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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?

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Universities

ESTABLISHED 1088 AD From Wikipedia

Bologna, Italy

Lecture, Circa 1308 AD3

Courtesy Eric Klopfer4

Today’s “consumers” are different from previous generations

• The anytime anywhere generation

• Diverse • Socially aware &

engaged• Global perspective• Other industries have

been swept up

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Academia has Had a Few Disruptive Technologies

Blackboard, 1801

* Europe U.S. 1801 at West Point* 1814: colored chalk

From Wikipedia

1568

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• MIT & Harvard invest $30M each• Free world education• Open source platform

• We disrupted ourselves!!

Digital online delivery is the next one

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Why?Expand access to education for

students worldwide through online learning, while reinventing campus education through

blended models

And learn about learning.

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1861-2011: MIT’s Internal evolution

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MIT’s Epic Struggle with didacticism

Massively FlippedClassrooms 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

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1968: Experimental Studies Group1969: Concourse1983: Athena System1996: Programmable Bricks (Lego Mindstorm)2001: MIT OpenCourseWare2002: Technology Enhanced Active Learning2003: CyberTutor2003: Scratch Programming Language2005: Online 6.0012012: MITx, edX

A timeline

+

The 6.001 experiment (2003-2005)• Moved lectures online

– Audio-annotated power point– Interspersed “finger

exercises”– Pre-work for class

• Online tutor– Programs, other exercises– “Free checking”– Instructor dashboard

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Assessing learning outcomes

• Selected questions covering broad and detailed concepts

• Comparison: one online, one traditional lecture

• Exams normalized

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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?

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