About the MIT Outreach Database

Introduction

MIT's outreach efforts are an active, open engagement between MIT and the community at large. This engagement is an acknowledgement of the fundamental relationships that exist between MIT and the public at the local, national, and global levels, and is motivated by a spirit of reciprocity.

The MIT Outreach Database allows members of the MIT community and the general public to access listings of outreach programs at MIT.

Accessing the Outreach Database

There are two ways to access the database from the navigation bar: the Browse button and the Search button. The Browse button allows you to select one type of outreach program with a single click. The Search button allows you to perform an advanced search by typing in keywords or selecting multiple criteria by clicking check boxes.

Click the Browse button if you want to do a general search. After you click this button, you are taken to a page of links that list general types of programs. Clicking on a link takes you to a page listing the programs of the type you selected, along with a short description of each program and the contact information for the program's coordinator. You can click on the name of the program for additional information. You can also click the link that takes you directly to the program's Web site.
Click the Search button if you want to narrow your search. After you click this button, you are taken to a page where you have the option to type keywords in the Text Search box. You also have the option to select specific criteria by clicking all check boxes that apply to your search. For example, if you were interested in finding an educational science program held on weekends on the MIT campus for children who live in Cambridge and are in the 7th grade, you would check the following boxes:
- Categories: Education (K-12); Sciences
- Program Location: MIT Campus
- Timeframe: Weekends
- Area Served: Cambridge
- People Served: K-8th Grade
Your search would return a list of all relevant programs based on your selected criteria. If your search returns nothing, then you should repeat your search with fewer selected criteria. For example, you could select only "Education (K-12)."

After you click the button Search Database! on the bottom of the page, you will see a page listing the results of your search. Click on the name of the program for additional information.

The section in the navigation bar titled MIT Community is for members of the MIT community only. Members interested in finding out about volunteer opportunities should click the Volunteer! button. The Add/Edit Programs button is for outreach program administrators to add new programs to the database or to edit existing programs.

What is Outreach?

While there are different interpretations of what constitutes outreach, in the interest of practicality, the MIT Outreach Database Administrative Team has determined what we consider it to be for the purposes of the database. As a result, the following is a list of valuable work that falls outside the scope of outreach as we have defined it.

Firstly, outreach must in some way reach outwards toward the external community. As such, activities that help only within MIT, such as campus tours, are not considered outreach.
Secondly, outreach must be active and open. Outreach of this sort can be applied for and actually participated in by community members. For this reason, we have excluded academic work at MIT, such as theoretical research, engaged scholarship, and service learning.
Lastly, outreach must be ongoing or cyclical in some way. This excludes, for example, a one-time lecture but can include lecture series as long as it satisfies the above criteria.

Mission

For the public: to grant the public access to, and an understanding of, MIT's outreach opportunities and offerings

For the MIT community: to enable MIT faculty, staff, and students to see the opportunities available for collaboration and association for the connection and allocation of resources

Goals

Access: to enable those who want to take part in MIT outreach programs to see the opportunities that are available to them

Centralization: to provide a centralized resource of outreach programs that will increase the profile of MIT's outreach initiatives on campus and beyond

Communication: to communicate the resources and opportunities available at MIT and to improve the connections between MIT and the outside community