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OpenCourseWare Stories

Stories from the OpenCourseWare community reflect the profound impact of sharing knowledge and the transformative power of open education.

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Freesia Gaul
Freesia Gaul
Independent Learner
Australia
Nineteen-year-old Freesia Gaul built a VR prototype thanks to MIT OpenCourseWare classes that provided “a solid foundation of knowledge and problem-solving abilities.” Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning When Freesia Gaul discovered MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare at just 14 years old, it opened up a world of learning far beyond what her classrooms could offer. Her parents had started a skiing company, and the seasonal work meant that Gaul had to change schools every six months. Growing up in small towns in Australia and Canada, she relied on the internet to fuel her curiosity. “I went to 13 different schools, which was hard because you’re in a different educational system every single time,” says Gaul. “That’s one of the reasons I gravitated toward online learning and teaching myself. Knowledge is something that exists beyond a curriculum.” The small towns she lived in often didn’t have a lot of resources, she says, so a computer served as a main tool for learning. She enjoyed engaging with Wikipedia, ultimately researching topics and writing and editing content for pages. In 2018, she discovered MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, and took her first course. OpenCouseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. “I really got started with the OpenCourseWare introductory electrical engineering classes, because I couldn’t find anything else quite like it online,” says Gaul, who was initially drawn to courses on circuits and electronics, such as 6.002 (Circuits and Electronics) and 6.01SC (Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science). “It really helped me in terms of understanding how electrical engineering worked in a practical sense, and I just started modding things.” In true MIT “mens et manus” (“mind and hand”) fashion, Gaul spent much of her childhood building and inventing, especially when she was able to access a 3D printer. She says that a highlight was when she built a life-sized, working version of a Mario Kart, constructed out of materials she had printed. Gaul calls herself a “serial learner,” and has taken many OpenCourseWare courses. In addition to classes on circuits and electronics, she also took courses in linear algebra, calculus, and quantum physics — in which she took a particular interest. When she was 15, she participated in Qubit by Qubit. Hosted by The Coding School, in collaboration with universities (including MIT) and tech companies, this two-semester course introduces high schoolers to quantum computing and quantum physics. During that time she started a blog called On Zero, representing the “zero state” of a qubit. “The ‘zero state’ in a quantum computer is the representation of creativity from nothing, infinite possibilities,” says Gaul. For the blog, she found different topics and researched them in depth. She would think of a topic or question, such as “What is color?” and then explore it in great detail. What she learned eventually led her to start asking questions such as “What is a hamiltonian?” and teaching quantum physics alongside PhDs. Building on these interests, Gaul chose to study quantum engineering at the University of New South Wales. She notes that on her first day of university, she participated in iQuHack, the MIT Quantum Hackathon. Her team worked to find a new way to approximate the value of a hyperbolic function using quantum logic, and received an honorable mention for “exceptional creativity.” Gaul’s passion for making things continued during her college days, especially in terms of innovating to solve a problem. When she found herself on a train, wanting to code a personal website on a computer with a dying battery, she wondered if there might be a way to make a glove that can act as a type of Bluetooth keyboard — essentially creating a way to type in the air. In her spare time, she started working on such a device, ultimately finding a less expensive way to build a lightweight, haptic, gesture-tracking glove with applications for virtual reality (VR) and robotics. Gaul says she has always had an interest in VR, using it to create her own worlds, reconstruct an old childhood house, and play Dungeons and Dragons with friends. She discovered a way to put into a glove some small linear resonant actuators, which can be found in a smartphone or gaming controller, and map to any object in VR so that the user can feel it. An early prototype that Gaul put together in her dorm room received a lot of attention on YouTube. She went on to win the People’s Choice award for it at the SxSW Sydney 2025 Tech and Innovation Festival. This design also sparked her co-founding of the tech startup On Zero, named after her childhood blog dedicated to the love of creation from nothing. Gaul sees the device, in general, as a way of “paying it forward,” making improved human-computer interaction available to many — from young students to professional technologists. She hopes to enable creative freedom in as many as she can. “The mind is just such a fun thing. I want to empower others to have the freedom to follow their curiosity, even if it’s pointless on paper. “I’ve benefited from people going far beyond what they needed to do to help me,” says Gaul. “I see OpenCourseWare as a part of that. The free courses gave me a solid foundation of knowledge and problem-solving abilities. Without these, it wouldn’t be possible to do what I’m doing now.” This story was originally published on MIT News.
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Hinata Yamahara
Hinata Yamahara
High School Student
United States
High schooler Hinata Yamahara’s interest in urban planning was nurtured by free MIT resources, including OpenCourseWare. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Hinata Yamahara was 10 years old, on a family trip to Osaka, Japan, when he started riding the train alone. Those train rides sparked an interest in something he didn’t have words for at the time — how cities are built, and how people navigate them. Now at 17 and applying to colleges, Yamahara has made the connection that investigating cities and how they work is a foundation for urban planning. MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, helped him develop knowledge and deepen his passion for walkable, community-oriented urban spaces. At the time of his first, fateful Osaka train ride, Yamahara lived in Atlanta, after having spent most of his elementary school years in rural Tennessee. Before that, he and his family had lived in Los Angeles. In all those places, he says, it was difficult for kids to get around. In fact, getting around without a car could be a challenge for anyone. Whenever he visited family in Japan, he was in awe of the efficiency of the train system and the ease of learning how to navigate it, in addition to the mixed-use buildings that combined commercial and residential spaces. As a 10-year-old, he simply thought they “were really cool” and quite different from what he saw at home. Now, he reflects on the efficient use of space in a country that is much smaller than the expansive United States. Back at home, Yamahara continued to reimagine the spaces around him, often printing out satellite imagery and drawing new possibilities over what existed. “Maybe instead of a giant parking lot, I’d draw a subway station and connect it to another part of the map,” he says. “But it was all imaginary. I didn’t know what was possible in terms of regulations or looking at past examples. So, I started to do research and kept coming across OpenCourseWare.” He remembers a moment of confusion, followed by one of excitement: “What is OpenCourseWare?” and, “Wait, everything is free!?” OpenCourseWare, an open publication of course materials from across the MIT curriculum, allows users to browse content at their own pace. Learners can watch video lectures, read course notes, and hear from faculty experts, with no enrollment fees or start dates. Yamahara dove into the content, starting with 11.001J (Introduction to Urban Design and Development). He has since accessed a variety of courses and counts 11.948 (Power of Place: Media Technology, Youth, and City Design and Development) and 11.304J (Site and Infrastructure Systems Planning) among the most memorable. Exploring OpenCourseWare resources gave him a strong foundation to take his interest in urban planning and redesign into the real world. In summer 2025, Yamahara completed an internship with an Atlanta-area real estate firm working on a redesign project with a city agency. “Right now, this city has a downtown area with a lot of parking lots and empty retail spaces. I’m getting to learn firsthand how to develop it into something else,” he explains. “I’m part of meetings where we brainstorm how to create a community feeling, how to make a space creative and walkable, and how to make it somewhere people really want to be.” According to Yamahara, the experience draws on his appreciation for Japanese efficiency, as well as American inclusivity and his deep knowledge of zoning regulations, community-centered design, and transit equity — all gained through OpenCourseWare materials and resources. As Yamahara looks toward college and his future, he says he sees two paths influenced by MIT’s free educational resources. On one path, he studies urban planning, as OpenCourseWare materials have only reaffirmed his passion for the field and given him knowledge and confidence. On another path, he imagines using his time as an undergraduate to explore other interests, including aviation and real estate. On that path, OpenCourseWare would allow him to continue his urban planning education independently. He’s grateful that he could take advantage of OpenCourseWare resources without submitting an application and considering tuition and financial aid. All he needed was an interest and a determination to learn, and he had both. “OpenCourseWare has helped me grow from a kid with questions into a student designing solutions,” Yamahara says. “I still ride the train in the U.S. and Japan, but now, I bring a vision with me, too.” To explore additional lifelong learning offerings from MIT, visit MIT Learn. This story was originally published on MIT News.
