Implementing Agile Continuous Education (ACE) at MIT and Beyond: The MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT) Case

At MIT Open Learning, our work on Agile Continuous Education (ACE) is pioneering a framework for education that is flexible, cost-effective, and time-efficient. ACE promises to shift how we think about education by advancing a model that deliberately combines three modalities into short-form flights of experience: structured online or in-person classes based on specifically designed syllabi; real-world-inspired team projects calibrated for learning by doing; and mentored internship and apprenticeships that put learners into the workplace with support from the program itself.

The ACE model underpins the Jameel World Education Lab's approach to the MIT Emerging Talent Certificate and is informing our broader lines of work across all three frontiers for impact. Taking this thinking to degree programs, ACE has shaped our vision for new forms of educational institutions that we are committed to taking forward.

Paper Abstract

The rapid pace of change in technology, business models, and work practices is causing ever-increasing strain on the global workforce. Companies in every industry
need to train professionals with updated skill-sets in a rapid and continuous manner. However, traditional educational models — university classes and in-person degrees— are increasingly incompatible with the needs of professionals, the market, and society as a whole. New models of education require more flexible, granular and
affordable alternatives. MIT is currently developing a new educational framework called Agile Continuous Education (ACE). ACE describes workforce level education
offered in a flexible, cost-effective and time-efficient manner by combining individual, group, and real-life mentored learning through multiple traditional and emerging learning modalities.
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This paper introduces the ACE framework along with its different learning approaches and modalities (e.g. asynchronous and synchronous online courses, virtual synchronous bootcamps, and real-life mentored apprenticeships and internships) and presents the MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT) as an illustrative example. MIT ReACT is an institute-wide effort to develop global education programs for underserved communities, including refugees, displaced persons, migrants and economically disadvantaged populations, with the goal of promoting the learner’s social integration and formal inclusion into the job market. MIT ReACT’s core programs are the Certificate in Computer and Data Science (CDS) and the MicroMasters in Data, Economics and Development Policy, which consist of a combination of online courses, bootcamps, and global apprenticeships. Currently, MIT ReACT has regional presence in the Middle East and North Africa, East Africa, South America, Asia, Europe and North America.