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There are approximately 100 grad students working at 7+ Portuguese institutions on MIT-Portugal Program degrees. About 60 MIT grad students are also funded by the program, working on its research and educational projects with MIT faculty. Taken together, this group represents probably the biggest investment ever by Portugal in developing highly qualified people in science and engineering who are intended to lead change in academia, industry, and society--in Portugal and around the world. I and other faculty and staff working for the Program would like to see the mega-group of grad students, that is from all seven degree programs and four different focus areas, achieve more of a sense of identity as a group, and to share ideas and experiences. We hope to support such an effort through collaboration resources and programs.
Some tools and why we might use them
I have been thinking about our work on collaboration in something of a matrix structure. There are some tools that can facilitate group collaboration, community, and networking. And, there are some specific content or program areas which seem particularly relevant to your group. I hope to have your help in identifying both the tools and the content, how they should go together, and how these can make your work in MITP and your careers more effective.
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See below for some links to MIT sites on SL and other resources. To visit SL go to http://secondlife.com/whatis/;
Ideas for content and programs
Leadership
An important goal of MITP is to have its educational programs produce people capable of leading change in their fields. In one focus area, Bio Engineering, students have had in-person leadership training with MIT Prof. Dava Newman. Prof. Newman is interested in expanding this program to other students when possible, and certainly intensive in-person experiences like this are of great impact. But several groups within MIT wish to experiment with leadership initiatives delivered through virtual means, particularly such virtual worlds as Second Life, or as a hybrid of in-person and virtual delivery. I am exploring such opportunities and hope to develop a sense through initial meetings with MITP students what leadership qualities they think are most necessary/helpful in your work and professional/personal development; what leadership roles you have had so far; and how you could see leadership programs integrated into your work in the Program.
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