Scared ya' didn't we Joe?

What's really needed is someone interested enough to look at what's actually provided, and also at what "external references" each student (or the group, to share) might have to dig up, and come to a decision about whether the specific course can - in a practical sense - be pursued by a group of "highly motivated bottom feeders" as at Mudcat, or whether it's best left to the interested individuals.

The "survey" of what the course entails, if intended for group participation, should be done by someone truly interested in participating, I should think.

Assuming that sufficient of the outside readings (not included in the download) are reasonably obtainable, a study group may work quite well. If there are things found only in MIT libraries, there may be problems, although the group may be able to come up with "comparables" that can be substituted. (We have lots of potentially substitutable stuff withing our membership, don't we?)

An estimate of listening time for all the music, and reading time for all the text would be helpful, I suppose, but probably will be difficult to come up with at an early stage.

It may be possible to consult a current catalog of courses (probably online) to find the same or a closely comparable course. MIT has used, and I presume still does, a slightly different "course weighting" than other schools. Rather than a single number of "credit hours" courses were - and likely still are - given a three digit weight (x - y - z).

x = class hours per week, lectures and/or smaller class group meetings.
y = lab hours per week (separately listed largely because it's often very difficult to "make up" a missed lab, so it impacts the schedule differently.
z = estimated outside study hours for a typical student (typical MIT student) to get an "average" (MIT average) grade.

A common freshman course like general physics might be about a 3-0-9 (no lab). An introductory chemistry class perhaps 3-1-9 with a 3 or 4 hour lab once per month averaged in. BS thesis work might be 0-0-12, perhaps. Normal full time "load" would sum all the digits to at least 42 - 48, with a few carrying up to 60 (usually requiring "faculty approval")

If a "course weight" value can be found, it should be pretty accurate.

(Marquette U in Milwaukee also used this system, but I don't know of any others. There probably are some.)

Of course, working up the possibles won't do those in the herd a lot of good if we don't get a report back from someone - hence a need for a continuing discussion. Perhaps a volunteer from among the enthusiastic should offer to receive PMs from the serious potential students to begin organizing things? (Hint: the first volunteer sometimes gets to delegate tasks to those less eager(?), or at least has a foot in to be elected BMFWIC to gain the privilege.)

John