Curriculum change: one senator's view from a place at the table
Kara Penn '07
Issue date: 11/7/06 Section: MITSloan News
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It's 9:00AM on a Monday morning, and the Sustainability@Sloan curriculum change committee members are streaming into the conference room, clutching cups of coffee and stacks of paper. Each is prepared to spend the next two hours discussing curriculum change around issues of sustainability. The committee represents a diverse mix of senior faculty, senior lecturers, and student representatives. The latter come from MIT Sloan PhD programs, Sloan Fellows, and the MIT Sloan MBA program.
The task set to the group on this occasion is course design for one of the flagship aspects of the Sustainability curriculum change effort-Sustainability-Lab (or S-Lab for short). Among the topics being discussed on S-Lab this particular morning are relevancy of topics to students, teaching methods, and sustainability indicators. A heated debate breaks out over the topic of green-washing - should we cover it, and if so, how? Students and faculty weigh in with animate views. While it's clear that not everyone agrees, there is a culture of open dialogue. Also clear is the fact that all people at the table have a deep commitment to providing students with sustainability literacy, including exposure to economic, social, environmental, and personal aspects, and the tools to lead with these considerations in mind.
Welcome to curriculum change at MIT Sloan. The process is intense and committed; it centers around passion and expertise. And it's clear from the meeting reflected on here that there is never enough time in a day to capture all of the diverse perspectives and directions curriculum change might take. What I know as a student, however, is that I am glad to have a seat at the table. Sinead O'Flanagan, SF '07, and a student member of the sustainability committee likens it to "being part of a think tank that's pulling all of the threads for comprehensive change together." I haven't thought too much about it, but I know it's an exciting process-considering the possibilities of the future of management, and how those possibilities impact the world's leadership. Is this too grandiose a vision for a group of folks sitting around debating the finer points of sustainability? Perhaps. But it gets me leaping out of bed in the morning in a way that accounting admittedly never did.
The task set to the group on this occasion is course design for one of the flagship aspects of the Sustainability curriculum change effort-Sustainability-Lab (or S-Lab for short). Among the topics being discussed on S-Lab this particular morning are relevancy of topics to students, teaching methods, and sustainability indicators. A heated debate breaks out over the topic of green-washing - should we cover it, and if so, how? Students and faculty weigh in with animate views. While it's clear that not everyone agrees, there is a culture of open dialogue. Also clear is the fact that all people at the table have a deep commitment to providing students with sustainability literacy, including exposure to economic, social, environmental, and personal aspects, and the tools to lead with these considerations in mind.
Welcome to curriculum change at MIT Sloan. The process is intense and committed; it centers around passion and expertise. And it's clear from the meeting reflected on here that there is never enough time in a day to capture all of the diverse perspectives and directions curriculum change might take. What I know as a student, however, is that I am glad to have a seat at the table. Sinead O'Flanagan, SF '07, and a student member of the sustainability committee likens it to "being part of a think tank that's pulling all of the threads for comprehensive change together." I haven't thought too much about it, but I know it's an exciting process-considering the possibilities of the future of management, and how those possibilities impact the world's leadership. Is this too grandiose a vision for a group of folks sitting around debating the finer points of sustainability? Perhaps. But it gets me leaping out of bed in the morning in a way that accounting admittedly never did.
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