Faculty Forum Online: MIT in the Digital Learning Age

The emergence of new digital platforms in higher education has redefined the ways that universities can educate on-campus populations and greatly increase their influence in virtual networks.

MIT's Office of Digital Learning utilizes these platforms, combined with developments in open access, to rethink and recreate the learning environment for students at MIT and around the world. These digital methods—personified through the Institute’s OpenCourseWare and the edX initiative—enable faculty, students, and researchers to use and leverage new learning technologies unavailable to previous generations of MIT learners.

In the May 2014 Faculty Forum Online, Professor Sanjay Sarma, MIT’s Director of Digital Learning, discussed the impact of digital platforms, MIT’s vision for digital learning, and shared his own insights. Following his comments, Sarma took questions from the worldwide MIT community via video chat.

Watch the webcast then return to Slice of MIT to continue the conversation in the comments. Share your thoughts, comments, and questions on Twitter by following @MIT_alumni and using the hashtag #MITFaculty.

About Sanjay Sarma

Sanjay Sarma, the Fred Fort Flowers and Daniel Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering, was appointed MIT’s inaugural director of digital learning in November 2012. Sarma works work closely with the Institute’s faculty, staff and students to assess how online might become integral parts of MIT students’ on-campus education.

Sarma has been a member of the Institute’s mechanical engineering faculty since 1996. His work in the classroom has earned him multiple MIT awards for excellence in teaching, including the Den Hertog Teaching Excellence Award, in 2001, and the Joseph H. Keenan Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, in 2002. He was named a MacVicar Fellow in 2008, an MIT honor reflecting outstanding undergraduate teaching, mentoring and educational innovation.

Related

Department of Mechanical Engineering Profile: Sanjay E. Sarma “Faculty Spotlight: Sanjay Sarma,” MIT Professional Education “Sanjay Sarma appointed as MIT’s first director of digital learning,” MIT News "Inteview with Sanjay Sarma, MIT's director of digital learning" (podcast), degree of freedom

About Faculty Forum Online

Eight times per season, the Faculty Forum Online presents compelling interviews with faculty on timely and relevant topics. Viewers watch and participate in live 30-minute interviews via interactive chat. Since its inception in 2011, archival editions of these programs have been viewed more than 50,000 times.