Goal:
• To Explain OCW and MITx’s activity and outlook in the new landscape of digital learning at MIT.
Topics:
• Status of OCW on its 15th Anniversary
• Status of MITx
• Review of OCW’s Contributions to and Collaboration with MITx
• Sharing of Resources by OCW and MITx
• Outlook for OCW and MITx
Audience:
• General
Text:
The year 2016 marks the 15th anniversary of the announcement that MIT would publish its course materials online for anyone in the world to use at any time for free. OCW has been through many changes over the years but continues to be dedicated to this mission. In recent years, the open education landscape has changed dramatically with the introduction of MOOCs and other forms of online learning. OCW is now part of a larger organization, MIT’s Office of Digital Learning, which includes MITx on edX (which helps create MOOCS) and Residential MITx (which helps implement educational innovations on campus via the edX platform). This presentation will begin with a summary of the current status of OCW’s publication and MITx course creation—the number of courses, the rate and volume of publication, the amount of traffic the site receives, and so on. Then, it will examine the relationship between OCW and MITx on edX. OCW contributed to the launching and establishment of MITx by donating time, advice, and expertise and by sharing content as well. For its part, MITx has given OCW some content, mostly in the form of classroom video. Some brief case studies will be highlighted, showing how instructors have created learning materials and experiences for one part of the ODL and used them in another—the flow goes both ways—and what they see as the advantages to working with each group. Finally, we will review recent innovations at OCW, particularly its Educator initiative (sharing Instructor Insights into how the course was taught) and its implementation of interactive assessments.
