Have I told you before that I love MIT’s OpenCourseWare? I feel like I have, but can’t find it in my archives with a Google search.

Anyway, I do. I love the idea of making the syllabi, readings, assignments, and other course materials widely open. It’s great for students who are in the classes and want access later. It’s great for students at the university who can’t get into the course they want. It’s great for alum, staff, and other faculty. It’s great for faculty at other institutions, developing similar courses. But most of all, it’s great for all the people out there who aren’t part of MIT’s community who want some of the educational benefit that comes from such an institution. I have a long list of courses on the site that I want to follow once I’ve caught up a little in my “real” life.

So we’ve set premise A: I love open courseware. (& I love MIT for offering it.)

I know I’ve told you that I love video. More and more I see the benefits. The catalyst for me was my iPhone (now I don’t have to be tied to my computer to watch it), but I download and watch more video that I watch TV. Video has the ability to be engaging, quick, and informative while being something we can watch while waiting, while doing something else, or listen to in the background. Video can also convey data more quickly than some text can. Anyway, though text is searchable and small to store, I am increasingly seeing the benefit of video.

Premise B: I love video.

So given that I love open courseware and I love video, it’s no surprise that I love MIT’s video gateway. MIT loves it, too. Look, there’s a link off the homepage:

(It’s on the bottom.)

There’s video for MIT Tech TV, MIT World, and OpenCourseWare. The main page doesn’t have RSS, but each of these three do. You can also get a lot of the content through iTunes.

This is exactly what institutions of higher education should be doing. It’s such a benefit for the larger community, it’s an archive of the institution’s progress, and it’s appropriate use of technology that is in a direction we are likely headed towards. So now I’m left thinking, how can we use video (appropriately) in my library?