Minerva Project

Last updated
Minerva Project
Company type Private
IndustryEducation
Founded2011
Founder Ben Nelson
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
Global
Key people
Ben Nelson (CEO), Noah Pickus (Chief Academic Officer), Brian Fields (Chief Product Officer)
Website www.minervaproject.com

Minerva Project is an educational organization that designs and delivers educational programs through educational and corporate partners globally. [1] [2] Its mission is reforming education through an interdisciplinary curriculum and fully active learning pedagogy delivered on a proprietary learning environment called Forum. [3]

Contents

History

Minerva Project was founded by CEO and Chairman Ben Nelson in 2011 and received a $25 million seed investment from Benchmark Capital in 2012. [4] [5] [6] In 2013, Minerva Project announced a partnership with Keck Graduate Institute to form the Minerva Schools at KGI, effectively becoming its first partner. [7] Since then, more than 20 institutions, including high schools, universities, and corporations around the world, use the Minerva educational methodology to deliver their educational programs. The full methodology is described and documented in a book published by the MIT Press. [8]

Philosophy

There is still some debate on what the purpose of higher education is, with one view arguing that higher education is solely for preparing graduates for specific careers, and others that education is the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom for their own sake. [9]

Minerva Project supports a view proposed by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson [10] more than two centuries ago. Their view advocates usefulness or “practical” knowledge; knowledge acquired to serve the country and humankind. This is why Minerva Project offers education centered around teaching students concepts and skills that nurture better decision-making in their professional, civic and personal lives.

Educational approach

Minerva's educational approach is centered on three pillars, developed based on decades of research on the science of learning: an interdisciplinary curriculum; fully active learning pedagogy; and outcomes-based assessment. Minerva's proprietary virtual learning environment, Forum, is designed to facilitate these three components. [11] The approach has been lauded as a potential model for the future of higher education, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. [12]

The interdisciplinary curriculum is structured to introduce transferrable skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving, then reinforce them over time, through practical application across multiple courses and contexts. [13] The curriculum gives learners the tools to think systematically and approach problems critically and creatively.

The fully active learning pedagogy is a set of instructional practices that maximizes learner engagement, supported by functionalities of Forum such as Talk Time. [14] Rather than the traditional focus on lectures and information dissemination, Fully Active Learning promotes a deeper grasp of the concepts being taught. [15] Classes are constructed using a range of collaborative activities, including Socratic discussion, live polling, breakout groups, debate, role-playing, and simulations, among others. Instructors guide each session, emphasizing learner participation, group discourse, and project-based applications. [16]

The feedback and assessment system is based on the learner's performance on learning outcomes that appear in multiple courses and disciplines. Learners receive feedback on their class participation, in-class assignments, and out-of-class assignments, and are able to track their progress on learning outcomes over time. [17]

Educational partners

Related Research Articles

Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that includes the ability to access and analyze media messages as well as create, reflect and take action, using the power of information and communication to make a difference in the world. Media literacy is not restricted to one medium and is understood as a set of competencies that are essential for work, life, and citizenship. Media literacy education is the process used to advance media literacy competencies, and it is intended to promote awareness of media influence and create an active stance towards both consuming and creating media. Media literacy education is part of the curriculum in the United States and some European Union countries, and an interdisciplinary global community of media scholars and educators engages in knowledge and scholarly and professional journals and national membership associations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Problem-based learning</span> Learner centric pedagogy

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem found in trigger material. The PBL process does not focus on problem solving with a defined solution, but it allows for the development of other desirable skills and attributes. This includes knowledge acquisition, enhanced group collaboration and communication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Student-centered learning</span> Methods of teaching

Student-centered learning, also known as learner-centered education, broadly encompasses methods of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the student. In original usage, student-centered learning aims to develop learner autonomy and independence by putting responsibility for the learning path in the hands of students by imparting to them skills, and the basis on how to learn a specific subject and schemata required to measure up to the specific performance requirement. Student-centered instruction focuses on skills and practices that enable lifelong learning and independent problem-solving. Student-centered learning theory and practice are based on the constructivist learning theory that emphasizes the learner's critical role in constructing meaning from new information and prior experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedagogy</span> Theory and practice of education