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Salim Al-Hassanieh
Salim Al-Hassanieh
Educator
Syria
Retired professor Salim Al-Hassanieh has turned to MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare resources for decades, enriching his research and teaching. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Salim Al-Hassanieh has moved a lot over the course of his education and career. Born in Syria, he received his PhD from Université de Rennes in France and taught management sciences, organizational development, and information systems at University of Damascus and institutions in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. These days, he’s retired and divides his time between Syria and Germany. But Al-Hassanieh knows that with MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, you don’t need to move at all to experience American higher education. “I frequently recommended OpenCourseWare to my students and colleagues, particularly those with international aspirations,” he says. “I often told them, ‘If you want to study in America without leaving your home, go to MIT OpenCourseWare.’” Al-Hassanieh first remembers becoming aware of MIT and the Sloan School of Management in 1997, when he was researching a book project. Years later, when he was working on another book, “Managing by Creativity,” he revisited MIT and discovered OpenCourseWare. “When I found OpenCourseWare, I was immediately drawn to the quality, openness, and academic rigor of the platform,” he recalls. “I continue to consult OpenCourseWare regularly and receive its newsletter to this day, at the age of 80 years old.” He views open education resources as a beacon, saying that they can be a “vital gateway” for learners who may not otherwise have access to educational materials or the ability to travel. Courses on project management, leadership, organizational behavior, creativity, entrepreneurship, and generative AI have aided Al-Hassanieh in his research and teaching over the years. He stresses that it is not just the course content that is so impactful, but also the practical, forward-looking style of instruction. Some lectures, particularly those which emphasize systems thinking, inspired Al-Hassanieh’s own curriculum design and left a lasting impression. The clear structure and self-paced nature of OpenCourseWare courses helped Al-Hassanieh improve his academic English, which in turn created new publishing opportunities for him and his students. In 2012, he wrote a cultural book in English, “Illuminations on Arab-Islamic Public Administration Contributions,” and, in 2024, wrote an English-Arabic encyclopedic dictionary called “Your Comprehensive Guide to Success in Knowledge Management,” published by the Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO). “My research and my students’ learning journeys benefited from my English language learning,” he says. “I often encouraged my students to use OpenCourseWare not only to deepen their subject knowledge, but also to strengthen their English in an academic context.” Al-Hassanieh continues to learn from OpenCourseWare — even in retirement. He is actively conducting research, examining ideas relevant to political transitions, especially in the context of Syria. He explores lectures on generative AI and just this year wrote the Arabic-language book “Unlocking the Potential of GAI,” also published by ARADO. In his retirement, Al-Hassanieh prioritizes hope and peace alongside learning. He spends six months of the year in Berlin to be close to his adult children, who are surgeons there. He follows the news of changing politics in Syria and the world and says, “I hope that resources like OpenCourseWare can continue to showcase a narrative of knowledge sharing and educational empowerment.”
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Mostafa Fawzy
Mostafa Fawzy
Educator
Egypt
For physicist Mostafa Fawzy, MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare was a steadfast companion through countless study sessions. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Mostafa Fawzy became interested in physics in high school. It was the “elegance and paradox” of quantum theory that got his attention and led to his studies at the undergraduate and graduate level. But even with a solid foundation of coursework and supportive mentors, Fawzy wanted more. MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare was just the thing he was looking for. Now a doctoral candidate in atomic physics at Alexandria University and an assistant lecturer of physics at Alamein International University in Egypt, Fawzy reflects on how MIT OpenCourseWare bolstered his learning early in his graduate studies in 2019. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Fawzy was looking for advanced resources to supplement his research in quantum mechanics and theoretical physics, and he was immediately struck by the quality, accessibility, and breadth of MIT’s resources. “OpenCourseWare was transformative in deepening my understanding of advanced physics,” Fawzy says. “I found the structured lectures and assignments in quantum physics particularly valuable. They enhanced both my theoretical insight and practical problem-solving skills — skills I later applied in research on atomic systems influenced by magnetic fields and plasma environments.” He completed educational resources including Quantum Physics I and Quantum Physics II, calling them “dense and mathematically sophisticated.” He met the challenge by engaging with the content in different ways: first, by simply listening to lectures, then by taking detailed notes, and finally by working though problem sets. Although initially he struggled to keep up, this methodical approach paid off, he says. Fawzy is now in the final stages of his doctoral research on high-precision atomic calculations under extreme conditions. While in graduate school, he has published eight peer-reviewed international research papers, making him one of the most prolific doctoral researchers in physics working in Egypt currently. He served as an ambassador for the United Nations International Youth Conference (IYC), and he was nominated for both the African Presidential Leadership Program and the Davisson–Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics, a prestigious annual prize offered by the American Physical Society. He is grateful to his undergraduate mentors, professors M. Sakr and T. Bahy of Alexandria University, as well as to MIT OpenCourseWare, calling it a “steadfast companion through countless solitary nights of study, a beacon in times when formal resources were scarce, and a living testament to the nobility of open, unbounded learning.” Recognizing the power of mentorship and teaching, Fawzy serves as an academic mentor with the African Academy of Sciences, supporting early-career researchers across the continent in theoretical and atomic physics. “Many of these mentees lack access to advanced academic resources,” he explains. “I regularly incorporate OpenCourseWare into our mentorship sessions, using it as a foundational teaching and reference tool. It’s an equalizer, providing the same high-caliber content to students regardless of geographical or institutional limitations.” As he looks toward the future, Fawzy has big plans, influenced by MIT. “I aspire to establish a regional center for excellence in atomic and plasma physics, blending cutting-edge research with open-access education in the Global South,” he says. As he continues his research and teaching, he also hopes to influence science policy and contribute to international partnerships that shine the spotlight on research and science in emerging nations. Along the way, he says, “OpenCourseWare remains a cornerstone resource that I will return to again and again.” Fawzy says he’s also interested in MIT Open Learning resources in computational physics and energy and sustainability. He’s following MIT’s Energy Initiative, calling it increasingly relevant to his current work and future plans. Fawzy is a proponent of open learning and a testament to its power. “The intellectual seeds sown by Open Learning resources such as MIT OpenCourseWare have flourished within me, shaping my identity as a physicist and affirming my deep belief in the transformative power of knowledge shared freely, without barriers,” he says.
