MIT to Use Online Courses to Screen Applicants

This appears to be a significant new development in the use of educational technology. MIT is looking at ways that MOOCs can improve program accessibility for capable students.

That’s the argument by officials at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which on Wednesday announced a plan to create what it calls an "inverted admissions" process, starting with a pilot project within a master’s program in supply-chain management.

Students who do well in a series of free online courses and a related online examination offered through MIT’s MOOC project, MITx, will "enhance their chances" of being accepted to the on-site master’s program, according to a university statement. Students who come to the program after first taking the MOOCs will then essentially place out of the first half of the coursework, so they can finish the degree in a semester rather than an academic year. That effectively makes the master’s program half the usual price.

L. Rafael Reif, president of MIT, said in an interview on Wednesday that he hopes the new twist on admissions will lead to a broader pool of applicants. "We will find people who never thought they would be able to apply," he said. Such students might take the free online courses "because why not?" he adds, "and they will discover that they are much stronger in the global competition than they think."

This situation provides an interesting reflection of the big changes that are occurring in higher education. An elite, traditionally exclusive university is looking for ways to broaden reach and become more inclusive. Meanwhile, the article goes on to discuss the growing role of micro-credentials.

George Siemens, the academic who offered one of the very first MOOCs and who coined the term, which stands for massive open online courses, applauded MIT’s admissions experiment. "We’re just starting to see the impact in education of the Internet on the legacy structure of higher education," he said. "This reflects an accessibility mind shift," he added.