Elizabeth is Senior Manager, Online Course Development for MIT Teaching Systems Lab, as well as a Digital Learning Lab Fellow with the MIT Office of Open Learning. She develops and manages massive open online courses (MOOCs) pertaining to education, including most recently Envisioning the Graduate of the Future. She enjoys engaging with learners all over the world and creating meaningful online educational experiences. Previously, she was an Instructional Developer for the Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program. Prior to her time at MIT, Elizabeth worked at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She holds a B.A. in Government from Claremont McKenna College and an Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
When did you first become interested in technology and education?
In my senior year of college, I served as a Residential Technology Assistant (basically a residential assistant for computers) in my dormitory. I noticed that the students I lived with had a wide variety of comfort-levels and skills using technology. The men in my dorm seemed to be more willing to trouble-shoot computer issues than the women. I became really interested in how we gain skills in using technology as well as how we use technology to learn various subjects.
How do you feel about educational technology in the classroom?
I am wary of educational technology in general! Just because technology is used by teachers and students in a classroom doesn’t make instruction more effective or innovative. It is very easy to do the same things we’ve been doing in the classroom for fifty years, like practice math problems, but just digitally. The potential for distraction is also high with Chromebooks, iPads etc. Yes, schools can use software to block certain applications and connections, but kids are remarkably adept at getting past it.
I feel excited when I think about the affordances of technology regarding multiple means of expression and communication. Students can demonstrate understanding and share ideas with each other in ways that are more interesting, visual, and personally relevant. Teachers can explain concepts in several different ways and give students more opportunities to interact with those concepts using things like simulations.
What is the most difficult aspect regarding the creation of scalable online learning?
To me the most difficult aspect regarding scalable online learning is getting learners quality feedback, especially if the work they’re doing is written or otherwise less conducive to auto-grading (meaning graded automatically by computer). My colleagues in subjects like biology and physics are able to use assessments that are auto-graded. Their quizzes and tests are typically comprised of problems where there is a correct answer. In the humanities, assessment is trickier. Sometimes instructors may have interest in testing learners’ declarative knowledge, but often instructors are looking more at how learners apply and leverage concepts in a more open-ended way through writing. When learners in a MOOC are submitting their writing, how do they get quality feedback? The course staff isn’t large enough and doesn’t have enough time to provide even two sentences of quality feedback for each learner.
In the MOOCs I work on, we provide guiding questions so that learners can provide each other feedback. Learners have different levels of experience regarding giving and receiving feedback in an online forum setting. They come from many different cultural backgrounds and not all are fully comfortable expressing themselves in English. Feedback quality in our MOOCs varies; some learners give excellent, thoughtful feedback to their peers, while others don’t.
How do you see the learning landscape transforming over the next few years?
I’m excited to see more experimentation in terms of blended and localized learning. People can learn interesting things in novel ways online (either alone or with others) and then work together in-person to discuss, debrief, and figure out applications for their knowledge.
What is your favorite thing about working at MIT?
MIT folks are exceptionally passionate! They care so much about their work and they value doing important and useful work. I also love that my colleagues enjoy learning new things and are open to trying different approaches.