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Learning Technologies“The more intelligence we can build into our technology, the more flexible that technology will be, and the better the fit with how the mind works,” said Amy Brand, PhD ’89 in an openDOOR interview. This cognitive scientist helped develop innovative electronic publishing strategies such as CogNet and the MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. iCampus has generated a crescendo of new learning projects fueled by technologies. The five-year research alliance begun in 1999 between Microsoft Research and MIT has supported projects including technical infrastructure development like iLearn, which is developing an enterprise-ready course management system and collaboration portal. iCampus also supports innovation in teaching practices such as RobotWorld, a project that incorporates project-based learning beginning with four MIT courses that build robots and software. The technologies driving the Singapore-MIT Alliance have set precedents for global distance learning. MIT and two partnering universities exchange data, video, faculty, and students both synchronously and asynchronously. The technologies that enable the dual stream presentation over Internet2 of live lectures and accompanying materials include MIT’s Stellar Learning Management System. MIT’s eLearning leadership is led by the MIT Council on Educational Technology (MITCET). Strategies include active learning environments, freely sharing Institute knowledge, collaborating with peer institutions and corporations, and extending the university community. The d'Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in Education supports active learning environments such as the Digital Arts Learning Studio, which hosts an online atelier and student art gallery, and Studio Physics, a hands-on lab using animation and applet technology delivered via laptops. To fully populate OpenCourseWare with thousands of courses, the delivery system must have a simple interface for faculty and for viewers, says OCW Technical Director Cecilia d'Oliveira ’77, SM ’79, who described the development of the standards-based delivery system in an openDOOR interview. “MIT and its sponsors also hope to stimulate other schools and their faculty to make their course materials available, and in the long term, to create a global movement toward free and open distribution of educational materials.” Developing shareable software infrastructures is critical for innovation. The Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI) is piloting a coalition developing eLearning specifications and standards. OKI architecture precisely specifies how the components of a learning technology environment communicate so they can be developed and updated independently. MIT’s intellectual commons also extend through DSpace, a digital library standard and service architecture that other institutions can easily install, use, and interconnect. The August 3 New York Times article, “In DSpace, Ideas are Forever,” [requires purchase] said MIT’s innovative digital archive is prompting a retooling of scholarly exchange.
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Copyright ©2003 Massachusetts
Institute of Technology