Progress on Education Systems Projects

Dear Colleagues,

When the Education Systems Roadmap was approved by the IT Governance Committee in September 2010, it provided the foundation for modernizing our Student Information System (SIS) and enhancing the user experience of faculty, students, and staff. During the past year, we have made significant progress in key areas prioritized by the Roadmap.

Faculty involvement has been instrumental in the success of several Roadmap projects. The core SIS team, with representation from the Registrar’s Office and Information Services and Technology (IS&T), has worked closely with the SIS Faculty Working Group to gather requirements, garner feedback, and gain departmental participation in project pilots. Faculty members include Adam Albright, Bob Berwick, John Essigmann, Steve Graves, Eric Klopfer, Paul Lagace, Haynes Miller and Bob Redwine.

Below is an update of ongoing Roadmap projects. Underlying each is a focus on supporting the educational needs of the MIT community and creating a dynamic educational experience for all constituencies.

Online Grading

Each semester, more than 39,000 grades are submitted. Online Grading replaces the predominantly paper-based submission process with a more efficient and flexible web-based application. In the new online system, grades can be reported anytime, 24/7, and are posted every 15 minutes. Defined roles allow many users to enter grades while ensuring all grades are vetted by approved faculty. The system also enforces the Faculty Rules and Regulations on grading such as limiting each subject’s grading mode and the student’s grading option (i.e. Junior-Senior P/D/F).

Initially piloted in four departments in IAP and the spring of 2011, the pilot continues this fall with twenty additional departments taking part. By summer 2012, it is planned that all grades will be submitted online. Initial feedback from faculty involved in the pilot has been positive.

Online Registration

Digitizing registration has been a long-standing request from faculty and students. In September 2011, Online Registration Phase I was piloted with seven departments. The online system closely resembles the paper registration process. Students and advisors make changes to an online registration form, which is populated with pre-registration data, and the advisor formally approves the selections, also online. The system maintains an emphasis on face-to-face meetings between students and advisors that can occur during the registration window and enables informed academic planning. A follow-up survey of the participants showed that 88% found the system easy to use, intuitive and easy to navigate.

The pilot will continue in spring 2012; 75-80% of all departments are likely to participate in the spring pilot. By fall 2012, all students will be registering online.

Paperless Undergraduate Admissions

For the class of 2015, Admissions moved to a paperless admissions process. Paper application pieces were converted to scanned documents and all applications were reviewed online via an eFolder model, which allows one click to open the entire application. The new system significantly reduced the amount of paper and processing time required in the review process.

All-Electronic Graduate Admissions System

Last year, we had the largest number of graduate applications in MIT history, 22,220. Across the more than 40 graduate programs, a variety of electronic, paper-based, and hybrid admissions systems were being used. In considering these diverse processes, departments raised many systems-based issues and noted an urgent need for an improved infrastructure. This past year, the Task Force on Improving Graduate Admissions Processes considered this need and recommended the Institute-wide adoption of the system developed by Professor Frans Kaashoek and Professor Robert Morris in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). This web-based system is an excellent, customizable and adaptable platform that will improve efficiency, reduce processing times and paper use, streamline the review process by faculty, and improve the applicant experience and recruitment competitiveness.

Adoption of the EECS system will be phased in over three admissions cycles. This will allow graduate programs to opt-in and commercial vendors to be phased out. Work on the transition began during summer 2011. In addition to the three graduate programs that already had the EECS system in place, ten graduate programs transitioned to the EECS system during the fall 2011 admissions in-take.

Online Financial Aid Decisions

Currently, admitted and current students learn about financial aid decisions via paper mail. In 2012, a new system will provide access to decisions online, eliminating paper and reducing the processing time required to distribute award notification. As a result, students will receive their awards sooner.

Electronic Ordering and Delivery of Transcripts

Ordering transcripts meant students and alumni had to put in requests for paper transcripts. These requests would be processed during business hours. In October 2011 a new Online Transcripts system was launched allowing either paper or electronic transcripts to be ordered 24/7. In many cases, the certified and secure eTranscripts are delivered to the recipient within 30 minutes.

Stellar Next Generation

MIT has been considering options for a more robust Learning Management System (LMS) to replace Stellar. At the direction of the Steering Committee for Learning Management Systems under the MIT Council on Educational Technology, IS&T conducted an evaluation of Blackboard in Spring 2011. The evaluation highlighted systemic issues coupled with limitations in core functionality and extensibility that rendered the product less than suitable to MIT’s needs.

Instead, MIT is developing the Modular Service Framework as the foundation for learning management at MIT. The Framework will gradually replace existing Stellar functionality with a set of discrete, flexible web services. This includes grading; attendance; calendaring; content and material management; forum integration; and blog/wiki integration. Release of the initial core components is targeted for fall 2012.

Classroom Scheduling

The current technology that supports MIT’s classroom and student scheduling is outdated and needs to be replaced. We are nearing the end of the requirements phase for a new system. As a next step, we will develop a plan for design and implementation.

Digital Forms and Petitions

Digitizing forms and petitions is an ongoing effort to reduce paper and streamline processes across the Institute. To date, we have identified over 30 academic forms across the academic departments and in the Offices of the Deans for Undergraduate and Graduate Education. While we continue to identify additional forms, we will move ahead in digitizing five initial forms during this next year. These forms will be: the registration correction form (add/drop); the late add/drop form; the HASS concentration form; the Graduate Student Petition; and the Credit Balance Authorization form.

Evolving the student system will help us deliver the kind of experiences that keep students engaged and on track for success, as well as support you in your roles as teachers and advisors. We welcome your feedback on these projects at any time. Please email one of us or the leadership of the core SIS team, Eamon Kearns, Associate Director for IS&T’s Education Systems, and Mary Callahan, Registrar. If you are interested in following the progress of the Roadmap projects, updates are posted at IS&T’s News site under the Business and Education Systems category.

Sincerely,

Daniel Hastings
Dean for Undergraduate Education

Christine Ortiz
Dean for Graduate Education

Marilyn Smith
Head of Information Services and Technology