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Martina Solano Soto
Martina Solano Soto
High School Student
Spain
The 17-year-old student from Spain uses MIT resources to deepen her understanding of math and physics. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Martina Solano Soto is on a mission to pursue her passion for physics and, ultimately, to solve big problems. Since she was a kid, she has had a lot of questions: Why do animals exist? What are we doing here? Why don’t we know more about the Big Bang? And she has been determined to find answers. “That’s why I found MIT OpenCourseWare,” says Solano, of Girona, Spain. “When I was 14, I started to browse and wanted to find information that was reliable, dynamic, and updated. I found MIT resources by chance, and it’s one of the biggest things that has happened to me.” In addition to OpenCourseWare, which offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum, Solano also took advantage of the MIT Open Learning Library. Part of MIT Open Learning, the library offers free courses and invites people to learn at their own pace while receiving immediate feedback through interactive content and exercises. Solano, who is now 17, has studied quantum physics via OpenCourseWare — also part of MIT Open Learning — and she has taken Open Learning Library courses on electricity and magnetism, calculus, quantum computation, and kinematics. She even created her own syllabus, complete with homework, to ensure she stayed on track and kept her goals in mind. Those goals include studying math and physics as an undergraduate. She also hopes to study general relativity and quantum mechanics at the doctoral level. “I really want to unify them to find a theory of quantum gravity,” she says. “I want to spend all my life studying and learning.” Solano was particularly motivated by Barton Zwiebach, professor of physics, whose courses Quantum Physics I and Quantum Physics II are available on MIT OpenCourseWare. She took advantage of all of the resources that were provided: video lectures, assignments, lecture notes, and exams. “I was fascinated by the way he explained. I just understood everything, and it was amazing,” she says. “Then, I learned about his book, ‘A First Course in String Theory,’ and it was because of him that I learned about black holes and gravity. I’m extremely grateful.” While Solano gives much credit to the variety and quality of Open Learning resources, she also stresses the importance of being organized. As a high school student, she has things other than string theory on her mind: her school, extracurriculars, friends, and family. For anyone in a similar position, she recommends “figuring out what you’re most interested in and how you can take advantage of the flexibility of Open Learning resources. Is there a half-hour before bed to watch a video, or some time on the weekend to read lecture notes? If you figure out how to make it work for you, it is definitely worth the effort.” “If you do that, you are going to grow academically and personally,” Solano says. “When you go to school, you will feel more confident.” And Solano is not slowing down. She plans to continue using Open Learning resources, this time turning her attention to graduate-level courses, all in service of her curiosity and drive for knowledge. “When I was younger, I read the book ‘The God Equation,’ by Michio Kaku, which explains quantum gravity theory. Something inside me awoke,” she recalls. “I really want to know what happens at the center of a black hole, and how we unify quantum mechanics, black holes, and general relativity. I decided that I want to invest my life in this.” She is well on her way. Last summer, Solano applied for and received a scholarship to study particle physics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. This summer, she’s applying for opportunities to study the cosmos. All of this, she says, is only possible thanks to what she has learned with MIT Open Learning resources. “The applications ask you to explain what you like about physics, and thanks to MIT, I’m able to express that,” Solano says. “I’m able to go for these scholarships and really fight for what I dream.” Read the Original Article published on MIT News
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Sangat Tiwari
Sangat Tiwari
High School Student
Canada
High school student Sangat Tiwari found MIT OpenCourseWare at Open Learning in 8th grade and hasn’t looked back. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare resources have been part of Sangat Tiwari’s life since he was in 8th grade. Sometimes, he came across the resources by chance, like when he was looking for ways to improve his public speaking skills and found Patrick Winston’s How to Speak on the OpenCourseWare YouTube channel. Other times, his teachers recommended courses to deepen his knowledge, or he sought out specific courses to supplement what he was learning in class. Now in 11th grade, he uses the resources to complement his biology and chemistry courses and has become an OpenCourseWare advocate to his friends, family, and teachers. “Professor Winston’s lecture on public speaking is super popular, and I stumbled upon it when I wanted to get ahead of a school presentation. Since then, MIT has been in my life,” Tiwari says. “My 9th grade teachers recommended OpenCourseWare even though they said it might be a bit advanced, which I thought was pretty cool. And in 10th grade, I used the resources in my biology course.” Through his school, Tiwari takes classes that are part of the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program. Students who earn an IB diploma are qualified to enter higher education anywhere in the world — something appealing to Tiwari, who moved to Canada as a Bhutanese refugee from Nepal with his family when he was three years old. IB requires students to write extended essays, or year-long reports. He is working on essays for his chemistry and biology courses. MIT OpenCourseWare’s resources on solid state chemistry are proving useful as Tiwari prepares his essay on the structures and properties of molecules. “I’m also taking biology at the moment, so I have been looking at Professor Kanwisher’s course on the human brain,” says Tiwari. “I know all that is going to come up in my course. She has these amazing anecdotes related to what she’s explaining, and it really supplements my learning.” Although he says that math is not his strong suit, Tiwari has also been drawn into Gilbert Strang’s materials on MIT OpenCourseWare, particularly the class on different approaches to linear algebra. His own algebra class was just starting to study linear equations and matrices, so some of Strang’s material was difficult for Tiwari to understand. But it intrigued him enough to share the content with his teacher. “I told my teacher about the videos and that I learned that we could use matrices to find the intersection of linear equations way quicker than using substitution or elimination,” Tiwari explains. “He told me we would get to that eventually, so I kept watching. I’m not the best at math, but Professor Strang’s passion got to me.” As for Tiwari’s passion, it lies in biology and chemistry, specifically neurology and how diseases affect the human brain. He is particularly interested in Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which he notes is becoming more prevalent in the United States, and how it impacts brain function. But another passion is spreading the word about MIT OpenCourseWare. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses spanning MIT’s undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Tiwari shares OpenCourseWare materials with members of his school’s peer tutoring club. He says the materials supplement the tutoring pedagogy promoted by his school guidance office and are helpful in demonstrating effective teaching and sharing ideas tutors can incorporate into their own sessions. “Tutors are expected to have a high degree of course understanding since they are tutoring others, so OpenCourseWare is a ‘two birds, one stone’ situation, where tutors themselves further their own understanding,” Tiwari says. “Overall, OpenCourseWare has been a profound resource to develop tutors’ skills and act as a great guide.” Tiwari plans to keep using MIT OpenCourseWare as he finishes high school and beyond. “OpenCourseWare has taught me that I can learn anything if I want to — and anyone can,” he says. “If you’re starting out or even if you’re at the top of your class or field, there is so much great content from world-class professors! I think it’s invaluable.”
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Sujood Eldouma
Sujood Eldouma
Student
Sudan
Turning adversity into opportunity How a love for math and access to MIT Open Learning’s online learning resources helped a Sudanese learner pursue a career in data science. Carolyn Tiernan | MIT Open Learning Sujood Eldouma always knew she loved math; she just didn’t know how to use it for good in the world. But after a personal and educational journey that took her from Sudan to Cairo to London, all while leveraging MIT Open Learning’s online educational resources, she finally knows the answer: data science. An early love of data Eldouma grew up in Omdurman, Sudan, with her parents and siblings. She always had an affinity for STEM subjects, and at the University of Khartoum she majored in electrical and electronic engineering with a focus in control and instrumentation engineering. In her second year at university, Eldouma struggled with her first coding courses in C++ and C#, which are general-purpose programming languages. When a teaching assistant introduced Eldouma and her classmates to MIT OpenCourseWare for additional support, she promptly worked through OpenCourseWare’s C++ and C courses in tandem with her in-person classes. This began Eldouma’s ongoing connection with the open educational resources available through MIT Open Learning. OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, offers a free collection of materials from thousands of MIT courses, spanning the entire curriculum. To date, Eldouma has explored over 20 OpenCourseWare courses, and she says it is a resource she returns to regularly. Sujood from Sudan: An Open Learner’s Story Video: MIT OpenCourseWare. Listen to the interview here. “We started watching the videos and reading the materials, and it made our lives easier,” says Eldouma. “I took many OpenCourseWare courses in parallel with my classes throughout my undergrad, because we still did the same material. OpenCourseWare courses are structured differently and have different resources and textbooks, but at the end of the day it’s the same content.” For her graduation thesis, Eldouma did a project on disaster response and management in complex contexts, because at the time, Sudan was suffering from heavy floods and the country had limited resources to respond. “That’s when I realized I really love data, and I wanted to explore that more,” she says. While Eldouma loves math, she always wanted to find ways to use it for good. Through the early exposure to data science and statistical methods at her university, she saw how data science leverages math for real-world impact. After graduation, she took a job at the DAL Group, the largest Sudanese conglomerate, where she helped to incorporate data science and new technologies to automate processes within the company. When civil war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, life as Eldouma knew it was turned upside down, and her family was forced to make the difficult choice to relocate to Egypt. Purpose in adversity Soon after relocating to Egypt, Eldouma lost her job and found herself struggling to find purpose in the life circumstances she had been handed. Due to visa restrictions, challenges getting right-to-work permits, and a complicated employment market in Egypt, she was also unable to find a new job. “I was sort of in a depressive episode, because of all that was happening,” she reflects. “It just hit me that I lost everything that I know, everything that I love. I’m in a new country. I need to start from scratch.” Around this time, a friend who knew Eldouma was curious about data science sent her the link to apply to the MIT Emerging Talent Certificate in Data and Computer Science. With less than 24 hours before the application deadline, Eldouma hit “Submit.” Finding community and joy through learning Part of MIT Open Learning, MIT Emerging Talent at the MIT Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) develops global education programs that target the needs of talented individuals from challenging economic and social circumstances by equipping them with the knowledge and tools to advance their education and careers. The Certificate in Computer and Data Science is a year-long online learning program that follows an agile continuous education model. It incorporates computer science and data analysis coursework from MITx, professional skill building, experiential learning, apprenticeship options, and opportunities for networking with MIT’s global community. The program is targeted toward refugees, migrants, and first-generation low-income students from historically marginalized backgrounds and underserved communities worldwide. Although Eldouma had used data science in her role at the DAL Group, she was happy to have a proper introduction to the field and to find joy in learning again. She also found community, support, and inspiration from her classmates who were connected to each other not just by their academic pursuits, but by their shared life challenges. The cohort of 100 students stayed in close contact through the program, both for casual conversation and for group work. “In the final step of the Emerging Talent program, learners apply their computer and data knowledge in an experiential learning opportunity,” says Megan Mitchell, associate director for Pathways for Talent and acting director of J-WEL. “The experiential learning opportunity takes the form of an internship, apprenticeship, or an independent or collaborative project, and allows students to apply their knowledge in real-world settings and build practical skills.” Determined to apply her newly acquired knowledge in a meaningful way, Eldouma and fellow displaced Sudanese classmates designed a project to help solve a problem in their home country. The group identified access to education as a major problem facing Sudanese people, with schooling disrupted due to the conflict. Focusing on the higher education audience, the group partnered with community platform Nas Al Sudan to create a centralized database where students can search for scholarships and other opportunities to continue their education. Eldouma completed the MIT Emerging Talent program in June 2024 with a clear vision to pursue a career in data science, and the confidence to achieve that goal. In fact, she had already taken the steps to get there: halfway through the certificate program, she applied and was accepted to the MITx MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science at Open Learning and the London School of Economics (LSE) Masters of Science in Data Science. In January 2024, Eldouma started the MicroMasters program with 12 of her Emerging Talent peers. While the MIT Emerging Talent program is focused on undergraduate-level, introductory computer and data science material, the MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science is graduate-level learning. MicroMasters programs are a series of courses that provide deep learning in a specific career field, and learners that successfully earn the credential may receive academic credit to universities around the world. This makes the credential a pathway to over 50 master’s degree programs and other advanced degrees, including at MIT. Eldouma believes that her experience in the MicroMasters courses prepared her well for the expectations of the LSE program. After finishing the MicroMasters and LSE programs, Eldouma aspires to a career using data science to better understand what is happening on the African continent from an economic and social point of view. She hopes to contribute to solutions to conflicts across the region. And, someday, she hopes to move back to Sudan. “My family’s roots are there. I have memories there,” she says. “I miss walking in the street and the background noise is the same language that I am thinking in. I don’t think I will ever find that in any place like Sudan.”
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Sofiia Lipkevych
Sofiia Lipkevych
College Student
Ukraine
Ukrainian students and collaborators provide high-quality translations of MIT OpenCourseWare educational resources. Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning With war continuing to disrupt education for millions of Ukrainian high school and college students, many are turning to online resources, including MIT OpenCourseWare, a part of MIT Open Learning offering educational materials from more than 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. For Ukrainian high school senior Sofiia Lipkevych and other students, MIT OpenCourseWare has provided valuable opportunities to take courses in key subject areas. However, while multiple Ukrainian students study English, many do not yet have sufficient command of the language to be able to fully understand and use the often very technical and complex OpenCourseWare content and materials. “At my school, I saw firsthand how language barriers prevented many Ukrainian students from accessing world-class education,” says Lipkevych. She was able to address this challenge as a participant in the Ukrainian Leadership and Technology Academy (ULTA), established by Ukrainian MIT students Dima Yanovsky and Andrii Zahorodnii. During summer 2024 at ULTA, Lipkevych worked on a browser extension that translated YouTube videos in real-time. Since MIT OpenCourseWare was a main source of learning materials for students participating in ULTA, she was inspired to translate OpenCourseWare lectures directly and to have this translation widely available on the OpenCourseWare website and YouTube channel. She reached out to Professor Elizabeth Wood, founding director of the MIT Ukraine Program, who connected her with MIT OpenCourseWare Director Curt Newton. Although there had been some translations of MIT OpenCourseWare’s educational resources available beginning in 2004, these initial translations were conducted manually by several global partners, without the efficiencies of the latest artificial intelligence tools, and over time the programs couldn’t be sustained, and shut down. “We were thrilled to have this contact with ULTA,” says Newton. “We’ve been missing having a vibrant translation community, and we are excited to have a ‘phase 2’ of translations emerge.” The ULTA team selected courses to translate based on demand among Ukrainian students, focusing on foundational subjects that are prerequisites for advanced learning — particularly those for which high-quality, Ukrainian-language materials are scarce. Starting with caption translations on videos of lectures, the team has translated the following courses so far: 18.06 (Linear Algebra), 2.003SC (Engineering Dynamics), 5.60 (Thermodynamics & Kinetics), 6.006 (Introduction to Algorithms), and 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python). They also worked directly with Andy Eskenazi, a PhD student in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, to translate 16.002 (How to CAD Almost Anything - Siemens NX Edition). Introduction to the Human Brain Video: MIT OpenCourseWare The ULTA team developed multiple tools to help break language barriers. For MIT OpenCourseWare’s PDF content available through the ULTA program, they created a specialized tool that uses optical character recognition to recognize LaTeX in documents — such as problem sets and other materials — and then used a few large language models to translate them, all while maintaining technical accuracy. The team built a glossary of technical terms used in the courses and their corresponding Ukrainian translations, to help make sure that the wording was correct and consistent. Each translation also undergoes human review to further ensure accuracy and high quality. For video content, the team initially created a browser extension that can translate YouTube video captions in real-time. They ultimately collaborated with ElevenLabs, implementing their advanced AI dubbing editor that preserves the original speaker’s tone, pace, and emotional delivery. The lectures are translated in the ElevenLabs dubbing editor, and then the audio is uploaded to the MIT OpenCourseWare YouTube channel. The team is currently finalizing the translation of the audio for class 9.13 (The Human Brain), taught by MIT Professor Nancy Kanwisher, which Lipkevych says they selected for its interdisciplinary nature and appeal to a wide variety of learners. This Ukrainian translation project highlights the transformative potential of the latest translation technologies, building upon a 2023 MIT OpenCourseWare experiment using the Google Aloud AI dubbing prototype on a few courses, including MIT Professor Patrick Winston’s How to Speak. The advanced capabilities of the dubbing editor used in this project are opening up possibilities for a much greater variety of language offerings throughout MIT OpenCourseWare materials. “I expect that in a few years we’ll look back and see that this was the moment when things shifted for OpenCourseWare to be truly usable for the whole world,” says Newton. Community-led language translations of MIT OpenCourseWare materials serve as a high-impact example of the power of OpenCourseWare’s Creative Commons licensing, which grants everyone the right to revise materials to suit their particular needs and redistribute those revisions to the world. While there isn’t currently a way for users of the MIT OpenCourseWare platform to quickly identify which videos are available in which languages, MIT OpenCourseWare is working toward building this capability into its website, as well as expanding its number of offerings in different languages. “This project represents more than just translation,” says Lipkevych. “We’re enabling thousands of Ukrainians to build skills that will be essential for the country’s eventual reconstruction. We’re also hoping this model of collaboration can be extended to other languages and institutions, creating a template for making high-quality education accessible worldwide.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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Bernardo Picão
Bernardo Picão
Student
Portugal
MIT OpenCourseWare “changed how I think about teaching and what a university is” Bernardo Picão, a graduate student in physics, has turned to MIT Open Learning’s resources throughout his educational journey. By Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Bernardo Picão has been interested in online learning since the early days of YouTube, when his father showed him a TED Talk. But it was with MIT Open Learning that he realized just how transformational digital resources can be. “YouTube was my first introduction to the idea that you can actually learn stuff via the internet,” Picão says. “So, when I became interested in mathematics and physics when I was 15 or 16, I turned to the internet and stumbled upon some playlists from MIT OpenCourseWare and went from there.” OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, offers free online educational resources from over 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. Since discovering it, Picão has explored linear algebra with Gilbert Strang, professor emeritus of mathematics — whom Picão calls “a legend” — and courses on metaphysics, functional analysis, quantum field theory, and English. He has returned to OpenCourseWare throughout his educational journey, which includes undergraduate studies in France and Portugal. Some courses provided different perspectives on material he was learning in his classes, while others filled gaps in his knowledge or satisfied his curiosity. Overall, Picão says that MIT resources made him a more robust scientist. He is currently completing a master’s degree in physics at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, where he researches prominent lattice quantum chromodynamics, an approach to the study of quarks that uses precise computer simulations. After completing his master’s degree, Picão says he will continue to a doctoral program in the field. At a recent symposium in Lisbon, Picão attended a lecture given by someone he had first seen in an OpenCourseWare video — Krishna Rajagopal, the William A. M. Burden Professor of Physics and former dean for digital learning at MIT Open Learning. There, he took the opportunity to thank Rajagopal for his support of OpenCourseWare, which Picão says is an important part of MIT’s mission as a leader in education. In addition to the range of subjects covered by OpenCourseWare, Picão praises the variety of instructors. All the courses are well-constructed, he says, but sometimes learners will connect with certain instructors or benefit from a particular presentation style. Since OpenCourseWare and other Open Learning programs offer such a wide range of free educational resources from MIT, learners can explore similar courses from different instructors to get new perspectives and round out their knowledge. While he enjoys his research, Picão’s passion is teaching. OpenCourseWare has helped him with that too, by providing models for how to teach math and science and how to connect with learners of different abilities and backgrounds. “I’m a very philosophical person,” he says. “I used to think that knowledge was intrinsically secluded in the large bindings of books, beyond the classroom walls, or inside the idiosyncratic minds of professors. OpenCourseWare changed how I think about teaching and what a university is — the point is not to keep knowledge inside of it, but to spread it.” Picão, now a teaching assistant at his institution, has been teaching since his days as a high school student tutoring his classmates or talking with members of his family. “I spent my youth sharing my knowledge with my grandmother and my extended family, including people who weren’t able to attend school past the fourth grade,” he says. “Seeing them get excited about knowledge is the coolest thing. Open Learning scales that up to the rest of the world and that can have an incredible impact.” The ability to learn from MIT experts has benefited Picão, deepening his understanding of the complex subjects that interest him. But, he acknowledges, he is a person who has access to high-quality instruction even without Open Learning. For learners who do not have that access, Open Learning is invaluable. “It’s hard to overstate the importance of such a project. MIT’s OpenCourseware and Open Learning profoundly shift how students all over the world can perceive their relationship with education: Besides an internet connection, the only requirement is the curiosity to explore the hundreds of expertly crafted courses and worksheets, perfect for self-studying,” says Picão. He continues, “People may find OpenCourseWare and think it is too good to be true. Why would such a prestigious institution break down the barriers to scientific education and commit to open-access, free resources? I want people to know: There is no catch. Sharing is the point.” “MIT OpenCourseWare ‘changed how I think about teaching and what a university is’” was originally published in MIT News on July 15, 2024.
