Eclectic Technology

"In December, 2011, Ian Waitz, MIT’s Dean of Engineering, launched the MIT-K12 project, driven by a series of questions: How can we change the perception of the role of engineers and scientists in the world? What can MIT do, right now, to improve STEM education at the K12 level? What if MIT became a publicly accessible “experiential partner” to the country’s K12 educators? What if MIT students generated short-form videos to complement the work those educators are already doing in their classrooms and homes?"

Some products of the work that answers these questions are now available on this website. The videos explain STEM questions and are sorted by grade level as well as science categories: astornomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, engineering, physics and transportation. 
MIT continues to be very supportive of education and brings out new tools we can use in our classroom. This site is in the beginning stages, and will accept proposals for videos that you would like to see created. Much more information is available at the site. 

"Earlier this month, education bigwigs Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology entered what New York Times Reporter Tamar Lewin referred to as an “academic Battle of the Titans,” after announcing their newest partnership, edX, which allows people all over the world to take free online courses offered by both universities."
This article looks at two issues "What is the value?" and “A Moral Obligation" referring to the article that was published in the New York Times 'Room for Debate" that discussed this issue. One quote from the article:
"It is a moral obligation to educate the billions of people in this world who are intellectually starved through no fault of their own."
Will this partnership change the way we view higher education? Will taking online courses provide the same education that one would receive attending in person?

Have you asked yourself "what is remix culture?" This article explores how remix culture may impact education, and explores how MIT's Scratch media creation player may play a part.
After exploring "What the Heck is Copy Right?" (a great video, A Fair(y) Use Tale, that used Disney movie clips to explain copy right, the article list a the remix culture, and explores Scratch as a tool to use in education. The final portion explores outcomes that may occur when students remix culture.