11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Room 4-146
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Room 33-218
A working draft of our proposed Guiding Principles document for IT at MIT is attached. So far, the draft reflects feedback from IS&T Sr Staff, the MIT IT Leaders Group, members of the VP of IS&T Search Committee, plus a few in-progress-review comments from members of the ITGC. Per John’s request, please treat the draft as a work-in-progress — it’s not ready for distribution to a wider audience at this stage in its development.
The intent would be to identify key themes that may be emerging from this Working Group (Chaired by Prof. Karen Wilcox) that may be candidates for institutional experiments/projects.
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Room 33-218
9:00 – 10:00am
Room 33-206
12:30 – 2:00pm
Room 33-206
1. MITx Update
2. General strategy and next steps
2:00 – 3:30pm
Room 5-231
In his announcement of the new directorate for digital learning, President Reif mentioned that, “through MITx and edX, we should also use our campus community as a laboratory for inventing the residential research university of the future.”
The establishment of the DDL follows a series of experiments that MITCET launched with a focus on modularity to address the improvement of the undergrad educational experience as well as the launch of MITx and edX courses. (See attached document),
With the above as context, the agenda for our next MITCET is as follows:
1. Continued discussion of the Vision/Mission for Digital Learning (Sanjay)
2. Key Issues/Priorities for Digital Learning (All)
– What are the 3 most important things that MIT should focus on in its Digital Learning initiatives?
3. Updates
9:00 – 10:30am
Room 33-206
*DBER-> Discipline Based Educational Research
3:30 – 5:00pm
Room 33-206
Assessment of MITCET sponsored Experiments for Online Education: A report and discussion of the assessment undertaken by TLL are part of the Online Experiments on Modularity- Glenda Stump, Lori Breslow, TLL (3:30 – 4:30)
The assessment reports are attached.
A report prepared for the Class of ’60 which includes descriptions of the projects has been sent earlier.
We would like to hear from you if there are particular questions or points from the assessments that you would like addressed. Please send us these no later than October 20. It will help frame the discussion at the meeting.
The Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student is presented with an increasing number of valuable academic opportunities beyond the campus. While the department supports such activities, most required courses are only available on campus.
In parallel, the flexible 2A curriculum, which allows students to pursue specific “tracks” of knowledge and create a customized degree, envisions increased modularization of the mechanical engineering curriculum.
The combined goals of remote student participation and modularized course components sponsored an experiment in delivering a core mechanical engineering class to both residential and off-campus students.
In Spring 2012, 2.002 was offered concurrently to both remote and residential MIT students. Ten percent of the class participated remotely—from Spain, Puerto Rico and California—and these students were held to the same academic standards as residential students. The experiment has just concluded and evaluation by the Teaching and Learning Laboratory is ongoing.
To support the remote students, all lectures, recitations, labs and review sessions were recorded and posted for viewing on the same or next day. Each remote student was provided a scanner for sending in assignments and exams, and an online discussion forum provided a channel for student interaction.
Participating faculty agree that a core mechanical engineering course can indeed be taught successfully online. With the proper support, tools and materials, Mechanical Engineering can offer an entirely online course without any reduction in quality or standards.
Course materials were modularized into an introductory core and four major components (plasticity, viscoelasticity, fracture & fatigue, and rubber). After completing the core module, students should be able to study the remaining components in any order.
Online content played a key role. The accelerated availability of online lecture and lab videos, indexed by topic, enabled remote students to share a similar learning experience to residential students.
Online discussion supported significant levels of class interaction (130 questions solicited 450 responses). It linked residential and remote students in one community, and served as the primary channel for remote students’ questions.
Two new roles—beyond the traditional course staff—proved essential to the successful delivery of a concurrent residential/remote course:
The faculty currently provide most course materials through blackboard-based lectures. Interactivity and remote participation could be improved with more digital course material and restructured class sessions.
The faculty would like to experiment with course modularity, using the core and interchangeable modules.
The Online Instructor role could transition to existing roles within the department and the Educational Technology Coordinator role could be provided by a core MIT service.
“Chemistry Bridge will allow digital resources to complement what I do one-on-one”
—John Essigmann, Leitch Professor of Chemistry and Biological Engineering
Across the sciences, certain key concepts have traditionally proven challenging for students at all levels. These concepts are typically taught in introductory classes, but faculty must review them repeatedly in advanced classes across the curriculum. The Chemistry Bridge project is developing self-paced modules to assist mastery of these key concepts outside the classroom setting. The modules can be used independently by students, or as a faculty tool to supplement instruction.
Students visit the Chemistry Bridge web site (currently under development) and take a “pre-test” to assess their understanding of the subtopics that constitute a core concept. Upon submitting their responses, students are presented with a “learning pathway”—a curated set of web sites, videos and simulations that have been selected to address that student’s learning goals. After completing the steps in the pathway, the student takes a “post-test” to assess how well they understood the concept.
These modules are expected to advance teaching and learning at several levels:
The project is developing modules in the areas of:
The key concepts are drawn from:
The selection and creation of each new module initially requires a collaborative effort among faculty and domain experts to identify key concepts and their constituent subtopics.
Populating each new module requires a set of informed content aggregators (the project is working with advanced MIT undergraduates) who curate the best online teaching materials.
The tool that delivers the learning experience will require technical support and feature improvements to support evolving community needs.
Although the tool is still under development, targeted for a Fall 2012 launch, the following future efforts have been identified:
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 information technology to education, and it advises the Provost on priorities, policies, and new opportunities. [ More … ]
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