Behind the scenes at MITx

A 2022 roundup of top instructional design tips and a peek behind the curtain at the making of MITx open online courses

An MIT classroom captured on the MITx video team’s equipment. Credit: MITx

From experimental beginnings to celebrating ten years of digital learning innovations, MITx continues to advance its mission to make education more accessible to learners around the world.

Picture’s Up, Take Two! The MITx Media team begins filming Bringing Workers Voice into Technology and Employment Strategies. Credit: MITx

In 2022, MITx ran 164 free online courses covering more than 27 MIT subjects, and saw enrollment exceed 12 million registered learners representing 200 regions and nearly every age group.

Josué Velázquez Martínez, Research Scientist and Lecturer at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, gives the thumbs-up on lightboard video work for Sustainable Supply Chain Management. Credit: MITx

But what happens behind the scenes in the making of MITx MOOCs (massive open online courses)? How does MITx’s team of faculty and instructors, Digital Learning Lab Scientists, and learning science experts go about designing or adapting an MIT course for a diverse, global audience?

The MITx Media team preps for a video shoot for Chemical Thermodynamics I: Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics. Credit: MITx

Explore our top instructional design tips, discover some of our best teaching and learning moments of the year, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of MITx online courses.

1. Learning, doing, and teaching biology through multimedia
2. MITx inspires new educational programs and technology
3. Conversations with the MITx Digital Learning Lab
4. Q&A with Sarah Davis, MITx Project Administrator
5. Vibrations and waves
6. Focusing course design on learners
7. Assessment in open online courses
8. Everything you wanted to know about MITx on its 10th anniversary

Lights, camera, action! The MITx Studio is ready for filming Transformative Living Labs in Mobility. Credit: MITx.

“With energy, creativity, and a little bit of duct tape, our instructional designers go over the top every day to bring the best of MIT to learners around the world.”
— Christopher Capozzola, Senior Associate Dean for Open Learning

Learn more and enroll for free in any MITx Course here!