked because they thought the subject would have broad public appeal," he said. "I hope the taped lectures will excite listeners to want to learn more and come to New York to see the city for themselves, perhaps with a fresh perspective."
More courses will be added to OpenEd in the upcoming spring semester.
Meena Hwang, press representative for Opencourseware Consortium, the company that backs OpenEd, supports NYU's use of the teaching program.
"It came as a great excitement to many of us to see the Open Education Project at NYU, because we were certain that NYU was one institution that would have a profound impact on the open education arena."
