About MITCET

Mission

The mission of the MIT Council on Educational Technology (MITCET) is to enhance the quality of MIT education by encouraging the appropriate application of technology, both on and off campus.

The Council provides continuous strategic guidance and vision of MIT institutional activities concerning the application of digital technology to education, and it advises the Chancellor on priorities, policies, and new opportunities. In advising the Chancellor, MITCET will serve as the voice of the faculty in reporting to the Information Technology Governance Committee (ITGC) concerning educational technology issues within the broader context of the Institute’s information technology activities. It will serve as the voice of the faculty in understanding how the use of online educational technology will improve the MIT residential educational experience.

The Council will coordinate the work of the advisory committees that oversee major MIT educational technology initiatives and services (e.g., OCW, Dspace). It will provide advice, acting as the voice of the faculty, when requested by the Dean for Undergraduate Education or the Dean for Graduate Education.

Activities

The Council undertakes strategic planning and visioning for MIT around the future of educational technology at MIT.

  • The Council will work with MITx to ensure that there is a flow of knowledge back from MITx courses to the residential educational experience. It may do this via a variety of ways including workshops, newletters, web postings etc. It may also suggest ideas to MITx for platform development, tools and infrastructure.
  • The Council will review proposals from inside MIT for research funding on online educational initiatives.
  • The Council, in coordination with the ITGC, advises the Provost on allocating resources for educational technology infrastructure, programs, and experiments. These resources will come both from within MIT and from externally generated grants, gifts, and collaborations.
  • The Council advises the Dean for Undergraduate Education on DUE activities related to educational technology mainly through the Office of Educational Innovation and Technology.
  • The Council is an advocate for technology innovation in education.
  • The Council sponsors activities and events aimed at informing the MIT community about educational technology initiatives, opportunities, and best practices.
  • The Council monitors the effectiveness of Institute-funded educational technology activities, and it may serve as a review board in the case of requests for continued Institute funding. This includes spending through the D’Arbeloff and Alumni Funds.
  • The Council undertakes periodic reviews including fact-finding activities involving other institutions for benchmarking and comparisons.

Structure of the Council

The Council will have two co-chairs who will be the Dean for Undergraduate Education and a faculty member appointed by the Chancellor. The Council will have as an executive officer the director of the DUE Office of Educational Innovation and Technology. The membership of the Council will consist of the following statutory members:

  1. The head of IS&T
  2. The head of the Libraries
  3. The director of MIT Open Course Ware
  4. The Chair of the faculty or designee
  5. The Dean for Graduate Education
  6. The director of MITx or designee
  7. The director of the Teaching and Learning Lab

In addition, there will be one faculty member from each School appointed by the appropriate School Dean and up to three faculty members appointed by the Chancellor for three year terms (renewable). Finally one undergraduate and one graduate student will be invited to participate through the UA and GSC nominations processes. The council will meet regularly.

(Updated June 6, 2012)