Funding, Grants & Awards

MIT Selects MITx Grant Program Recipients

• By Leila Meyer
• 08/25/15

The Office of Digital Learning (ODL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has selected eight projects to receive funding through the first MITx Grant Program.

MIT launched the program in April 2015 with a call for proposals. The university created the program "to fund innovative online modules and tools that leverage the edX platform for both global and residential audiences in support of the digital learning strategies of MIT departments and schools," according to a news release from MIT. The ODL received 25 proposals from 14 departments and units and selected eight projects for funding based on recommendations from the MITx Faculty Advisory Committee.

The committee was looking for proposals that met the key themes of the Institute-Wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education. Those themes include:

Transforming residential education with pedagogical models that enhance MIT education;

• Expanding MITx's open education courses and modules;
• Pursuing digital learning research;
• Engaging in new approaches to assessment, research or curriculum development;
• Exploring modularity by breaking a subject into units or modules that can be studied separately; and
• Incorporating rich student assessment features.

Projects that were selected to receive MITx grants this year include:

• An introductory mechanical engineering module on engineering thermodynamics;
• An introductory physics module on classical mechanics;
• An introductory physics module on electricity and magnetism;
• A series of three four-week physics modules on quantum mechanics;
• An introductory management module on optimization methods with a focus on modeling, solution techniques and analysis for the management sciences;
• A series of engineering modules on linear feedback systems and controls;
• Literature Lab Tools for Global Shakespeares Curriculum and Beyond, which will develop digital tools for the edX platform to enable the analysis and discussion of literature using multiple types of media; and
• A sequence of engineering communications modules for communicating research in various contexts.

The MIT professors who submitted the winning proposals will begin developing their projects this fall. The ODL plans to announce its next call for MITx Grant Program proposals in late 2015.

Further information about the MITx Grant Program can be found on the ODL's site.