1 CAN THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION ENHANCE THE RESIDENTIAL EXPERIENCE OF STUDENTS? Sanjay Sarma, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Director of Digital Learning
Can a 1,000 year-old industry change? 2
Universities ESTABLISHED 1088 AD From Wikipedia Bologna, Italy Lecture, Circa 1308 AD 3
Courtesy Eric Klopfer 4
Today’s “consumers” are different from previous generations The anytime anywhere generation Diverse Socially aware & engaged Global perspective Other industries have been swept up 5
Academia has Had a Few Disruptive Technologies Blackboard, 1801 * Europe U.S at West Point * 1814: colored chalk From Wikipedia
MIT & Harvard invest $30M each Free world education Open source platform We disrupted ourselves!! Digital online delivery is the next one 7
Why? Expand access to education for students worldwide through online learning, while reinventing campus education through blended models And learn about learning. 8
: MIT’s Internal evolution 9
MIT’s Epic Struggle with didacticism Massively Flipped Classrooms using edX platform
Online can make things interactive Students view lectures online Interact with tutors online and onsite Classroom time freed up for projects, problems, discussions, studios … and all things magical 11
1968: Experimental Studies Group 1969: Concourse 1983: Athena System 1996: Programmable Bricks (Lego Mindstorm) 2001: MIT OpenCourseWare 2002: Technology Enhanced Active Learning 2003: CyberTutor 2003: Scratch Programming Language 2005: Online : MITx, edX A timeline +
The experiment ( ) Moved lectures online – Audio-annotated power point – Interspersed “finger exercises” – Pre-work for class Online tutor – Programs, other exercises – “Free checking” – Instructor dashboard 13
Assessing learning outcomes Selected questions covering broad and detailed concepts Comparison: one online, one traditional lecture Exams normalized 14 From that time our destiny was determined!
2012-present: EDX
Providing immediate feedback Interspersed “finger exercises” – Reinforces concepts at time of acquisition – Link to other material – Mine data to find gaps in knowledge Range of tools for automated assessment Peer assessment can augment learning experience Opportunity to direct learner to discussion forums Early evaluations show improved learning Will not work for all disciplines? 16