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<h1> <i>MITx</i> Advances MIT&rsquo;s Vision for Online Learning</h1>

<p> Education has entered an era of rapid, exciting,
technology-enabled change. At MIT, we welcome the opportunity to
harness the power of on-line technology for our students and for the
world. On December 19, 2011, we announced <i>MITx</i>, an initiative to
offer exciting, challenging and enriching courses to anyone,
anywhere, who has the motivation and ability to engage MIT&rsquo;s
educational content.</p>

<p> Ten years ago, MIT
launched <a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm">OpenCourseWare</a>,
which places online the course materials for substantially the entire
MIT curriculum, and was the genesis of today&rsquo;s worldwide
movement in free, open educational resources. <i>MITx</i> is the next step
in opening MIT&rsquo;s educational doors to the world. Through OCW and
<i>MITx</i>, MIT invites the world to join it in the passion, hard work and
thrill of learning and discovery.</p>

<h2><i>MITx</i> will e-publish interactive online courses that:</h2>

<ul>
 <li>Empower students to learn at their own pace;</li>
 <li>Offer online laboratories where students can experiment and apply their learning;</li>
 <li>Connect students to each other in online discussion groups and wiki-based collaborative learning; </li>
 <li>Challenge learners with MIT-rigor course materials; and</li>
 <li>Assess individual student learning as the student progresses through the course.</li>
</ul>

<p> <i>MITx</i> students who demonstrate their mastery of a subject can earn
a certificate of completion awarded by <i>MITx</i>.</p>

<p> <i>MITx</i> courses will be available to the world through an Internet
platform that MIT will make freely available. MIT hopes that other
educational institutions, anywhere in the world, will adapt and use
the platform to publish their own educational content online for the
benefit of learners. Because the platform will be open-source and
scalable, adopters and users can continuously improve it, for the
benefit of everyone.</p>

<h2> Why Is MIT Creating <i>MITx</i>?</h2>

<p> Excellence in teaching and learning. MIT must always provide its
students the very best teaching and learning tools possible. MIT
began experimenting with online technologies in its educational
programs long before we launched OCW in 2001. We have only increased
our emphasis in recent years, as several MIT committees have studied
how MIT might enhance the learning experience of its students and
expand its impact worldwide through new online offerings.</p>

<p> These efforts, combined with those of numerous individual MIT
faculty members, confirmed MIT&rsquo;s conviction that digital
technologies enrich learning. Many other innovative institutions and
enterprises believe the same and are bringing creative online
offerings forward. Having brain-stormed, investigated and studied,
we were ready to act and eager to start. We announced our <i>MITx</i>
aspiration to capture and encourage the energy of our faculty in
creating new online teaching and learning tools. </p>

<p> Once up and running, <i>MITx</i> will be a laboratory for online
learning. Whether <i>MITx</i> learners are MIT&rsquo;s on-campus students,
university students elsewhere, or independent learners, <i>MITx</i> will help
us understand how online learning occurs and how virtual communities
of learners assemble -- information that in turn will allow us to
improve both <i>MITx</i> and our on-campus teaching. </p>

<p> Access to higher education. <i>MITx</i> will help shatter barriers to
education. The constraints of MIT&rsquo;s physical campus allow us to
admit less than 10 percent of our undergraduate applicants. We teach
on-campus only a tiny fraction of the people in the world with the
ability and motivation to learn MIT content. Online technology
provides a new and different portal into MIT-quality education.
Through <i>MITx</i>, MIT educational content can reach, augment, and enrich
the education and livelihood of many learners who cannot attend
MIT. </p>

<p> <i>MITx</i> does not provide a full MIT education. Our residential
campus is the heart of MIT&rsquo;s knowledge creation and
dissemination. MIT students enjoy a comprehensive curriculum and
distinct educational environment. Without MIT, there would be no
<i>MITx</i>. </p>

<p> Advancing the public good. <i>MITx</i> is an opportunity to help
preserve and expand higher education as a public good. Historically,
the investment of public and private assets in enormous amounts has
produced the public benefits of knowledge creation and dissemination,
leading to capable citizens, innovation, job creation, economic
development, and broader welfare.</p>

<p> Today, as computation and Internet technologies enable higher
education to migrate online, MIT sees the opportunity to democratize
education with unprecedented efficiency and scalability. We possess a
strong desire and feel a compelling obligation to offer a
not-for-profit, mission-driven, open-technology approach to online
learning. <i>MITx</i> is our contribution. </p>

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