[ed-tech] Reminder CROSSTALK Today

[Phillip Long]

REMINDER: Today, Tuesday, May 11, 2004, 1:30pm — 3:00pm, Grier Room 
(34-401A)

Please join us for the last Crosstalk of the '04 Academic Year, where 
we will gather to hear and discuss:

	 Integrating case-based tutorials into the MIT Electrical Engineering 
and Computer Science core curriculum

The Presenters:

     * Hal Abelson - Class of 1922 Professor, Dept of Electrical 
Engineering & Computer Science
     * Lori Breslow Director of the Teaching and Learning Laboratory & 
Senior Lecturer
     * Tom Clay - founder and principal of Tom Clay & Associates
     * Gerry Sussman -Matsushita Professor of Electrical Engineering, 
Dept of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Abstract
For the past two years, the four of us, together with Alex d'Arbeloff, 
have been developing a new pedagogical model for subjects taught in the 
EECS core curriculum. We incorporated case-based tutorials taught by 
practicing electrical engineers — most of whom are MIT alumni — into an 
experimental version of "Circuits and Electronics" (6.002) in the 
spring semesters 2003 and 2004.

This work, sponsored by the d'Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in MIT 
Education, is a pilot designed to inform a major revision of the EECS 
core that will commence this summer under continuing d'Arbeloff support 
and support from the Cambridge-MIT Institute.

In this talk, we'll review the goals of our experiment, report on our 
experiences, share our evaluation findings, and solicit your advice on 
how we should next proceed.

Our approach has several noteworthy aspects:

     * Basic material is introduced in conjunction with cases that 
expose students to more complex engineering problems than in the 
mainstream curriculum. The cases are studied in small tutorials that 
require students to assume active and collaborative roles in their 
study.
     * The tutorials are led by engineers from local industry. Our 
intent is to introduce students to how practicing engineers think, and 
also to demonstrate how to increase the educational resources available 
to the Institute by drawing upon talent from our alumni body and local 
industry.
     * The course includes novel on-line computer exercises and a new 
software tutoring system that incorporates artificial intelligence 
techniques (constraint propagation and truth maintenance). This part of 
our research is being pursued in collaboration with Peter Robinson of 
the Cambridge University Computing Laboratory.
     * We have conducted extensive evaluations to assess the feasibility 
of this approach and the issues to be addressed in attempting to scale 
it to larger class sizse. These studies also provide insight more 
generally into the use of case-based tutorials in engineering 
education.

Biographies

     * Hal Abelson is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer 
Science and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics 
Engineers. He is winner of several teaching awards, including the 
IEEE's Booth Education Award, cited for his contributions to the 
teaching of undergraduate computer science. He is co-director of the 
MIT-Microsoft Research Alliance in educational technology and co-head 
of MIT's Council on Educational Technology.
     * Gerry Sussman is Professor of Electrical Engineering. He is a 
member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American 
Association for Artificial Intelligence, a fellow of the Association 
for Computing Machinery, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences. He is a recipient of the ACM's Karl Karlstrom Outstanding 
Educator Award.

       Abelson and Sussman are the developers of MIT's introductory 
computer science subject 6.002, and (together with Julie Sussman) 
coauthored the course's introductory computer science textbook 
"Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs," which has had a 
world-wide impact on university computer-science education. For this 
and other achivements they shared MIT's Amar G. Bose award for teaching 
in 1991.
     * Tom Clay is founder and principal of Tom Clay & Associates. 
Drawing on his rich and varied background as an organizational 
effectiveness, learning and evaluation consultant, corporate university 
founder/executive, cultural anthropologist, teacher, and market 
researcher, Tom helps companies and educational institutions formulate 
learning strategies, plan and implement eLearning programs, conduct 
research on the corporate and academic learning marketplace, and assess 
and evaluate eLearning and other educational programs. In addition to 
MIT, Tom has worked with Boston University and Universitas 21 Global, a 
Singapore-based virtual university. Trained both as a cultural 
anthropologist and in business, Tom holds a B.A. in 
sociology/anthropology from Carleton College, an M.A. in cultural 
anthropology from the University of Chicago, and an M.B.A. from the 
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
     * Lori Breslow, Ph.D. has been the Director of MIT’s Teaching and 
Learning Laboratory (TLL) since its inception in 1997. TLL works with 
faculty, administrators, staff, and students to strengthen the quality 
of education at the Institute. Dr. Breslow oversees the administration 
of TLL and has developed a number of its programs and services. She has 
also supervised many of the projects undertaken in assessment. For five 
years she wrote the column, “Teach Talk,” for The MIT Faculty 
Newsletter, and she teaches a Ph.D.-level course, “Teaching 
College-Level Science.” Dr. Breslow is also a Senior Lecturer in the 
Sloan School of Management where she teaches courses in managerial, 
professional, and intercultural communication. In addition to studying 
the impact of educational technology, Dr. Breslow’s research interests 
are in interdisciplinary education and peer learning.


Phillip D. Long, Ph.D.					              -- longpd at mit.edu
Senior Strategist for the Academic Computing Enterprise
MIT - N42-005		  					        -- voice:617-452-4038
77 Massachusetts Avenue (street 211 Mass. Ave.)  --  fax: 617-253-8665
Cambridge, MA 02139
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