2.S991 Spring 2021
Learner's Journey - Life Beyond Zoom

Fridays, 3:000pm to 5:00pm

Instructors: Ken Zolot, with visiting co-facilitators Drew Bent and Gabriel Ginorio
Advisor: Sanjay Sarma

The pandemic forced us to shift all of our learning to Zoom. We’ve made progress. But we can do better. People have attempted live interactions and built communities on new platforms — Houseparty, Discord, Minecraft, Hangouts, Gather.town, Inspace.chat, Mozilla Hubs, and more. Investors are chasing new technologies, societal norms are changing, and one thing is certain: our online interactions will never be the same. In this special seminar, we’ll reflect on learning and the future of educational tools and institutions.

What have we learned about learning, and what’s our call to action?

This is a student-led seminar where you’ll co-create the curriculum with classmates, under the guidance of distinguished guest lecturers and leaders in learning science. You’ll have a chance to work with MIT senior leadership to propose and launch learning innovations and help shape the future of MIT.

We’ll explore teaching tools that are customized to the way each learner is wired and inspired, and cultivate ideas for startups (or partnerships with existing startups) that might disrupt the status quo business model for education.

We’ll approach the learner’s journey through four lenses, and beyond:

• The learner’s soul: mindset, intention, grit, inspiration, making a difference, being mentored;
  
• Brain science: cognition, memory, attention span, brain imaging and biometric sensors;
  
• Small groups: “the classroom of the future” as a design challenge; “Zoom 2.0”, Minecraft, VR/AR;
  
• Large organizations and credentials: universities, accreditation boards, employers.
  

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