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Why doesn't Oxbridge post lectures online like Harvard and Stanford?

Title. Harvard, Stanford and MIT post lectures online so that students from all over the world can benefit from them. Why doesn't Oxbridge or other popular universities in the UK do so? It it the facilities? Is it the setup of the courses? Are they selfish?

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Reply 1

anoldbaby

Oxford do post lecturesbonline http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/

Reply 2

Canthinkofaname

It could be so that they are not encouraging people to skip lectures if they can just watch them at home (in bed on your laptop) :smile:

What he said ^

Hardly selfish. Oxbridge are 2 of the oldest and most respected universities in the world. The lecture courses are exclusively for Oxbridge students who have earned the right to see them, in addition to paying for the privilege.

Most unis in Britain don't publish lectures online.

Reply 5

Sharri5

Original post by umop apisdn

This is why americans think brits are pretentious (if you're even british). I mean seriously, they don't have to post everything. None of the schools I listed do. I just thought it was strange that UK unis didn't do this, especially for two unis that set the standard in education--- as you basically stated above. It seems they would want to lead this charge in spreading education online.

*I haven't checked the above link yet.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 6

Sharri5

I gave a quick browse to the Oxford website and I was really referring to a continuous in class selection.

Reply 7

Swayum

I think you can find an answer to that by first asking yourself why do MIT and other universities post lectures online for the public to see? From that you can then infer why Oxbridge probably doesn't.

I study at LSE and some of our lectures are recorded online, but they're not made public (with the exception of 1).

Reply 8

Kolya

They are just behind the curve. MIT saw the potential and value of the idea first.

Reply 9

Genocidal

Original post by umop apisdn

You sound like a pretentious *******.

Education is not something to be locked away because a few bastards want to believe that they are the elite of society. Withholding knowledge and education is why we get idiots who hang around in gangs on street corners.

Should they be forced to make them available? Of course not, but that reasoning is poor to say the least.

Reply 10

Sharri5

Original post by Swayum

I've always thought they've done it for brand awareness (wanting their name to reach all corners of the world).

Reply 11

hobnob

Original post by Kolya

They are just behind the curve. MIT saw the potential and value of the idea first.

And in all fairness, online lectures are actually quite a recent thing.

Reply 12

Sharri5

Original post by hobnob

And in all fairness, online lectures are actually quite a recent thing.

Come on, there not that recent. Are there any plans for oxbridge to do so? Online lectures have been around long enough that if there were any plans to do so, something surely would have been said by now.

Reply 13

hobnob

Original post by Sharri5

So how long have they been around for, then? Three years, maybe? That's hardly a long time...
Also, if you had clicked the link in the very first reply to your thread, you'd have seen that Oxford do actually offer a series of podcasts, some of which are recordings of regular lectures.

Reply 14

morecambebay

They have a few on iTunes U dont they?

Edit: Yeah, they do. Open up iTunes, go to the store and click on iTunesU. Once there click on 'universities and colleges' in the quick link box, then select oxford university.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 15

Sharri5

Original post by hobnob

Clearly, we disagree on the time it takes to make plans so there's no point in getting into detail about that.

I also refer you to post 7. Hint: Read it carefully.

Reply 16

Sharri5

I looked at iTunes u and that wasn't really what I was looking for. If there are regular lectures posted great but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Reply 17

anoldbaby

Original post by Sharri5

Clearly, we disagree on the time it takes to make plans so there's no point in getting into detail about that.

I also refer you to post 7. Hint: Read it carefully.

if you look more closely then you maybe able to see that there are regular lectures http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/units/department-engineering-science

Reply 18

Sharri5

Original post by anoldbaby

if you look more closely then you maybe able to see that there are regular lectures http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/units/department-engineering-science

I've already said that I guess they are there, but the setup is strange to me. Why do they have a different professor for each lecture?

Reply 19

umop apisdn

Original post by Genocidal

In my opinion, you have to earn the right to an education. Knowledge is what someone else has created, researched, and dedicated a lot of time to. To give that to everyone will make it seem worthless.

If Oxbridge made their lectures public, then people will stop paying to go there. Universities need money to help them further with research. The more they are paid, the more they can research, and the more people will benefit from that research.

And I don't agree with what you said about street corners. Everyone gets about 12 years of free education, what you do with it is your choice.

I think you're being extremely disrespectful to those who have worked their arse off to get to Oxbridge.