Technology-Enabled Active Learning

January 2000 — June 2003

"Today, for the first time in my life, I can say that I like Physics, because the class changed my point of view completely. I hope you will give this class again very soon, for the sake of all incoming freshmen."

—Student in Freshman Physics

Technology-enabled active learning is a teaching format that merges lectures, simulations, and hands-on desktop experiments to create a rich collaborative learning experience. TEAL classes feature:

Collaborative learning—students working during class in small groups with shared laptop computers
Desktop experiments with data acquisition links to laptops
Media-rich visualizations and simulations delivered via laptops and the Internet
Personal response systems that stimulate interaction between students and lecturers

As a result of the TEAL project, MIT has replaced its entire two-semester freshman physics sequence (the largest lecture subjects at MIT) with studio-mode classes, where students work collaboratively on laboratory work in a computer-rich environment.

The TEAL group has also developed an extensive suite of simulation and visualization software for mechanics and electromagnetism, which is being distributed across the world through MIT OpenCourseWare.

Investigators:

Prof. John Belcher, Dept. of Physics

Prof. Peter Dourmashkin, Dept. of Physics

Additional Information:

http://icampus.mit.edu/teal/

Technologically Enhanced Education in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

July 2000 — June 2003

The Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department created a Web-based delivery system for lectures, based on audio narrated slides and interactive uses of different combinations of online presentations based on narrated Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides and interactive assignments that provide immediate feedback, and deployed it in several core departmental subjects. This included completely eliminating live lectures in the introductory computer science course from fall 2000 through spring 2004, and continuing to use the material as lecture supplements. All students clearly agree there are strong advantages to the online lectures. It permits them to repeat missed details, clarify confusions, and works with the course material on their own schedules. The system also includes a platform (xTutor) for developing and administering online homework assignments with interactive tutorial feedback, and these assignments are now a staple feature of several department subjects.

Lectures and interactive problems in introductory computer science, artificial intelligence, and circuit design have been made publicly available via MIT OpenCourse- Ware, where they have been accessed by thousands of self-learners, and iCampus is working more formally with universities in China and Australia to support delivery of the lectures and tutoring problems at these institutions.

Investigators:

Prof. Tómas Lozano-Pérez, Dept. of EECS

Prof. Eric Grimson, Dept. of EECS

Prof. Leslie Pack Kaelbling, Dept. of EECS

Dr. Christopher J. Terman, Dept. of EECS

Additional Information:

http://icampus.mit.edu/xtutor/

Projects