Pedagogy, from Ancient Greek παιδαγωγία (paidagōgía), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as an academic discipline, is the study of how knowledge and skills are imparted in an educational context, and it considers the interactions that take place during learning. Both the theory and practice of pedagogy vary greatly as they reflect different social, political, and cultural contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Experiential education</span> Philosophy of education

Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is not interchangeable with experiential learning; however experiential learning is a sub-field and operates under the methodologies of experiential education. The Association for Experiential Education regards experiential education as "a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities". Experiential education is the term for the philosophy and educational progressivism is the movement which it informed. The Journal of Experiential Education publishes peer-reviewed empirical and theoretical academic research within the field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curriculum</span> Educational plan

In education, a curriculum is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experiences in terms of the educator's or school's instructional goals. A curriculum may incorporate the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives. Curricula are split into several categories: the explicit, the implicit, the excluded, and the extracurricular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Experiential learning</span> Learn by reflect on active involvement

Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students reflecting on their product. Experiential learning is distinct from rote or didactic learning, in which the learner plays a comparatively passive role. It is related to, but not synonymous with, other forms of active learning such as action learning, adventure learning, free-choice learning, cooperative learning, service-learning, and situated learning.

Bottega University is a for-profit, accredited distance learning university headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project-based learning</span> Learner centric pedagogy

Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. Students learn about a subject by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, challenge, or problem. It is a style of active learning and inquiry-based learning. PBL contrasts with paper-based, rote memorization, or teacher-led instruction that presents established facts or portrays a smooth path to knowledge by instead posing questions, problems, or scenarios.

This is an index of education articles.

Editing technology is the use of technology tools in general content areas in education in order to allow students to apply computer and technology skills to learning and problem-solving. Generally speaking, the curriculum drives the use of technology and not vice versa. Technology integration is defined as the use of technology to enhance and support the educational environment. Technology integration in the classroom can also support classroom instruction by creating opportunities for students to complete assignments on the computer rather than with normal pencil and paper. In a larger sense, technology integration can also refer to the use of an integration platform and application programming interface (API) in the management of a school, to integrate disparate SaaS applications, databases, and programs used by an educational institution so that their data can be shared in real-time across all systems on campus, thus supporting students' education by improving data quality and access for faculty and staff.

"Curriculum integration with the use of technology involves the infusion of technology as a tool to enhance the learning in a content area or multidisciplinary setting... Effective technology integration is achieved when students can select technology tools to help them obtain information on time, analyze and synthesize it, and present it professionally to an authentic audience. Technology should become an integral part of how the classroom functions—as accessible as all other classroom tools. The focus in each lesson or unit is the curriculum outcome, not the technology."

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, including cognitive neuroscience, that guides the development of flexible learning environments and learning spaces that can accommodate individual learning differences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teacher education</span> Training teachers to develop teaching skills

Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school, and wider community. The professionals who engage in training the prospective teachers are called teacher educators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Nelson (businessman)</span>

Ben Nelson is the Founder and Chancellor of Minerva University as well as the Founder, Chairman, President and CEO of Minerva Project. Minerva Project is the for-profit educational organization that created the non-profit Minerva University with the mission of reforming global education through an interdisciplinary curriculum and fully active learning pedagogy, delivered on a proprietary learning environment called Forum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open education</span> Educational movement

Open education is an educational movement founded on openness, with connections to other educational movements such as critical pedagogy, and with an educational stance which favours widening participation and inclusiveness in society. Open education broadens access to the learning and training traditionally offered through formal education systems and is typically offered through online and distance education. The qualifier "open" refers to the elimination of barriers that can preclude both opportunities and recognition for participation in institution-based learning. One aspect of openness or "opening up" education is the development and adoption of open educational resources in support of open educational practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minerva University</span> Private university in California, United States

Minerva University is a private online university headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was established in 2012 by Ben Nelson using $25 million in venture funding from Benchmark Capital. All classes are conducted as online seminars capped at 19 students. Students travel to and live in a new country each semester, starting their education in San Francisco, USA, and then living in Seoul-South Korea, Taipei-Taiwan, Hyderabad-India, Bueno Aires-Argentina, London-UK, Berlin-Germany and then ending their program in San Francisco, USA.

