Ten books from MIT faculty to expand your knowledge of teaching, learning, and technology
Embark on a journey into the science of learning, innovation in schools, sociable robots, and more.
By Sara Feijo
How do people learn? Which teaching techniques are most effective? What is the secret for classroom innovation? Here are 10 books written by faculty affiliated with MIT Open Learning that shine light on these and many other questions.
Advanced Manufacturing: The New American Innovation Policies
Embark on an innovation journey. William B. Bonvillian, senior director for special projects at MIT Open Learning, and Peter L. Singer explore how to rethink innovation and revitalize America’s manufacturing sector, arguing that advanced manufacturing is the key.
App Inventor 2: Create Your Own Android Apps
Unleash your creativity and bring your app ideas to life. Hal Abelson, professor of computer science and engineering, and his co-authors introduce readers to App Inventor 2, a powerful visual tool that allows anyone to create apps.
Designing Sociable Robots
Travel to the future with Cynthia Breazeal’s vision for a sociable robot that is able to understand us, communicate and interact with us, learn from us, and grow with us. Breazeal, dean for digital learning at MIT Open Learning, blends science, engineering, and art and introduces readers to Kismet, a nascent sociable robot she designed.
Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education
Learn what technology can and can’t do to transform education. MIT Associate Professor Justin Reich takes readers on a critical examination of the latest supposedly transformative educational technologies.
Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn
Delve into a groundbreaking exploration of the science of learning. Sanjay E. Sarma, former vice president for Open Learning, and Luke Yoquinto, research associate at MIT AgeLab, take readers on a journey through how learning works in the mind and in the classroom, which teaching techniques are most effective, and how schools should use instructional technology.
Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools
Unlock the secret of innovation in education. Justin Reich, associate professor of digital media at MIT and director of the Teaching Systems Lab, bridges contemporary educational research and classroom teaching, showing readers how to leverage the cycle of experiment and experience to create a compelling and engaging learning environment.
Mind, Brain, and Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom
Dive into the intersection of neuroscience and education. John Gabrieli, director of the Integrated Learning Initiative at MIT Open Learning, and his co-authors share the latest findings on how the brain learns and address implications for educational theory and practice.
Phantasmal Media: An Approach to Imagination, Computation, and Expression
Explore computational media and phantasms — blends of cultural ideas and sensory imagination. D. Fox Harrell, director of the Center for Advanced Virtuality at MIT Open Learning, argues that the great expressive potential of computational media comes from the ability to construct and reveal phantasms, and offers an approach for understanding and designing computational systems that have the power to evoke these phantasms.
Resonant Games: Design Principles for Learning Games that Connect Hearts, Minds, and the Everyday
Discover the transformative potential of learning games. Eric Klopfer, professor and director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program and the Education Arcade at MIT, and co-authors offer principles for designing games that integrate content and play, and create learning experiences that connect to learners’ lives.
Workforce Education: A New Roadmap
Chart a course for the future of workforce education. William B. Bonvillian and Sanjay E. Sarma offer a roadmap for rebuilding America’s working class by transforming workforce education and training.
Did you know you can take online courses from the faculty members who wrote these books through MITx and MIT OpenCourseWare, both part of MIT Open Learning? Learn from:
- William B. Bonvillian with Policy for science, technology, and innovation and Innovation systems for science, technology, energy, manufacturing, and health.
- Hal Abelson with Introduction to electrical engineering and computer science I.
- Cynthia Breazeal with Day of AI.
- Justin Reich with Envisioning the graduate of the future; Competency-based education: The why, what, and how; Becoming a more equitable educator: Mindsets and practices; Sorting truth from fiction: Civic online reasoning; Launching innovation in schools; and Design thinking for leading and learning.
- Sanjay E. Sarma with Technology in transportation and Dynamics and Control I.
- John Gabrieli with Introduction to psychology.
- D. Fox Harrell with Media and methods: Seeing and expression and Media literacy in the age of deepfakes.
- Eric Klopfer with Computer games and simulations for education and exploration, Introduction to education: Understanding and evaluating education, and Introduction to education: Looking forward and looking back on education.
Ten books from MIT faculty to expand your knowledge of teaching, learning, and technology was originally published in MIT Open Learning on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.