Digital Learning

MITx

MITx is the Institute's interactive learning initiative that supports faculty to offer online versions of MIT courses. MIT instructors teach these MITx courses to learners around the world, delivered through either the edX or MITx Online platforms.

Many people refer to MITx courses as MOOCs—massive, open, online courses. The learning experience features multimedia and video content, robust problem types such as embedded quizzes with immediate feedback, sketch response graphs, and peer-to-peer communications. Course materials can be organized and presented in ways that enable students to learn at their own pace and that allow for the individual assessment of each student's work. Students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects may earn certificates of completion. MITx, part of MIT Open Learning, operates on a cost-free, open-source, scalable software infrastructure.

The vast array of data gathered through MITx global and residential uses is helping educational researchers better understand how students learn and how technology can facilitate effective teaching both on campus and online. Research findings are then introduced into new generations of learning tools, creating a continuous loop of educational innovation.

MITx also offers MicroMasters programs, which provide professional and academic credentials for online learners from anywhere in the world. Learners who pass an integrated set of MITx graduate-level courses, and one or more proctored exams, can earn a MicroMasters program credential from MITx, and can then apply for an accelerated, on-campus master’s degree program at MIT or dozens of other pathway universities around the world.

MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT OpenCourseWare is a free, open, publicly accessible online resource that offers high-quality educational materials from more than 2,500 MIT courses—virtually the entire MIT graduate and undergraduate curriculum—reflecting the teaching in all five MIT schools and 33 academic units. This coverage in all disciplines makes OpenCourseWare unique among open education offerings around the world. OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, is continually being updated, adding new courses as they become available and refreshing existing courses with new materials.

Through OpenCourseWare, MIT faculty share their teaching materials with a global audience of teachers and learners. Educators use these resources for teaching and curriculum development, while students and independent learners draw upon them for self-study or supplementary use. In a typical month, the OpenCourseWare website attracts about 2 million visits from virtually every country in the world, with more than 200 million visits and 5 billion minutes of use since its launch in 2002.

Beyond its service to a worldwide audience, OpenCourseWare has a significant impact at MIT. Students use OpenCourseWare resources — such as problem sets and exams — for study and practice. New first-year students often report that they checked out MIT by looking at OpenCourseWare before deciding to apply. Instructors regularly refer students to OpenCourseWare for part of their coursework. OpenCourseWare staff work extensively with faculty to develop and refine course materials for publication, and faculty frequently use these updated materials in their classroom teaching. Alumni access OpenCourseWare materials to continue their lifelong learning.

OpenCourseWare course content includes many thousands of individual resources such as syllabi, lecture notes and videos, problem sets and exams with solutions, reading lists, online textbooks, sample student work, and more. More than 350 courses include videos, which are also shared on the OpenCourseWare YouTube channel with over 5 million subscribers and millions of views every month. Beyond core academic content, features such as the Educator portal and the Chalk Radio podcast allow MIT faculty to share insights on teaching and pedagogy, while the Stories page lets learners around the world share the impact OpenCourseWare has had on their lives.

OpenCourseWare course materials are offered under a Creative Commons license and may be freely used, copied, distributed, translated, and modified by anyone, anywhere in the world for noncommercial purposes.