Ethics and Sustainability Student Showcase

In mid-September, the Office of Experiential Learning (OEL) hosted our 2023 Ethics and Sustainability Student Showcase, featuring dozens of student projects from the Experiential Ethics and Experiential Sustainability classes. The students’ enthusiasm for their topics was obvious in the posters, websites, infographics, presentations, and other types of projects they shared. Each student chose their topic based on their summer work or personal interests and then applied the lenses and frameworks they learned in the class. Topics ranged from exploring the carbon footprint of generative AI to debating ethical arguments for veganism.

Student feedback on the classes was incredibly positive, with one student calling Experiential Ethics “The best! One of the best-taught classes I’ve experienced at MIT.” Experiential Ethics also met its goal of inspiring students to engage more deeply with ethics beyond the class: 94.1% of students said they envision learning more and engaging with ethics further after the course has concluded.

These classes are made possible through the hard work of graduate student and postdoc instructional teams, with advice and support from faculty and staff across MIT. This structure enables highly personalized, interdisciplinary learning experiences while also offering a unique opportunity for graduate students to shape the class curricula and take ownership of the learning environment.

Recruitment for students and graduate Teaching Fellows for Experiential Ethics 2024 will begin in spring 2024, with the class running from June to September. Experiential Sustainability will not be offered in 2024 but may be offered again in future years. Learn more at https://elo.mit.edu/academic-courses/.

— Kate Weishaar, OEL