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Nobody's started a college around here recently; MIT dean aims to change that
By adamg on Thu, 01/28/2016 - 7:54am
The Tech reports that an MIT dean is taking a leave to help start up a new research university that she hopes will be based in Massachusetts.
Christine Ortiz, dean for graduate education and a professor of materials science and engineering, said the unnamed facility would focus on "project-based learning" and do away with such hoary concepts as lectures.
The last college to start here was Olin College of Engineering in Needham, which opened its doors in 1997.
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Comments
Whatever happened to the Free University!?...
Whatever happened to the Free University!?...
Here we go again.
Project based learning? MIT has several programs for freshmen to center their education on that.
The freshmen who go to them fare no better and no worse than the ones who go old school.
This new college will wind up filling a much needed gap.
Given
that the general consensus is that there are too many colleges of questionable quality, I don't know why she's bothering to start a new one. It'd be easier to go over to some small fourth-tier overpriced diploma mill, take it over, and shake it up into something better.
liability? reputation? tenure
liability? reputation? tenure?
I mean, true diploma mills have been sued for giving out bullshit degrees. And even if you're just referring to crappy schools and not true diploma mills, why would you try to create a great university by starting with mediocre alumni and faculty who have jobs for life?
Could be promising, though not that dissimilar to Olin
To all the naysayers - given the success of Olin, it seems like this could be worth trying. Olin's already somewhat project-based and it's grads are in high demand in the engineering world.
As to whether students do better with project-based learning or not, like every other form of teaching it's helpful for some kids and not for others. There are some students who will do much better with this approach, some who'll do worse than with a more traditional education, and some who'll do the same with either.
Ughhhhhhhhh
The LAST THING this town needs is more universities buying up land.