“Hello Mom, Dad, I have some great news for you both. I am going to MIT this fall.”

How many students get the chance to surprise their parents with such a bold statement? Open CourseWare Consortium is making such a statement possible for students all over the world – for free.

Differing from other Web-based education offerings, the Consortium offers an institutional approach in order to assist and support all credit-based collegiate programs, rather than being used as an alternative or distance-learning initiative. An extensive list of highly acclaimed institutions are participating, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Notre Dame and other institutions from countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Austria. The Consortium offers classes in all areas of studies to aid and further any and all students’ knowledge within – or outside of – their focused major, without any burden of finances, prerequisites or registration processes.

“I think the dissemination of knowledge and the predissemination of knowledge is one of the greatest things I have seen in my lifetime, and whatever we can do to encourage it . we should,” said Andrew Hochstetler, associate professor of sociology, when asked of his views on the objective of the Consortium and its outstretching knowledge available to all who seek it.

The Consortium is nearly unheard of by most professors, as well as students, but when asked, many believe that it could be a vital tool in the advancing of education.

“I believe it could be an effective tool in classes all over to continue to stretch the boundaries of learning for all students,” said Steven Evans, senior in health and human performance.

Here are five interesting courses with online material on the Consortium:

“Hip-Hop,” from MIT

For future musicians, music teachers and all other music enthusiasts, MIT offers a hip-hop program aimed toward exploring the extensive background of the art, which has taken center stage in pop culture. With movies such as “Honey,” “Save the Last Dance,” “You Got Served” and, most recently, “Stomp the Yard,” hip-hop has become a topic of conversation all over middle schools, high schools, college campuses and more. According to the Consortium, the course will offer extensive readings, Web sites and links to featured artists to assist the understanding of every student who partakes. With sections ranging from dance, graffiti and fashion all the way to sex and sexuality, the class is sure to capture the interest and entice the minds of all who wish to submerse themselves into the art of hip-hop.

“The Meaning of Crime,” from The Open University, United Kingdom

With the introduction of shows such as “CSI,” “Law and Order” and other crime-based television shows, students majoring in criminology are on the rise all over the nation. According to the ISU sociology department, Iowa State is no different, and now exhibits a criminal justice program with 141 current students and 33 new students. “The Meaning of Crime” is the perfect option for students looking to expand their knowledge base of how to identify crime, as well as to understand its effects on society and society’s perception of crime. Expounding upon the current curriculums, the material will assist students with a view from a different country, enabling them a more well-rounded education to garnish their degree and knowledge from their own curriculum.

“Earthquake Risk Reduction,” from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

The Bible said it best – “The foolish man builds his house upon the sand.” The world we live in throws an endless number of trials and tribulations at us day in and day out. “Earthquake Risk Reduction,” offered by the Tokyo Institute of Technology, is a perfect class for any engineer or architect wishing to set his or her sights on the structures of the coasts or any land where earthquakes threaten the safety of its inhabitants. According to the Consortium, the course was started at the Tokyo Institute of Technology after the 1995 Kobe earthquake, aiming to find ways to reduce the risk to urban areas because of earthquakes. Focusing on four general areas – preparedness, earthquakes and tsunamis in near-field, ground motion and response of structures – the class proves to pique the curiosity of many, and enhance the knowledge of all.

“Medical Artificial Intelligence,” from MIT

If you were to ask most people on the street about their feelings on artificial intelligence, they probably wouldn’t think of the medical field. That is just what this course aims to change. Medical diagnosis, therapy selection and monitoring and learning from databases are all areas of the medical field that are being greatly changed for the better with the use of artificial intelligence, according to MIT. The course separates its information into a number of intuitive chapters such as logic, logic programming and machine learning. It then breaks the information down further into subcategories using proof trees, examples and widely accepted hypotheses such as the “nearest neighbor hypothesis” to add a computer-based background to any medical student’s collage of learning, and giving the computer savvy more career opportunities. Students will find many different ways to take full advantage of this course through the materials available to them, such as a full calendar, discussion group and even the MIT iCampus right at their fingertips.

“Terrorism, Peace and Other Inconsistencies,” from Notre Dame

The word terror originates from Latin, but recently it seems reborn through the world of terrorism and the current war on terror that has swept the nation and the world. A copious number of colleges throughout the nation have taken the current state of the world in stride, and are now offering classes dedicated directly to the study of terrorism and current struggles. Notre Dame is utilizing the Consortium to offer its course to students all over in order to further educate them on a number of points. The history and rationale for contemporary terrorism, al-Qaida terror, weapons of mass destruction and how we might achieve peace are just a few of the topics the course encompasses according to the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Class information compiled from the Open CourseWare Consortium Web site: Ocwconsortium.org