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Ana Trišović
Ana Trišović
Researcher
USA
Ana Trišović, who studies the democratization of AI, reflects on a career path that she began as a student downloading free MIT resources in Serbia. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning As a college student in Serbia with a passion for math and physics, Ana Trišović found herself drawn to computer science and its practical, problem-solving approaches. It was then that she discovered MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, and decided to study a course on Data Analytics with Python in 2012 — something her school didn’t offer. That experience was transformative, says Trišović, who is now a research scientist at the FutureTech lab within MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. “That course changed my life,” she says. “Throughout my career, I have considered myself a Python coder, and MIT OpenCourseWare made it possible. I was in my hometown on another continent, learning from MIT world-class resources. When I reflect on my path, it’s incredible.” Over time, Trišović’s path led her to explore a range of OpenCourseWare resources. She recalls that, as a non-native English speaker, some of the materials were challenging. But thanks to the variety of courses and learning opportunities available on OpenCourseWare, she was always able to find ones that suited her. She encourages anyone facing that same challenge to be persistent. “If the first course doesn’t work for you, try another,” she says. “Being persistent and investing in yourself is the best thing a young person can do.” In her home country of Serbia, Trišović earned undergraduate degrees in computer science and mechanical engineering before going on to Cambridge University and CERN, where she contributed to work on the Large Hadron Collider and completed her PhD in computer science in 2018. She has also done research at the University of Chicago and Harvard University. “I like that computer science allows me to make an impact in a range of fields, but physics remains close to my heart, and I’m constantly inspired by it,” she says. MIT FutureTech, an interdisciplinary research group, draws on computer science, economics, and management to identify computing trends that create risk and opportunities for sustainable economic growth. There, Trišović studies the democratization of AI, including the implications of open-source AI and how that will impact science. Her work at MIT is a chance to build on research she has been pursuing since she was in graduate school. “My work focuses on computational social science. For many years, I’ve been looking at what’s known as ’the science of science’ — investigating issues like research reproducibility," Trišović explains. “Now, as AI becomes increasingly prevalent and introduces new challenges, I’m interested in examining a range of topics — from AI democratization to its effects on the scientific method and the broader landscape of science.” Trišović is grateful that, way back in 2012, she made the decision to try something new and learn with an OpenCourseWare course. “I instantly fell in love with Python the moment I took that course. I have such a soft spot for OpenCourseWare — it shaped my career,” she says. “Every day at MIT is inspiring. I work with people who are excited to talk about AI and other fascinating topics.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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Bia Adams
Bia Adams
Independent Learner
United Kingdom
Psychologist Bia Adams discovered a passion for computational neuroscience thanks to open-access MIT educational resources. Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning Bia Adams, a London-based neuropsychologist, former professional ballet dancer, and MIT Open Learning learner, has built her career across decades of diverse, interconnected experiences and an emphasis on lifelong learning. She earned her bachelor’s degree in clinical and behavioral psychology, and then worked as a psychologist and therapist for several years before taking a sabbatical in her late 20s to study at the London Contemporary Dance School and The Royal Ballet — fulfilling a long-time dream. “In hindsight, I think what drew me most to ballet was not so much the form itself,” says Adams, “but more of a subconscious desire to make sense of my body moving through space and time, my emotions and motivations — all within a discipline that is rigorous, meticulous, and routine-based. It’s an endeavor to make sense of the world and myself.” After acquiring some dance-related injuries, Adams returned to psychology. She completed an online certificate program specializing in medical neuroscience via Duke University, focusing on how pathology arises out of the way the brain computes information and generates behavior. In addition to her clinical practice, she has also worked at a data science and AI consultancy for neural network research. In 2022, in search of new things to learn and apply to both her work and personal life, Adams discovered MIT OpenCourseWare within MIT Open Learning. She was drawn to class 8.04 (Quantum Physics I), which specifically focuses on quantum mechanics, as she was hoping to finally gain some understanding of complex topics that she had tried to teach herself in the past with limited success. She credits the course’s lectures, taught by Allan Adams (physicist and principal investigator of the MIT Future Ocean Lab), with finally making these challenging topics approachable. “I still talk to my friends at length about exciting moments in these lectures,” says Adams. “After the first class, I was hooked.” Adams’s journey through MIT Open Learning’s educational resources quickly led to a deeper interest in computational neuroscience. She learned how to use tools from mathematics and computer science to better understand the brain, nervous system, and behavior. She says she gained many new insights from class 6.034 (Artificial Intelligence), particularly in watching the late Professor Patrick Winston’s lectures. She appreciated learning more about the cognitive psychology aspect of AI, including how pioneers in the field looked at how the brain processes information and aimed to build programs that could solve problems. She further enhanced her understanding of AI with the Minds and Machines course on MITx Online, part of Open Learning. Adams is now in the process of completing Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python, taught by John Guttag; Eric Grimson, former interim vice president for Open Learning; and Ana Bell. “I am multilingual, and I think the way my brain processes code is similar to the way computers code,” says Adams. “I find learning to code similar to learning a foreign language: both exhilarating and intimidating. Learning the rules, deciphering the syntax, and building my own world through code is one of the most fascinating challenges of my life.” Adams is also pursuing a master’s degree at Duke and the University College of London, focusing on the neurobiology of sleep and looking particularly at how the biochemistry of the brain can affect this critical function. As a complement to this research, she is currently exploring class 9.40 (Introduction to Neural Computation), taught by Michale Fee and Daniel Zysman, which introduces quantitative approaches to understanding brain and cognitive functions and neurons and covers foundational quantitative tools of data analysis in neuroscience. In addition to the courses related more directly to her field, MIT Open Learning also provided Adams an opportunity to explore other academic areas. She delved into philosophy for the first time, taking Paradox and Infinity, taught by Professor Agustín Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and Digital Learning Lab Fellow David Balcarras, which looks at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics. She also was able to explore in more depth immunology, which had always been of great interest to her, through Professor Adam Martin’s lectures on this topic in class 7.016 (Introductory Biology). “I am forever grateful for MIT Open Learning,” says Adams, “for making knowledge accessible and fostering a network of curious minds, all striving to share, expand, and apply this knowledge for the greater good.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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June Odongo
June Odongo
Independent Learner
Kenya
Entrepreneur creates career pathways with MIT OpenCourseWare June Odongo uses free, online MIT courses to train high-quality candidates, making them job-ready. By Sara Feijo | MIT Open Learning When June Odongo interviewed early-career electrical engineer Cynthia Wacheke for a software engineering position at her company, Wacheke lacked knowledge of computer science theory but showed potential in complex problem-solving. Determined to give Wacheke a shot, Odongo turned to MIT OpenCourseWare to create a six-month “bridging course” modeled after the classes she once took as a computer science student. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. “Wacheke had the potential and interest to do the work that needed to be done, so the way to solve this was for me to literally create a path for her to get that work done,” says Odongo, founder and CEO of Senga Technologies. Developers, Odongo says, are not easy to find. The OpenCourseWare educational resources provided a way to close that gap. “We put Wacheke through the course last year, and she is so impressive,” Odongo says. “Right now, she is doing our first machine learning models. It’s insane how good of a team member she is. She has done so much in such a short time.” Making high-quality candidates job-ready Wacheke, who holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nairobi, started her professional career as a hardware engineer. She discovered a passion for software while working on a dashboard design project, and decided to pivot from hardware to software engineering. That’s when she discovered Senga Technologies, a logistics software and services company in Kenya catering to businesses that ship in Africa. Odongo founded Senga with the goal of simplifying and easing the supply chain and logistics experience, from the movement of goods to software tools. Senga’s ultimate goal, Odongo says, is to have most of their services driven by software. That means employees — and candidates — need to be able to think through complex problems using computer science theory. “A lot of people are focused on programming, but we care less about programming and more about problem-solving,” says Odongo, who received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and an MBA from Harvard Business School. “We actually apply the things people learn in computer science programs.” Wacheke started the bridging course in June 2022 and was given six months to complete the curriculum on the MIT OpenCourseWare website. She took nine courses, including: Introduction to Algorithms; Mathematics for Computer Science; Design and Analysis of Algorithms; Elements of Software Construction; Automata, Computability, and Complexity; Database Systems; Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making; Introduction to Machine Learning; and Networks. “The bridging course helped me learn how to think through things,” Wacheke says. “It’s one thing to know how to do something, but it’s another to design that thing from scratch and implement it.” During the bridging course, Wacheke was paired with a software engineer at Senga, who mentored her and answered questions along the way. She learned Ruby on Rails, a server-side web application framework under the MIT License. Wacheke also completed other projects to complement the theory she was learning. She created a new website that included an integration to channel external requests to Slack, a cross-platform team communication tool used by the company’s employees. Continuous learning for team members The bridging course concluded with a presentation to Senga employees, during which Wacheke explained how the company could use graph theory for decision-making. “If you want to get from point A to B, there are algorithms you can use to find the shortest path,” Wacheke says. “Since we’re a logistics company, I thought we could use this when we’re deciding which routes our trucks take.” The presentation, which is the final requirement for the bridging course, is also a professional development opportunity for Senga employees. “This process is helpful for our team members, particularly those who have been out of school for a while,” Odongo says. “The candidates present what they’ve learned in relation to Senga. It’s a way of doing continuous learning for the existing team members.” After successfully completing the bridging course in November 2022, Wacheke transitioned to a full-time software engineer role. She is currently developing a “machine” that can interpret and categorize hundreds of documents, including delivery notes, cash flows, and receipts. “The goal is to enable our customers to simply feed those documents into our machine, and then we can more accurately read and convert them to digital formats to drive automation,” Odongo says. “The machine will also enable someone to ask a document a question, such as ‘What did I deliver to retailer X on date Y?’ or ‘What is the total price of the goods delivered?’” The bridging course, which was initially custom-designed for Wacheke, is now a permanent program at Senga. A second team member completed the course in October 2023 and has joined the software team full time. “Developers are not easy to find, and you also want high-quality developers,” Odongo says. “At least when we do this, we know that the person has gone through what we need.” Read the Original Article This article was republished with permission from the MIT News Office
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Andrea Henshall
Andrea Henshall
Independent Learner
United States
Veteran and PhD student Andrea Henshall has used MIT Open Learning to soar from the Air Force to multiple aeronautics degrees. By Katherine Ouellette | MIT Open Learning Andrea Henshall, a retired major in the U.S. Air Force and current MIT PhD student, has completed seven tours of combat, two years of aerial circus performance, and three higher education degrees (so far). But throughout each step of her journey, all roads seemed to point to MIT. Currently working on her doctoral degree with an MIT master’s already in her toolkit, she is quick to attribute her academic success to MIT’s open educational resources. “I kept coming back to MIT-produced open source learning,” she says. “MIT dominates in educational philanthropy when it comes to free high-quality learning sources.” To this day, Henshall recommends MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and MITx courses to students and her fellow veterans who are transitioning out of the service. A love of flight and a drive to excel Henshall first discovered OCW as she was pursuing her master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. Transitioning from an applied engineering program at the United States Air Force Academy to a more theoretical program proved a challenge for Henshall, and her first semester grades got her put on academic probation. During Independent Activities Period, she took Professor Gilbert Strang’s linear algebra courses on OCW, which included both videos and homework. Henshall found Strang very engaging and easy to learn from and found it helpful to work through the homework when they had the solutions available. She was able to lift her grades the following semester, and by the end of her program, she was getting all A’s. Henshall says, “OpenCourseWare really saved me. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to complete my master’s.” Ever since Henshall learned the term “astronautical engineer” in the fourth grade, she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. That early love of outer space and building things led her to a bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering and the Air Force. There she served as a research and development officer, instructor pilot, and chief financial officer of her squadron. But a non-combat-related injury forced her to medically retire from being a pilot. “I was not doing well physically, and it was impossible for me to get hired to be a pilot outside of the Air Force.” After a brief detour as a part-time aerial circus performer, she decided to go back to school. Watch Andrea Henshall’s story about How MIT OpenCourseWare and MITx helped her soar. Learning how to learn Working outside of academia for eight years proved to be a tough transition. Henshall says, “I had to translate the work I had done in the military into something relevant for an academic application, and the language they were looking for was very different from what I was used to.” She thought acquiring more recent academic work might help improve her application. She attended Auburn University for her second master’s degree (this time in computer science and software engineering) and started a PhD. Again she turned to MIT OCW to supplement her studies. Henshall says, “I remembered vividly how much it had helped me in 2005, so of course that’s where I was going to start. Then I noticed that OCW linked to MITx, which had more interactive quizzes.” The OCW platform had also become more robust since she had first used it. “Back then, it was new, there wasn’t necessarily a standard,” she says. Over 10 years later, she found that most courses had more material, videos, and notes that more closely approximated an MIT course experience. Those additional open education resources gave Henshall an extra edge to complete a 21-month program in 12 months with a 4.0 GPA. Her advisor told her that she had the best thesis defense he had seen in 25 years. In 2019, Henshall’s success helped her get accepted to MIT’s PhD program in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in the Autonomy and Embedded Robotics Accelerated (AERA) lab under the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), with a Lester Durand Gardner Fellowship. Her focus is controls systems with a minor in quantum information. She says, “I’m literally living my dream. I’m at my dream school with my dream advisor.” Working with Professor Sertac Karaman in LIDS, Henshall plans to write her thesis on multi-agent reinforcement learning. But her relationship with online learning is far from over; again she has turned to OCW and MITx resources for the foundation to succeed in subjects such as controls, machine learning, quantum mechanics, and quantum computation. When the pandemic struck the East Coast, Henshall was only nine months into her PhD program at MIT. The pivot to online learning made it difficult to continue building relationships with classmates. But what was a new course experience for many learners during the pandemic felt very familiar to Henshall. “I had a leg up because I already knew how to learn through prerecorded videos on a computer instead of three-dimensional human standing in front of a chalkboard. I had already learned how to learn.” A lifelong commitment to service Henshall plans to return to the Department of Defense or related industries. Currently, she works collaboratively on two major projects related to her PhD thesis and her career path after she completes the program. The first project is an AI accelerator program through the Air Force. Her work with unmanned aerial vehicles (a.k.a. drones) uses a small quadrotor to autonomously and quickly search a building using reinforcement learning. The primary intended use is search and rescue. The second project involves research into multi-agent reinforcement learning and pathfinding. While also intended for search and rescue, they could be used for a variety of non-emergency inspection purposes as well. Henshall is eager to share open education resources. At Auburn she shared OCW materials with her classmates, and now she uses them with the students she tutors. She’s also committed to sharing knowledge and resources with her fellow service members, and is an active member of a number of veterans’ organizations. With the Warrior-Scholar Project, she answers questions from enlisted people going into undergraduate programs, ranging from “What’s parking like?” to “How did you prepare for school?” As a Service to School ambassador, she is assigned to mentor veterans who are transitioning out of the military and looking to apply to graduate school, usually MIT hopefuls or other competitive schools. She’s able to draw from her own application experience to help others identify the core message their application should communicate and finesse the language to sound less like a military brief and more like the “academic speak” they will encounter moving forward. Henshall says, “My trajectory would be so different if MITx and OCW didn’t exist, and I feel that’s true for so many thousands of other students. So many other institutions have copied the model, but MIT was the first and it’s still the best.” Originally published on https://news.mit.edu on March 16, 2022 and reposted from Medium. We hope you’ve been inspired by this story and by OCW’s effort to meet the needs of learners eager to enhance their knowledge, lift up their communities, and change the world for the benefit of everyone. Please consider supporting our work with a donation or if giving isn’t possible right now, we’d love to hear how OCW has made a difference in your life or classroom. We’d appreciate it!
