Justine Hofherr of Boston.com speaks with Bhaskar Pant about MIT Professional Education’s Innovation and Technology Certificate program, which educates working professionals on how to create innovation within their own companies.
As part of the Chronicle of Higher Education’s special section on tech innovators, Jeffrey Young spotlights the work of Sanjay Sarma, vice president for open learning. Young writes that Sarma is transforming higher education “by pushing the lecture model into the margins and using technology to rethink the professor’s role.”
In a series of articles for Inside Higher Ed, Joshua Kim writes about a new report out of the MIT Online Education Policy Initiative analyzing the current state and future of higher education. Kim writes that the report, “has lots to say about the future of higher education,” adding that, “it really doesn’t get more exciting for us online learning nerds.”
Politico reporter Allie Grasgreen Ciaramella highlights how a report out of the MIT Online Education Policy Initiative stresses the importance of cross-collaboration to improve learning. “The authors noted that drawing together fields that may not be traditionally linked, such as education experts and neuroscientists, can better provide ways to optimize the online learning experience.”
Ambika Behal writes for Forbes about MIT startup Authess, which is dedicated to changing educational assessments. Based off Prof. Chris Kaiser’s experiences in the classroom and with edX, Authess is focused on developing a more authentic learning experience for students.
Vice President for Open Learning Sanjay Sarma speaks with Politico’s Cogan Schneier about MITili, a new initiative aimed at fostering education research. “A defining feature of [MIT] is that when you create a challenge, everyone attacks it in different ways,” explains Sarma. “The integrated approach seems to unleash a lot here.”
MIT has launched a number of new initiatives “to expand and research digital and online education for learners of all ages,” reports Inside Higher Ed.
MIT, Tata Trusts & Tata Inst. of Social Science announced the creation of a new digital education platform known as the Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx). Aveek Datta for Forbes India writes that the program seeks to “create new learning experiences and educational opportunities for secondary school students in India.”
Paula Ebben of WBZ News reports on Testive, an MIT startup that helps students prepare for the SAT and ACT through free online materials. “Making educational resources freely available is really important because that levels the playing field,” explains co-founder and MIT alumnus Tom Rose.
Jeff Guo of The Washington Post reports on Prof. David Autor’s research examining the academic achievement gap between boys and girls. “It’s well known that young women have surpassed young men in schooling but what struck us was that these gaps vary so much across race and socioeconomic status,” says Autor.
Senior Lecturer Peter Senge speaks with C. M. Rubin of The Huffington Post about learning systems in business and education. Senge says that what connects “business and education is the need to grow an organizational climate or culture that supports ongoing collaboration, risk-taking, and a deep sense of purpose and commitment.”
In an effort to help students master physics, postdoc Zhongzhou Chen is developing teaching techniques that break down physics concepts into specific skills, reports Jill Barshay for U.S. News & World Report. Chen tested his approach in one of MIT’s physics MOOCs. "If we're going to find ways to use technology to have breakthroughs in learning, it's probably going to come from educators like Chen,” says Barshay.
In a testimonial for U.S. News & World Report, MIT graduate Yiping Xing shares why MIT was the right school for her. “MIT doesn't simply teach you science or knowledge; it trains you to be a scientist and problem-solver, giving you many opportunities to apply what you learn,” says Xing.
In a study examining online learning, MIT researchers have uncovered a new type of cheating in online courses and identified ways to prevent such behavior, reports Laura Krantz for The Boston Globe. Krantz explains that while the researchers “want to stop the cheating, they are equally interested in the benefits of this new type of online education.”
Inside Higher Ed reporter Carl Straumsheim writes about a study conducted by researchers from MIT and Harvard that identifies a new type of cheating in massive open online courses (MOOCs). The researchers found that “the prevalence of cheating varied by discipline,” Straumsheim explains, with just 0.1 percent of learners appearing to have employed the technique in computer science courses.