Four departments selected for undergraduate education innovation grants
The awards will seed novel projects in chemical engineering, brain and cognitive sciences, global languages, and chemistry.
“We expect the education landscape at MIT to evolve rapidly as we are taking stock of our approach to undergraduate education through the Task Force on the Undergraduate Academic Program and as, at the same time, the impact of generative AI on education takes hold,” says David L. Darmofal, Vice Chancellor for Graduate and Undergraduate Education.
To help address the impact of these tectonic shifts in how we teach our students, the Alex and Brit d’Arbeloff fund for Excellence in Education and the Education Innovation Funds for Teaching and Learning have awarded funding to four departments for projects aimed at improving undergraduate education at MIT.
The selected proposals, project leads, and departments are:
- “Best practices for Large Language Models in Chemical Engineering Education,”
Dr. Joshua Abraham, Dr. Joey Gu, Dr. Tom Kinney, and Prof. Kristala Prather, Department of Chemical Engineering; - “Preparing BCS Graduates for an AI-Rich World: Re-Examining Learning Goals and Assessment,” Dr. Laura Frawley and Prof. John Gabrielli, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences;
- “Language and Intercultural Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” Prof. Per Urlaub and Dr. Eva Dessein, Department of Global Languages; and
- “A Flexible Digital Textbook Replacement for Foundational Chemistry at MIT,” Prof. Brett A. McGuire and Dr. David Grimes, Department of Chemistry.
While both funds have historically been catalysts for innovation in education, this year, the selection committee decided to take a different approach in its request for proposals.
“In the past, projects tended to be at a smaller-scale.” Darmofal says. “But we believed that to meet the moment, we wanted to encourage a focus on multi-year, larger-scale efforts—projects intended to have a sustained impact on undergraduate education at MIT.”
To that end, the committee decided to join the two funding opportunities into one call for submissions, seeking proposals tackling such issues as developing AI-aware pedagogy; creating, implementing, and assessing sustained use of evidence-based pedagogy; revamping critical subjects and/or restructuring course sequences to better support majors’ transition to upper-level subjects; and achieving program learning outcomes and addressing other local challenges.
The Registrar’s Office and the Teaching + Learning Laboratory (TLL) played a key role in developing the new focus and providing guidance to faculty interested in applying.
“All of these projects exemplify the true innovation that the d’Arbeloff Fund and Education Innovation Funds hope to foster, a goal that is even more relevant given the many changes in how students engage with materials and the increasing reach of AI,” says Genevre Filiault, assistant dean for curriculum and faculty support in the Registrar’s Office and the administrator of the funds.
Three of the departments will use a Departmental Action Team (DAT) model to implement their projects. A DAT is a working group drawn from students, staff, and faculty, that focuses on creating sustainable change around a broad-scale issue. The committee collects a variety of data and information to inform decision-making, while also considering departmental culture and structure.
Each of the DATs will be facilitated by TLL staff. “TLL brings an incredible wealth of knowledge about how students learn, pedagogy, and organizational change in an academic setting. Leveraging their expertise will help each DAT do the rigorous and thorough work needed to be successful.”
“The DAT model promotes sustainable change through an intentional and collaborative approach to complex challenges,” says Ruthann Thomas, TLL associate director for teaching and learning. “We zoom out to ask hard questions like ‘What should undergraduate education look like with the emergence of AI?’ We actively listen to diverse perspectives from across the department and ground our work in data, rather than assumptions. This deliberate process, rooted in organizational change scholarship, transforms good intentions and isolated efforts into sustainable, broad-scale change.”
“We are thrilled to partner with BCS, Chemical Engineering, and Global Languages—three departments with vastly different approaches to and cultures of undergraduate education,” adds Raechel Soicher, associate director for teaching and learning in TLL. “Despite their differences, each of these teams is committed to teaching and eager to collaborate with their colleagues to create the best possible learning experiences for students.”
Those engaged in the projects are enthusiastic about their potential to enhance the educational experience for MIT students—and the opportunity for MIT to be a trailblazer in rethinking foundational education in STEM and other fields.
Agustín Rayo, professor of philosophy and the Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, sees the Global Languages project as having “great promise” for the School as a whole. “The use of the DAT model—more commonly associated with STEM contexts—is creative, and potentially transformative. This pilot could serve as a model for other units seeking to engage in coordinated, faculty-driven educational innovation,” he says.