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# Discussion Group

Educators, students, and self-learners interested in "Course 8.01: Physics I" are invited to interact with others utilizing these materials in their teaching and learning through the Discussion Group for this course.

This service, offered by MIT OCW and hosted by the Open Sustainable Learning Opportunities Research Group in the Department of Instructional Technology at Utah State University, offers individuals around the world the opportunity to connect with each other, collaborate, form study groups, and receive support for their use of MIT OCW materials in formal and informal educational settings.

OLS is a research project that is focused on building "social software" that enables informal learning communities to form around existing open educational content. The fundamental premise of OLS is that full educational opportunity requires a user to have the social access to other people who can answer questions and provide support. Since the sponsors of free and open Web-based materials cannot typically provide this access, the social support must come from other users. Therefore, OLS:

- Operates independently of MIT OCW
- Requires users to register and login to participate
- Is not a degree-granting or certificate-granting program
- Does not provide formal access to MIT or Utah State University faculty

Connect to the Discussion Group for Course 8.01: Physics I now.

Open Learning Support is funded by a grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation .