A Letter from the Editor: An MIT Vision of Its Educational Future

A letter from the editor: an MIT vision of its educational future

On July 28, Harvard’s neighbor published the final report of the Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education, and obligingly made it available for interested parties (web.mit.edu/future-report/TaskForceFinal_July28.pdf). Even in mid summer, it made for gripping reading about teaching, learning, and research elsewhere in Cambridge, and beyond.

Those sober, calculating engineers turn out to be giddy about transforming education. The task force (faculty and staff members and students, plus alumni and governing-board advisory groups) embraces “modular” instruction units, rather than conventional courses; flexibility, so students may “reduce or extend their time to degree”; options for students to engage further in teaching and service; for-credit summer classes in online and “blended” formats (five experimental classes were held in 2014); revised undergraduate requirements (for basic science, communications-intensive, and humanities, arts, and social-sciences courses); international connections among students, alumni, and MITx online learners around the world; and more.

Their ideas verge on breathtaking: “The very notion of a ‘class’ may be outmoded,” as online modular libraries are assembled. MIT should explore “game-based” learning, and “define a K-12 strategy” to expand offerings for pre-college students. Departments should shape serial online courses meant to qualify users for professional certification—and generate revenue. By 2020, “the roles of MITx instructor and MITx student may exist.” “Academic villages” should feature new kinds of classrooms, labs, and “maker spaces.” And the recommendations are tied to a suggested financial model that could work, given MIT’s revenues, costs, and aspirations.

Shrugging off MIT’s perspective as inapplicable elsewhere—given its origin at an engineering school with a unified pedagogy and an imminent capital campaign—is shortsighted. In fact, the attempt to engage both faculty and the wider community (through extensive surveys) in envisioning MIT’s educational future is invigorating in and of itself.

Will the result indeed “transform pedagogy through bold but thoughtful experimentation, extend MIT’s impact to the world, broaden access to high-quality education, and improve affordability for future generations of learners,” as its authors hope? Perhaps not. But the odds are certainly better than if they were never asked to imagine what their institution might do—or were too timid to aim high.    

~John S. Rosenberg, Editor 

Related topics

You might also like

Your Views On Harvard’s Standoff, Antisemitism, and More

Readers comment on the controversial July-August cover, authoritarianism, and scientific research.

Free Speech, the Bomb-and Donald Trump

A Harvard cardiologist on the unlikely alliances that shaped a global movement to prevent nuclear war

Why Harvard Needs International Students

An ed school professor on why global challenges demand global experiences

Most popular

What Trump Means for John Roberts’s Legacy

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

This Harvard Scientist Is Changing the Future of Genetic Diseases

David Liu has pioneered breakthroughs in gene editing, creating new therapies that may lead to cures.

Three Harvardians Win Macarthur Fellowships

A mathematician, a political scientist, and an astrophysicist are honored with “genius” grants for their work.

Explore More From Current Issue

Julie Riew, wearing a white dress, playing guitar and singing into a microphone on stage.

Bringing Korean Stories to Life

Composer Julia Riew writes the musicals she needed to see.

Book cover of "Black Moses" by Caleb Gayle with subtitle about ambition and the fight for a Black state.

Civil Rights In the American West

A new book chronicles one man’s quest for a Black state.

Colorful illustration of woman multitasking with laptop, baby bottle, toy, and checklist.

Motherhood and Ambition In a Pronatalist World

Gen Z is confronting the age-old question of balance—with a new twist.