MIT Selects MITx Grant Program Recipients
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.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].