MIT Moves Beyond the MOOC to Court Companies, Professional Learners | EdSurge - Postsecondary Learning

Photo: Sydney Johnson

"Providing courses to companies, and adults not enrolled in a full-time degree program, has long been a way for universities to extend their reach (and pockets) beyond the physical lecture hall" summarizes Sydney Johnson, assistant editor for EdSurge HigherEd.

Photo: 88studio/ Shutterstock

In 2013, MIT began offering online programs for working professionals to meet learners across the globe.

Until lately, those online MIT courses have somewhat resembled so-called massive open online courses, or MOOCs, says Clara Piloto, director of global programs at MIT Professional Education. Now, as MOOCs have evolved to court professional audiences, so too have MIT’s efforts to harness companies and organizations. Most recently, that’s taken the form of with certificate-based Digital Plus Programs.

“We have always worked with corporations and companies, it’s part of the DNA here at MIT in terms of our research and innovation,” says Piloto. “But [Digital Plus] is an evolution of our existing digital programs.”

There are few key differences between MIT Professional Education’s new and existing online offerings. For starters, Digital Plus will not be “open enrollment,” meaning the courses will only be available to paying companies or organizations. Piloto says that’s meant to enable each course to be capped at 50 students—a sharp scale back from the more MOOC-like courses, which can enroll as many as 1,500 students at a time.

Capping each class allows Digital Plus courses to provide a tighter, more focused learning experience, Piloto says. Digital Plus courses—which are taught by MIT lecturers—will focus on project- and team-based exercises, along with a combination of videos, reading materials, and group work. Those elements of the curriculum may take place online, in-person via video, physically on the MIT campus, or at a company site.

By taking four Digital Plus courses, which last six to 10 weeks, students can also obtain a MIT-stamped professional certificate. That process takes about two years, estimates Piloto, but a certificate of completion is also awarded at the end of each individual course. The first two certificate programs include Strategic Leadership and Innovation and Leading in the Transformative Era, which “focuses on the business impact of key trends in the fourth industrial revolution,” the program website reads.

“Not everyone can come to MIT, and taking a course on the ground is a lot more expensive than taking an online course,” says Piloto. “We see it as a way to make our courses available to people who might never be able to come to MIT.”
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Source: EdSurge