DIGITAL LEARNING IN EDUCATION @ MIT

News from Residential Education at ODL: Vol. 3, Issue 1, March 2019.


In this issue:


 

 

Residential Digital Innovations

The Residential Digital Innovations page on Open Learning is continuously adding initiatives. Explore the newest:



 

 

What's New at Residential MITx?

Residential MITx remains a popular and well-supported platform. This fall it was updated with several notable feature changes such as: 

  • The page of available Residential MITx courses is a list organized numerically (course images removed) to make it easier for users to locate relevant sites. 
  • Improvements to the course outline allow users to expand sections of their course and navigate more quickly to desired content. 
  • Improvements in reporting make it easier to view the students’ individual answer choices or responses. This is applicable to all problem types on the platform. 
  • The ‘Rapid Response' tool has been improved to include the ability to open and close a problem quickly and a bar chart showing student responses. In addition, instructors can download a report of the student responses collected during the window of time that the problem is open.  

A reminder: if you have questions, Residential MITx support is a helpful, comprehensive resource, for everything from an in-person pedagogical consultation to quick technical questions about the platform.MITx educational technologists want to help users meet their goals through support, guidance, and partnership. If you're new to Residential MITx, educational technologists can help make initial set-up and course creation easy and transparent.


 

 

Residential MITx by the Numbers
Data from Fall 2018 shows the highest number of MIT student enrollments to date:
 



Course use of Residential MITx varies according to subject rotation and other discipline-specific factors:

 


 

 

Highlights from the Festival of Learning

Festival of Learning


This year's Festival of Learning attracted over 600 registrations and included a morning keynote, a panel on VR, a Learning Expo luncheon centered around education exhibits, and three afternoon workshops.

The morning keynote (video), delivered by mathematician and CMU professor Po-Shen Loh, was a compelling call for educators to engage and inspire learners. He stressed the value of face-to-face interactions and gave concrete examples of math research. Read more in the MIT News article. MIT student Zoya Fan offered her own perspective on Po-Shen Loh's presentation. 

Professors D. Fox Harrell, Tabitha Peck, and Eran Egozy next engaged in an impassioned panel (video) on the liberating potential of VR experiences in learning, psychology, and the arts. For the student perspective, read this reflective article.

The Learning Expo featured 26 exhibits developed by faculty and staff, offering visitors the opportunity to observe their own brain waves, write equations seemingly in mid-air, learn about digitally-certified diplomas, and much more. MIT student Amelia Taylor-Hochberg highlights a selection of exhibits with photos and videos.

The afternoon workshops, led by Senior Learning Scientist Aaron Kessler, Associate Dean Kate Trimble, and Professor Tabitha Peck, offered deeper dives into various aspects of innovations in learning.


 

 

Early Bird Registration for LINC is Open

LINC2019

  • Conference dates: June 18-20, 2019 (pre-conference workshops June 17)
  •  First round of speakers announced

News from Residential Education at ODL: Vol. 3, Issue 1, March, 2019. To suggest article topics, ask questions, or subscribe to this newsletter, please email res-ed-newsletter@mit.edu.