MIT Haiti Symposium

By Invitation Only

October 2010
Cambridge, Massachusetts

All invitations have already been issued for the symposium.
We invite you to participate in the Open House on Friday afternoon, October 22.
Please RSVP if you plan to join us.

This invitation-only symposium, organized in collaboration with Haiti’s Foundation for Knowledge and Liberty (“FOKAL”),  will focus on the role of Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Open Education Resources (OER) in improving Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (“STEM”) education, language-teaching and related areas in Haitian universities.

One fundamental assumption underlying this initial effort—an assumption that is shared by both MIT faculty and FOKAL—is that ICT and OER can be leveraged to radically transform universities in Haiti and increase the capacity and the quality of education from primary to tertiary education.

We have invited:

  • 15 Haitian university professors and administrators and ICT experts; and
  • 35 MIT faculty and staff.

Our objectives are to increase capacity and quality of education in Haiti:

  • provide MIT faculty with reliable background information about the educational baseline and landscape in Haiti, including limitations, challenges, assets and opportunities;
  • establish a framework for the use of OER & ICT to advance higher education in Haiti, including the training of primary- and secondary-school teachers;
  • showcase and share best practices in OER & ICT; and
  • explore teaching/research partnerships between MIT faculty and Haitian academic institutions.

The symposium will explore the advantages of OER & ICT in higher education.  Participants will identify Haiti’s basic needs and challenges vis-à-vis ICT and OER in the context of potential projects to be pursued jointly by faculty at MIT and in Haiti. Participants will engage in hands-on exercises with ICT and OER for curriculum development and educational practices through panel presentations and demonstrations, group discussions and  “Action Plan” exercises. The  concluding session will feature a presentation and discussion around a summary of take-away opportunities, action plans, obstacles and challenges.