Ruby on Rails is an open source web application framework written in Ruby. It was extracted from the Basecamp project in 2004 and emphasizes convention over configuration, don't repeat yourself (DRY) principles, and test-driven development (TDD). The document outlines the history of Rails, its philosophy, what will be learned in an introductory class including Ruby, the Rails framework, associations, and how learning will take place through exploration, live coding demonstrations, and in-class exercises with a focus on TDD. Prerequisites including dependencies like Ruby, Rails, and a database as well as tools for version control, editing, testing, and deployment are also covered.