MITx is the

massive open online course A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the World Wide Web, Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and p ...

(MOOC) program at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. A constituent program of MIT's Office of Digital Learning, MITx produces MOOCs from MIT departments and faculty. Prior to 2U's acquisition of

edX edX is an American For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit massive open online course provider. It was founded by MIT and Harvard. It is a subsidiary of 2U (company), 2U. History edX was founded in May 2012 by the admi ...

, MITx courses appeared there. After the acquisition, courses appeared on MIT's own site. MITx also supports residential experiments with scalable learning technologies and research on digital learning. MOOCs offered through edX by MITx are open-enrollment and free to take. In September 2012, edX and MITx introduced the option to receive an ID verified certificate on some courses.

History

The MITx program was announced on December 19, 2011, and originally included three components: 1) development and offering of massive open online courses, 2) research on the effectiveness of emerging digital learning tools, and 3) the development of an open source platform for offering massive open online courses. Initial course and platform development for MITx was undertaken under the direction of Professor

Anant Agarwal Anant Agarwal is an Indian computer architecture researcher. He is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he led the development of Alewife, an early cache coher ...

in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL). On May 3, 2012, the open platform component was spun off into

, a non-profit co-owned by MIT and Harvard and charged with platform development and the creation of a consortium of leading institutions offering MOOCs. Professor Agarwal was named the first president of edX. On November 20, 2012, the MITx program was placed organizationally within the newly created MIT Office of Digital Learning, which would also eventually include three other MIT organizations:

MIT OpenCourseWare MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to publish all of the educational materials from its undergraduate- and graduate-level courses online, freely and openly available to anyone, anywh ...

, the Office of Educational Innovation and Technology, and Academic Media Production Services. Materials Science professor Sanjay Sarma was named MIT's Director of Digital Learning and Computer Science professor Isaac Chuang was named associate director of Digital Learning.

Courses and programs offered

X-Series

MITx has one of the largest offerings of MOOCs through the

platform. On September 17, 2013, MITx announced the first of its XSeries Certificate programs, which offer recognition for the completion of a series of related MOOC courses. Current XSeries include

Supply Chain Management In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) deals with a system of procurement (purchasing raw materials/components), operations management, logistics and marketing channels, through which raw materials can be developed into finished produc ...

, Education Technology, Development Policy, and Aerodynamics.

MicroMasters

In 2016, MITx launched a new

Micromasters MicroMasters programs are a series of online graduate level courses offered by universities through edX that one can take to develop standalone skills for career advancement or earn graduate level credentials. First launched in September 2016 wit ...

credential in Supply Chain Management.Micromaster's credential in Supply Chain Management
/ref> The MicroMasters in Supply Chain from MIT is an advanced, professional, graduate-level foundation in Supply Chain Management. It represents the equivalent of 1 semester's worth of coursework at MIT. To earn a Micromaster's credential, learners must complete a sequence of 5 MOOCs, followed by a comprehensive capstone exam.

References

External links

MITx websiteMITx MicroMastersMIT Office of Digital Learning website
{{MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harvard University American educational websites Organizations established in 2011 Open educational resources