Chalk Radio

Social Impact at Scale, One Project at a Time with Dr. Anjali Sastry


Listen Later

This episode explores a new kind of independent study. MIT has traditionally encouraged its Sloan MBA fellows to engage in international projects with partners around the globe. Our guest, Dr. Anjali Sastry, has led over 100 groups of MBA fellows in these projects. But she recently changed the structure of the class so that instead of signing on to projects developed by instructors, students are now able to develop their own projects based on their own interests. All the new projects in this course called 15.960 New Executive Thinking Social-Impact Projects involve applying technology in new ways to find solutions to common problems worldwide. In one project, for example, a student employed data analytics to improve financing prospects for small-scale farmers in Brazil and elsewhere. Sastry finds that mentoring a variety of students with disparate interests presents a real challenge, because it often involves working in areas beyond her own area of expertise. And keeping track of the various projects required her to develop a very structured process for students to use in reporting their progress. It’s worth the extra effort, though it isn’t easy, says Sastry. “Teaching this way is incredibly rewarding, and also really scary.”

Relevant Resources:

MIT OpenCourseWare

The OCW Educator Portal 

Dr. Sastry’s Social-Impact course on OCW

Other courses by Dr. Sastry on OCW

Dr. Sastry's MITx course on Business and Impact Planning for Social Enterprises

Dr. Sastry’s faculty page

Sloan Fellows MBA Program

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions

Connect with Us

If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We’d love to hear from you! 

On our site

On Facebook

On Twitter

On Instagram

Stay Current

Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.

Connect with Us

If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We’d love to hear from you! 

Call us @ 617-715-2517

On our site

On Facebook

On X

On Instagram

On LinkedIn

Stay Current

Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter. 

Support OCW

If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going! 

Credits

Sarah Hansen, host and producer 

Brett Paci, producer  

Dave Lishansky, producer 

Jackson Maher, producer

Show notes by Peter Chipman

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Chalk RadioBy MIT OpenCourseWare

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

41 ratings


More shows like Chalk Radio

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,909 Listeners

Economist Podcasts by The Economist

Economist Podcasts

4,283 Listeners

The Best of Car Talk by NPR

The Best of Car Talk

16,536 Listeners

The Gray Area with Sean Illing by Vox

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

10,706 Listeners

Learning English from the News by BBC Radio

Learning English from the News

251 Listeners

Inside Trader Joe's by Trader Joe's

Inside Trader Joe's

4,305 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

6,866 Listeners

Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques by Matt Abrahams, Think Fast Talk Smart

Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

799 Listeners

For Heaven's Sake by Shalom Hartman Institute

For Heaven's Sake

441 Listeners

Huberman Lab by Scicomm Media

Huberman Lab

28,507 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,335 Listeners

Plain English with Derek Thompson by The Ringer

Plain English with Derek Thompson

2,208 Listeners

The Economics of Everyday Things by Freakonomics Network & Zachary Crockett

The Economics of Everyday Things

1,619 Listeners