The University of Notre Dames OpenCourseWare project, which makes the materials for Notre Dame courses available on the Web at no charge to any user in the world, has been lauded in a survey by Readers Digest magazine.
The publication released its fourth annualAmericas 100 Beston Tuesday (April 10) and the full survey will appear in the April 17 edition of the magazine.
This annual issue captures how Americans get things doneworking hard, dreaming big and overcoming obstacles,said Jackie Leo, Readers Digest editor-in-chief.
Notre Dame was recognized in theBest in the Nationgrouping, in a category titledBest Laptop Lectures.The University, along with MIT, Harvard, theUniversityofPennsylvaniasWhartonSchool, Stanford andTuftsUniversitywere described astop universities that now put material on their Web sites or produce podcasts of class lectures.
Notre Dames OpenCourseWare initiative began last fall and, currently, the Universitys Web site offers free access to the course materials for eight undergraduate-level courses. The offerings include courses in Africana studies, Arabic andMiddle Eaststudies, architecture, history, philosophy, peace studies and theology. Eventually, some 30 Notre Dame courses will be available on the Web.
The UniversitysKanebCenterfor Teaching and Learning has received a two-year, $233,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to support the OpenCourseWare project. The University is aligned with the OpenCourseWareConsortium, a collaboration of more than 60 institutions worldwide, including MIT and Tufts.
Readers Digest editors consulted both experts and the general public before testing, tasting and debating candidates forAmericas 100 Best.The categories include the Arts, Business and Finance, Health, Food, Science and Technology, Society and Culture, Sports and Fitness, Transportation, Travel and more.
Those cited range from the remarkable,Best Bet for Vets(Operation Hero for Hire,Chicago), to the wacky,Best Prehistoric Pitchman(Auto insurer GeicosSo Easy a Caveman Can Do Itad campaign), to the wonderful,Best Heavenly Bites(Our Lady of Mississippi Abbeys Trappistine Creamy Caramels,Dubuque,Iowa).
The entire list can be viewed at http://www.rd.com/boa .
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