MITx Improves Student Experience & Better Leverages TA Resources

15.415
Management (Course 15)
Leonid Kogan
Faculty/Instructor
Leonid Kogan
Digital Innovations & Tools
Online Assessments & Rapid Feedback

Overview
In his course, 15.415 Introduction to Finance, Leonid Kogan uses MITx technology both to enhance the student experience as well as to more effectively leverage TA resources.

MITx for homework problems
Using MITx Kogan is able to structure homework more productively. Submissions are auto-corrected on the platform, giving students immediate feedback on their work. Knowing whether one is right or wrong right after submitting a problem supports more productive learning and better internalization of the lecture material.

Kogan configured the MITx platform to offer students two attempts on a problem. He finds two attempts is optimal: if a student gets it wrong on the first attempt, they’ll typically work with a classmate or small group and get it right on the second try. In this context, problems on MITx are used less for assessment and more as a learning tool.

Reduce students copying homework
In order to reduce students copying each other’s work, homework problems are served up with different numbers. Although the same concept is illustrated across a group of problems, each must be done individually because the numbers are unique. Each year’s problems are added to a growing bank of sample problems. This repository provides increased opportunities for students to use sample problems for practice and feedback.

TA time is freed up
Using automatic grading through MITx means TAs spend less time grading p-sets, freeing them up for more one-on-one interaction and longer office hours.

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