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Medium-Range Recommendations
The recommendations on this page can be implemented during the next twelve
months. Other pages contain short-range and long-range recommendations.
We recommend:
1. All MIT subjects should have Web home pages. The minimal information
on them might be whatever can be automatically generated from the MIT
catalog and the Schedules booklet.
***HOW SHOULD THIS BE DONE? HERE IS ONE
POSSIBILITY: "ACADEMIC COMPUTING SHOULD CONSTRUCT
MINIMAL HOME PAGES IN COLLABORATION WITH DEPARTMENTAL
UNDERGRADUATE OFFICES. IT SHOULD ALSO PROVIDE LINKS
BETWEEN THESE HOME PAGES AND OTHER MIT WEB PUBLICATIONS
AND MAINTAIN THE SYSTEM ON AN IMMEDIATE AND LONG TERM
BASIS."***
2. All major courses (say those with registration more that a hundred per
year) should maintain, on line, bibles containing the administrative
handouts, notes, problem sets, problem solutions, quizzes, final
exams, and quiz solutions.
*** I THINK 100 IS TOO HIGH. MORE LIKE 35 -- 100 WOULD
CAPTURE ONLY FRESHMAN COURSES PLUS 8.03 IN MY DEPT.***
***THERE IS AN EXISTING EFFORT TO DEFINE THIS TASK AND
BEGIN SOME EXPERIMENTS THIS FALL. IT INCLUDES THE UAAO
AND THE LIBRARY. I'D SUGGEST NAMING THESE GROUPS AS
THOSE RESPONSIBLE. HENCE: "WE RECOMMEND THAT THE UAAO
TOGETHER WITH THE LIBRARIES PROVIDE THE SUPPORT AND
TEMPLATES NECESSARY TO HELP DEPARTMENTS MAINTAIN A WEB
BASED, ON LINE, BIBLE REPOSITORY containing the
administrative..."***
3. Web-based forms should be developed for use by students, applicants,
and others dealing with MIT. (One major problem in the use of such
forms seems to be security.)
***WHO ARE WE DIRECTING TO DO THIS? WHAT
GROUP/COMMITTEE WOULD DEAL WITH SECURITY? (GOD FORBID)
WILL THE PRIVACY COMMITTEE HAVE TO BE INVOLVED?***
4. ***IN THINKING ABOUT WHO WOULD DO THIS, IT SEEMS TO ME
THAT THIS SHOULD BE BROKEN UP INTO TWO DIFFERENT
RECOMMENDATION BECAUSE THE IMPLEMENTATION IS SO
DIFFERENT FOR UNDERGRADS AND GRADS. THE UNDERGRAD
PROGRAM WOULD BE NATURAL FOR THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE AND
THE DUESA, AND COULD GROW OVER TIME INTO A "NERDS IN
TRAINING (OR WHATEVER)" OUTREACH PROGRAM TO K/12.
WHEREAS THE GRADUATE STUDENT PROGRAM WOULD HAVE TO BE
DONE ON A DEPARTMENT-BY-DEPARTMENT BASIS, ORGANIZED OR
SPONSORED BY THE SCHOOLS. SO I URGE YOU TO WRITE TWO
RECOMMENDATIONS WITH THOSE DIFFERENT IMPLEMENTATION
STRATEGIES.***
Newly admitted students, both high-school seniors and accepted
applicants to graduate school, should be directed toward information
on the Web specifically designed to help them decide whether to accept
our admission offer. After acceptance, they should be provided
electronic connectivity, such as Athena accounts, to make them feel
part of the MIT community.
5. MIT should study the concept of collaboratively teaching our regular
subjects with other universities, where there would be both students
and teaching staff from each institution. A few specific subjects
should be taught that way in order to gain knowledge.
***WHO WOULD DO THIS STUDY? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO STUDY
IT? SHOULDN'T WE FRAME THE QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED BY
SUCH A STUDY. UNLESS WE SPECIFY THE CHARGE FOR SUCH A
STUDY, I DON'T SEE MUCH DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS REC. AND
#6 AMONG THE SHORT REC'S.***
6. MIT should investigate the opportunities and risks associated with
cross-registration of students at remote campuses. This could include
both students of other universities taking our subjects using advanced
technologies, and our students doing the same with their courses.
***AGAIN, WHO SHOULD DO THIS? THE REGISTRAR? THE MIT
EXCHANGE OFFICE (THAT HANDLES WELLESLEY, HARVARD)? A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE CUP? SHOULD WE SUGGEST EXPERIMENTS?
***7. THE PROVOST
SHOULD EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY OF OFFERING ATHENA ACCESS
TO OUR ALUMNI/AE. THE STUDY SHOULD INCLUDE COSTS (SUCH
AS SERVER LOAD, ...), EFFECT ON RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, AND PRICING
STRATEGIES. WE VIEW THIS AS THE FIRST STEP IN
DEVELOPING A CONTINUING, WEB-BASED CONNECTION TO OUR
ALUMNI/AE, MORE DETAILS OF WHICH CAN BE FOUND IN THE
SECTION ON LONG-RANGE STRATEGIES.****
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