Dean's Corner - Daniel E. Hastings, Dean for Undergraduate Education

Dean's Corner - Daniel E. Hastings,
Dean for Undergraduate Education

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Dean's Blog

  • Much excitement about edX

    May 10, 2012 - 10:32am

    A week or so ago, edX was announced. This is a joint venture between MIT and Harvard to offer courses online, with assessment, free to the world (with a small cost for a certificate for MITx courses). This builds on the previous announcement about MITx. This announcement has generated a large amount of press interest since two of the best universities in the world are saying that the world of higher education is changing and we want to be at the forefront of it. So now there are two clear approaches to massive online education. One is the for profit model with Stanford, Princeton and Penn.

  • A Visit from Our Peers

    March 29, 2012 - 2:22pm

    We recently had a visiting committee review of our programs in the Dean for Undergraduate Education office. At MIT this is called a visiting committee. The Visiting Committee is composed of members of the MIT corporation, alumni and deans/vice provosts from our peers (Caltech, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, Harvey Mudd). The discussions were intense. We have many similar problems and MIT is behind in some areas and ahead in others.

  • Susan Hockfield Steps Down

    February 21, 2012 - 10:08am

    It was a surprise to many of us that President Susan Hockfield announced that she would step down. Her rationale makes sense. We are talking
    about a new campaign. Such things are a big deal for a president of a major university. They are exhausting to do well and take years to get to the big target we want.

  • MITx - what is it?

    January 10, 2012 - 12:13am

    Last month, I blogged on the Stanford experiments in large scale online education. Well now, MIT has announced it's own effort which has the working name "MITx". Through MITx, the Institute will make available some of its curricular materials with embedded assessment and with a worldwide interactive community of learners. This is different from OCW which has no assessment and where the learners do not interact with each ether. If a learner wants certification of what they have learned at MIT, then for a modest fee they can get a credential from MITx.

  • Experiments in Online Education

    December 9, 2011 - 10:41am

    Stanford has announced that they will put an additional set of courses online and free for learners. This is a bold experiment which has the potential to change the state of elite higher education. I have the sense that higher education is at an inflection point with respect to the use of online technologies. This means that we must sharpen the value we offer in a residentially-based education.

  • Recent Tragedies at MIT

    November 14, 2011 - 2:50pm

    We have had two suicides among undergraduates at MIT. Each is a tragedy. Each is a life lost in despair. We talk about the "MIT community" often but we failed to catch the fact that these two young people were suffering.

    I want each of us to draw closer to our neighbors and make sure that we ask how they are doing. We have so many resources in place but they need to be activated by someone. A roommate, a classmate, a professor. Lets all reach out and do that.

     

  • The Start to the New Year

    September 12, 2011 - 3:20pm

    The new academic year started with a new crop of eager excited students at MIT. Once again, I have a wonderful group of advisees. It also started with a hurricane which caused damage in Massachusetts but we came through mainly ok. As the students restart, I found myself in agreement with the editorial in the September 6th Tech about the need for the students to take on big national issues.

  • A visit to the MIT SMART center in SIngapore

    July 15, 2011 - 8:25am

    I recently visited the MIT Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) Centre for the first time. It was very impressive to see groups of MIT faculty and students working together with the freedom to think creatively and address important topics such as the biology of infectious diseases and sustainable urban mobility. Singapore offers capabilities that are hard to replicate in Cambridge, MA. The Centre allows faculty and students, who may not have naturally come together at MIT, to collaborate.

  • Reflections on Commencement and the End of MIT150

    June 8, 2011 - 12:45pm

    It was a wonderful day last Friday when we celebrated the MIT commencement. The weather was great, the graduates were cheerful, the parents were happy and even the speeches were all very good. Could not have gone better. I marched in as usual at the head of the students and got to see the Class of 1961 (50 years ago) march in ahead of me. I recognized some of the Class of 1961. They have accomplished much. I am sure that the Class of 2011 will accomplish much.

  • Reflections on the MIT 150 Open House

    May 6, 2011 - 5:06pm

    MIT had the first Open House in many years on April 30, 2011. The campus was clean and shining, the day was partly cloudy and there were lots of families and kids wandering around experiencing MIT. I wandered around as well with my spouse, daughter and granddaughter. We saw the Blackhawk helicopters (ARMY ROTC), the blimp race and flying car (Aero/Astro), participated in a spontaneous flash mob in Lobby 7, explored Stata (EECS) and the Media Lab.