In education, authentic learning is an instructional approach that allows students to explore, discuss, and meaningfully construct concepts and relationships in contexts that involve real-world problems and projects that are relevant to the learner. It refers to a "wide variety of educational and instructional techniques focused on connecting what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and applications. The basic idea is that students are more likely to be interested in what they are learning, more motivated to learn new concepts and skills, and better prepared to succeed in college, careers, and adulthood if what they are learning mirrors real-life contexts, equips them with practical and useful skills, and addresses topics that are relevant and applicable to their lives outside of school."

Global citizenship education (GCED) is a form of civic learning that involves students' active participation in projects that address global issues of a social, political, economic, or environmental nature. The two main elements of GCE are 'global consciousness'; the moral or ethical aspect of global issues, and 'global competencies', or skills meant to enable learners to participate in changing and developing the world. The promotion of GCE was a response by governments and NGOs to the emergence of supranational institution, regional economic blocs, and the development of information and communications technologies. These have all resulted in the emergence of a more globally oriented and collaborative approach to education. GCE addresses themes such as peace and human rights, intercultural understanding, citizenship education, respect for diversity and tolerance, and inclusiveness.

Virtual exchange is an instructional approach or practice for language learning. It broadly refers to the "notion of 'connecting' language learners in pedagogically structured interaction and collaboration" through computer-mediated communication for the purpose of improving their language skills, intercultural communicative competence, and digital literacies. Although it proliferated with the advance of the internet and web 2.0 technologies in the 1990s, its roots can be traced to learning networks pioneered by Célestin Freinet in 1920s and, according to Dooly, even earlier in Jardine's work with collaborative writing at the University of Glasgow at the end of the 17th to the early 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Educational management</span> Administration of education systems

Educational management refers to the administration of the education system in which a group combines human and material resources to supervise, plan, strategise, and implement structures to execute an education system. Education is the equipping of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, habits, and attitudes with learning experiences. The education system is an ecosystem of professionals in educational institutions, such as government ministries, unions, statutory boards, agencies, and schools. The education system consists of political heads, principals, teaching staff, non-teaching staff, administrative personnel and other educational professionals working together to enrich and enhance. At all levels of the educational ecosystem, management is required; management involves the planning, organising, implementation, review, evaluation, and integration of an institution.

References

  1. Wood, Graeme (13 August 2014). "The Future of College?". No. September 2014. The Atlantic. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  2. Farr, Christina (6 January 2014). "This entrepreneur is trying to create a 'perfect university' to displace Harvard & Yale". VentureBeat. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  3. NPR Staff (9 April 2014). "Debate: In An Online World, Are Brick And Mortar Colleges Obsolete?". NPR. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  4. Weissman, Jordan (5 April 2012). "Can This 'Online Ivy' University Change the Face of Higher Education?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  5. Primack, Dan (3 April 2012). "Reinventing the Ivy League". Fortune.
  6. Kamenetz, Anya (4 April 2012). "Minerva Project Scores $25 Million In Seed Money To Build A New Elite University Online". Fast Company. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  7. "Minerva Project and KGI Partner to Launch the Minerva Schools at KGI". Reuters. 24 July 2013. Archived from the original on 18 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  8. Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Nelson, Ben, eds. (2017). Building the intentional university: Minerva and the future of higher education. Foreword by Senator Bob Kerrey. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN   978-0-262-03715-0. LCCN   2017020888.
  9. "Transforming Education for the 21st Century Beyond Technology". Enfoque Educación. 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2021-10-21.
  10. Fecko, Kristin (2014). "The Rele The Relevance of Benjamin F ance of Benjamin Franklin's and Thomas Jeff s and Thomas Jefferson's Technical Writing for Modern Communicators". Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Ucf.
  11. "Forum Learning Environment | Minerva Project".
  12. Bruni, Frank (Aug 1, 2020). "How to Go to College During a Pandemic". The New York Times.
  13. Clarke, Bryony (July 30, 2020). "The future of education or just hype? The rise of Minerva, the world's most selective university".
  14. Brodsky, Julia (Jan 21, 2021). "How Blended Learning Can Work Best".
  15. "Our Approach | Minerva Project".
  16. "Forum: A New Way to Learn". YouTube .
  17. Child, Felipe. "Setting a New Bar for Online Higher Education". McKinsey & Company.