When seeking truth, our society tends to believe that scientific truth – such as research results and experimental findings – are incontrovertible. Yet, scientists themselves are constantly disputing each other’s findings. How can something be considered true while it is still actively being tested and revised? read more>>
Four years ago, MIT Sloan professor Jim Orlin began using a tablet PC in his lectures and the results were dramatic and positive. read more >>
In conversation with Professor Dava Newman in June, 2008, a fascinating story emerged. A female astronaut in the International Space Station got stuck. Because she was smaller than the other astronauts, her arms and legs were too short to reach the internal handholds and she was trapped, suspended in the Space Station’s weightless atmosphere. How to propel herself back to safe territory? read more>>
In the field of biology, freely available software packages allow students to explore molecular structure in 3D. However, few present the materials in a format clear enough to use outside the classroom or in self-guided study. Furthermore, most 3D software packages neglect to portray the four-fold structure of proteins, a critical component to understanding the complexities of change and disease. Prof Graham Walker set about to fill this gap for his undergraduate biology students. read more >>
When faculty experiment with technology enhancements, there is often a ripple effect whereby thoughts about how to use a technology lead to other thoughts about pedagogical changes in the course, and then perhaps back to thoughts of technology. read more >>
The Office of Educational Innovation and Technology (OEIT) was launched in January, 2007 as the result of a thoughtful re-organization of previous technology support units, and responding to the changing needs of faculty and students at MIT as the information technology revolution entered a new phase. With the inception of OEIT, MIT recognized that dominant cultural technology shifts were well under way, that information technology had permeated higher education, and that the emphasis now had to be on educational innovation as a result of the changes already made.
The five stories above illustrate this new educational technology orientation.
Office of Educational Innovation and Technology
Building NE48, Cambridge, MA 02139-4044
Phone: (617) 252-1981; Fax: (617) 452-4044
