Anyone who taught in a computer classroom in the 90s remembers how those classrooms always seemed to be made for doing something other than teaching. They were designed by technicians ostensibly for teachers. Unfortunately, most of the time, those technicians had never themselves taught, so their designs often didn't fit our needs. As often happens in academia, the designs fit the dimensions of some room in the basement where the computer lab was--right next to the Writing Center, and just as difficult to find.
For those of us who taught writing, the layout was even more foreign, since those rooms always seemed to be set up like a lecture, something we'd long since moved away from. We couldn't rearrange those computer desks in a circle for class discussion or in multiple circles for group work. I remember asking all the students to pull their chairs up to the front of the room and squeeze together. Thank goodness the chairs all had wheels.
So, it's no surprise to me that the MIT study came to the conclusion that we should, "focus on people and process, not technology" (IHE). In other words, teaching should guide technology, not technology guide teaching. Surprise.
MIT Online Education Policy Initiative: https://oepi.mit.edu/final-report
Summary in Inside Higher Education (if you don't have time to read the whole report): https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/20/mit-online-learning-report-notes-importance-teachers-instructional-designers?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=f4741c5510-DNU20160420&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-f4741c5510-197508093
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