Office of Digital Learning

The Office of Digital Learning was established in November 2012 by President L. Rafael Reif and is charged with helping the MIT community in exploring the opportunities afforded by emerging learning technologies to transform education. The office will examine how the edX platform -- and other tools like it -- might support parts of courses on campus, augmenting traditional teaching at MIT.

For example, professors might use online platforms for certain types of interactive lectures or instruction, freeing up classroom time for experiments, lab work or further discussion of topics introduced through online instruction. Students could watch such online lectures at their own pace, repeating segments as necessary to boost comprehension.

Headed by newly appointed Director of Digital Learning Sanjay Sarma, the office brings together two existing digital learning organizations, MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and the Office of Educational Innovation and Technology (OEIT), and the team that is being created to support the new MITx effort.

The mission of the Office of Digital Learning is to help the MIT community become a leader in exploring the opportunities afforded by emerging learning technologies to transform education on campus and worldwide by :

(*) helping MIT faculty to experiment with and implement new pedagogies supported by digital technologies

(*) expanding global access to MIT educational material and opportunities through online offerings

(*) and furthering the understanding of best practices in emerging digital and scalable learning environments.

On March 1, 2013, the Office of Educational Technology and Innovation (OEIT) will join OpenCourseWare and a new MITx office in forming the core of the Office of Digital Learning (ODL). Faculty, staff and students who rely on OEIT for support should notice no disruption in the office’s services. The transition should, in fact, enhance OEIT’s ability to support the MIT community in its continued pursuit of educational innovation