<story><title>MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester</title><url>https://web.mit.edu/covid19/update-from-president-l-rafael-reif-to-the-mit-community/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>JPKab</author><text>One of my coworkers daughters is affected by this.&lt;p&gt;The big question this begs:&lt;p&gt;If there is no refund being offered for the content shifting online from in-person, why have in-person at all?&lt;p&gt;Is room and board going to be refunded?&lt;p&gt;If courses being taught online is an acceptable substitute, why have caps on admission at all?  
Edit: Understood that infinite sized classes aren&amp;#x27;t workable for human intensive grading, interactions, etc.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gumby</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t think anyone believes online is an acceptable substitute to a traditional MIT education, but it&amp;#x27;s a lot better than nothing, and better than continuing the in person teaching.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m an MIT grad and know the benefits of being on campus.  In fact I spent more time in the lab than I did in classes or my dorm and that just isn&amp;#x27;t possible online.&lt;p&gt;My son&amp;#x27;s school (Courant) has sent everyone home too, with online substitute, but like MIT that only really works for undergrads.</text></comment>
<story><title>MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester</title><url>https://web.mit.edu/covid19/update-from-president-l-rafael-reif-to-the-mit-community/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>JPKab</author><text>One of my coworkers daughters is affected by this.&lt;p&gt;The big question this begs:&lt;p&gt;If there is no refund being offered for the content shifting online from in-person, why have in-person at all?&lt;p&gt;Is room and board going to be refunded?&lt;p&gt;If courses being taught online is an acceptable substitute, why have caps on admission at all?  
Edit: Understood that infinite sized classes aren&amp;#x27;t workable for human intensive grading, interactions, etc.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>samatman</author><text>Most of the value of an elite education is signaling: it proves the student had what it takes both to get into MIT, and to graduate.&lt;p&gt;If MIT switched to an online-only format, that would erode the value of the latter (which, remember, is social proof, not something which is notoriously rational), while open enrollment would obliterate the former.&lt;p&gt;A semester of remote teaching won&amp;#x27;t damage the brand.</text></comment>