In an effort to help students master physics, postdoc Zhongzhou Chen is developing teaching techniques that break down physics concepts into specific skills, reports Jill Barshay for U.S. News & World Report. Chen tested his approach in one of MIT’s physics MOOCs. "If we're going to find ways to use technology to have breakthroughs in learning, it's probably going to come from educators like Chen,” says Barshay.
In a testimonial for U.S. News & World Report, MIT graduate Yiping Xing shares why MIT was the right school for her. “MIT doesn't simply teach you science or knowledge; it trains you to be a scientist and problem-solver, giving you many opportunities to apply what you learn,” says Xing.
In a study examining online learning, MIT researchers have uncovered a new type of cheating in online courses and identified ways to prevent such behavior, reports Laura Krantz for The Boston Globe. Krantz explains that while the researchers “want to stop the cheating, they are equally interested in the benefits of this new type of online education.”
Inside Higher Ed reporter Carl Straumsheim writes about a study conducted by researchers from MIT and Harvard that identifies a new type of cheating in massive open online courses (MOOCs). The researchers found that “the prevalence of cheating varied by discipline,” Straumsheim explains, with just 0.1 percent of learners appearing to have employed the technique in computer science courses.
In a Bloomberg News article about Market Basket CEO Arthur T. DeMoulas, Tom Moroney highlights how Prof. Thomas Kochan teaches last year’s Market Basket strike as a case study in his classes. Moroney writes that according to Kochan, Market Basket’s “coalition of salaried managers, hourly non-union workers, suppliers and customers is unprecedented in U.S. labor history.”
Research led by Professor Paul Osterman in 2013 indicates that policymakers’ focus on the “skills gap” among American workers may be misplaced, writes David Scharfenberg for The Boston Globe. According to the study, “employers, for the most part, are simply not demanding the high-level talents that the skills gap rhetoric would suggest.”
President L. Rafael Reif discusses the future of online learning with Washington Post reporter Nick Anderson. Anderson writes, “One way to find the future of higher education is to track the brainstormers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who often seem to be a step ahead of the pack.”
MIT OpenCourseWare is offering a new online course that examines poker theory and applications of poker analytics, reports Susie Poppick for TIME. “The course comes out of MIT’s Sloan business school, and the course description says poker theory and analysis can be applied to investment management and trading,” writes Poppick.
In an article for Bloomberg Business about how poverty can impact brain development in children, John Tozzi highlights research by Prof. John Gabrieli examining how family income can affect academic achievement. "It’s only in the last few years that there’s been any systematic research asking about the biological side of the story," explains Gabrieli.
President L. Rafael Reif speaks with John Hockenberry of The Takeaway about edX. “Imagine a situation in which not only those who get admitted get to learn from Harvard professors and MIT professors, but everybody who is willing to try,” says Reif of the power of online education.
Financial Times reporter Rebecca Knight discusses MIT Sloan’s Master of Finance program and how to be a successful asset manager with Senior Lecturer Gita Rao. “It takes an incredible focus,” says Rao. “You have to be very decisive [and] you have to be an independent thinker.”
MIT will be collaborating with the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation to examine teacher and school leadership education, reports Jacqueline Thomsen for Inside Higher Ed. “The research will be part of a new institute at MIT, called the MIT PK-12 Initiative, which will provide support to STEM teachers in all levels of K-12 education."
NPR reporter Claudio Sanchez reports on the new collaboration between MIT and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation aimed at helping teachers use new technologies in the classroom. Sanchez explains that MIT researchers will focus on conducting studies to “guide the new curriculum and develop technologies focused on digital learning.”
A team of students from MIT and Harvard are biking across the country in an effort to spread enthusiasm for STEM fields, writes Eden Shulman for BetaBoston. During their journey, the students will “host workshops in a variety of STEM fields, providing hands-on science experience to kids that might not otherwise get it.”
Alison Gopnik of The Wall Street Journal writes that new research by Professor John Gabrieli indicates that poverty can have a negative impact on brain development in children. The researchers found that “low-income children had developed thinner cortices than the high-income children.”