Modular Curricula and MIT Report Review
The article, “Are Courses Outdated? MIT Considers Offering ‘Modules’ Instead” written by Jeffrey R. Young pulled me in with the opening line: ‘People now buy songs, not albums. They read articles, not newspapers. So why not mix and match learning “modules” rather than lock into 12-week university courses?’
The article, based on a 213-page report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, brings up the idea of breaking down longer university courses into segments; fragments or modules that the learner could effectively pick and choose much like creating a playlist on Spotify or iTunes to suit their needs and interests.
In the context of online learning, the article shares data from edX, the online-learning nonprofit organization, that out of ‘more than 800,000 people who registered for free courses, only about 5 percent finished.’ However, the professors of MIT committee commented that a significant portion of these online learners explored certain components or modules of the courses, which reflects the same sentiment as students on campus of MIT, 40% of who mentioned that they would like MIT courses to be modularized.
While this concept of modularization appears appealing in the context of online learning, MOOCs and STEM subjects, they are not so palatable in practical classroom learning and to professors of humanities and the social sciences.
The argument here for me is that while it is easy to fragment different components of science and engineering subjects, it is not as easy to fragment components in subjects in the humanities since theories, ideologies and methodologies all influence one another and build onto each other to give a learner a comprehensive understanding of the field they are studying. As a professor, if my students were given the option to pick and choose only the modules they were interested in learning, I would be concerned that they were not exposing themselves to all the different elements of the subject (even if they don’t find it interesting) that would combine to give them a holistic understanding.
In the case of classroom teaching, while the idea of modularization means more than one professor can work together to offer different components of a subject and/or course to students without taking on the pressure of teaching entire semester-long courses, however, the concept of offering 10-minute short lectures or bite-sized lessons across a day or week seems impractical and inefficient in terms of time, money and resources from both university, professors and students. It is the same as commuting to work to only work for 15 minutes; why would anyone do that?
Thus, the article ends on the positive note that technology and online learning indeed has made a splash in education, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic era, showing us all that change is bound to happen across all educational systems, institutions and structures.