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İleri Çalışmalar
İleri Çalışmalar
Students
Turkey
Study group of medical students in Turkey uses free MIT resources to pursue a PhD-level research agenda. By Duyen Nguyen | MIT Open Learning About two years ago, a group of medical students at Ege University Faculty of Medicine in Turkey began meeting to study single variable calculus. None of the students had taken a course in this subject before. But with the guidance of lectures, slides, and other freely available resources on MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), they soon advanced onto multivariable calculus. Then differential equations. Then linear algebra. Today, the students, who call their study group İleri Çalışmalar, or “Advanced Studies,” are paving their own road toward doctoral-level studies — with MIT OCW as their main resource. “Our motivation is to create a theoretical background in order to do research while we’re studying in medical school,” says Yıldırım Adalıoğlu, one of the study group’s co-founders, who explains that MD-PhD programs, which prepare students to become both clinicians and researchers, have only recently become available in Turkey, and are rare. “We didn’t have the chance to do doctoral-level research during medical school. We decided to create that for ourselves.” Using OCW courses to build their own curriculum, the members of İleri Çalışmalar have developed an independent program of study while working toward their medical degrees. The study group devotes about three months — the equivalent of an MIT semester — to each course in their curriculum. While most of their peers are on the clinician path, the group co-founded by Sıla Özkal, Begüm Tahhan, and Çağan Kaplan typically draws six to 10 students per course. Support and collaboration to pursue focused interests Depending on their schedule, Kaplan explains, the students meet weekly to discuss the OCW lectures and to review course materials. At each meeting, one or more members of the group volunteer to recap the lectures and to facilitate discussion. For new courses — like probability, the group’s current focus — the students approach discussion sessions collaboratively. “After nearly two years of medical coursework,” Adalıoğlu says, “we can now teach and adapt the earlier courses for new students as well.” The group also brainstorms potential research projects, some of which they have already carried out, independently and in collaboration with faculty from other departments and labs. For instance, over the summer a few students from the group interned at a biomedicine and genome research center. They drew on the knowledge they gained from classes 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python) and 6.0002 (Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science) to work on a study on analyzing the effects of mutations in a specific protein. The internship called for a background in computational research and data analysis. Thanks to MIT OCW, the İleri Çalışmalar students were well-prepared, says Adalıoğlu. “If we didn’t have the Python course from MIT, then we couldn’t go to the lab and do the internship there.” Combining their medical interests with their OCW coursework, Adalıoğlu and Kaplan also developed a computational model to study the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany. They’re now in the process of trying to publish their findings. “OCW broadens our horizons,” Kaplan says. Adalıoğlu adds, “If we want to do computational research, it’s mainly up to us. There aren’t many people on the medical faculty that work on computational projects. That’s why when we decide to do a computational project, either we solve the problems ourselves or we ask for help from professors from other universities and labs.” For Tahhan, who interned at a government science institute, where she studied hyperlipidemia in pediatric patients, the OCW courses have opened new areas of interest. “I realized I was interested in biochemistry when I took the 5.08J Biological Chemistry II course from OCW, so I applied for the internship,” she says. Özkal, who attends a cancer research internship, also credits the OCW courses that İleri Çalışmalar has covered with advancing her research goals. The tool kits to build their own future Currently in their third and fourth years of medical school, the İleri Çalışmalar founders note that OpenCourseWare has been a useful supplement to their medical studies as well. While studying the human gastrointestinal system, for example, they revisited the biological chemistry course materials to better understand the biochemical pathways that lead to absorption. “When we are confused about any subject, we can always go back to OCW and search for the slides,” says Kaplan. “We all want to do novel research and study the topics that allow people to understand our universe better. That’s why we started medical school, that’s why we want to do a PhD after medical school,” Adalıoğlu says. “We all love medicine and we love pathology, physiology, learning about diseases — we want to solve the problems that come from these diseases, but we need the tool kits to do research. Thanks to MIT OpenCourseWare and our own efforts, I hope we can create some vision — a path for other students after us.” “Enabling advanced studies in Turkey with MIT OpenCourseWare” was originally published in MIT News on January 12, 2023.
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Emmanuel Kasigazi
Emmanuel Kasigazi
Independent Learner
Uganda
“I get the chance to not only watch the future happen, but I can actually be a part of it and create it,” says Ugandan entrepreneur Emmanuel Kasigazi. Duyen Nguyen | MIT Open Learning Like millions of others during the global Covid-19 lockdowns, Emmanuel Kasigazi, an entrepreneur from Uganda, turned to YouTube to pass the time. But he wasn’t following an influencer or watching music videos. A lifelong learner, Kasigazi was scouring the video-sharing platform for educational resources. Since 2013, when he got his first smartphone, Kasigazi has been charting his own learning journey through YouTube, educating himself on subjects as diverse as psychology and artificial intelligence. And it was while searching for the answer to an AI-related question that Kasigazi first discovered MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW). “Here they were, all these courses by one of the best — if not the best — schools in tech in the world, and they were free. For a long time I couldn’t believe it. I told everyone I knew." “The search results showed MIT lectures, and I thought, ‘Which MIT is this?’” recalls Kasigazi, who admits he was initially skeptical as he opened the OCW YouTube channel. To his amazement, he found hundreds of courses there — not only clips, but complete lectures that he could follow alongside the students in MIT classrooms. He searched for more information on OCW and tried the channel on different browsers to triple-check its credibility. “Here they were, all these courses by one of the best — if not the best — schools in tech in the world, and they were free. For a long time I couldn’t believe it. I told everyone I knew,” he remembers. For Kasigazi, the channel became a gateway to other open education resources, including the OpenCourseWare website and MITx courses, both part of MIT Open Learning. “I always had the questions — I grew up on science cartoons like ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ and ‘Pinky and the Brain’ — so I would go on YouTube to try to find answers to these questions, and I found this whole other world,” he says. OCW launched its YouTube channel in 2008, and this August passed 4 million subscribers. While introductory computer science, math, and physics are the most-visited courses on the OCW website, the most popular YouTube videos reflect a more diverse range of interests, including a lecture about piloting a fighter jet aircraft, an introduction to the human brain, and an introduction to financial terms and concepts. Through this extensive collection, Kasigazi explains that he’s been able to explore “the things I love,” while also studying cloud computing, data science, and AI — fields that he plans to pursue in graduate studies. He says, “This is what OpenCourseWare has enabled me to do: I get the chance to not only watch the future happen, but I can actually be a part of it and create it.” Understanding humanity through the liberal arts When Kasigazi was young, a beloved aunt recognized his natural curiosity and steered him toward the best schools. “I owe her everything,” he says, “everything I am is because of her.” Thanks to his excellent grades he received an academic scholarship from the Ugandan government to attend Makerere University, one of the top universities in sub-Saharan Africa, where he earned a degree in information systems. Having pursued IT for its practical applications, Kasigazi admits that he was initially more interested in the science and theory behind computers than “the coding bits of it.” “I love the concept of it — how we are trying to make these machines,” he says, explaining that he’s long been drawn to the social sciences and humanities, particularly psychology and philosophy. “I’m interested in how we work as human beings, because everything we do is for, with, and around human beings,” says Kasigazi, who considers psychology to be foundational to almost every field. “Whatever it is you’re teaching these kids, they’re going to be dealing with people. So first teach them what people think, how they act — that was my drive to love psychology.” Kasigazi has also turned to OCW to brush up on his coding skills, watching 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python) lectures with Professor Ana Bell and reviewing the instructor-paced version with Professor Eric Grimson now on MITx. “I am proud to say MIT OCW has made me fall in love with coding … it makes sense like it never has before,” he says. Nurturing a worldview In 2014 Kasigazi moved to South Sudan, which had only recently emerged from a civil war as an independent nation. Fresh out of university, he was there to teach computer skills and graphic design — some of his students included members of the new country’s government — but his time in South Sudan quickly became a learning experience for him, too. “When you grow up in your community, you have this bubble. We all experience it — it’s a human thing,” he reflects. “For the first time, I realized that everything I knew is not a given. Everything I grew up knowing is not universal.” With his worldview newly broadened, he began to nurture his interest in psychology, philosophy, and the sciences, watching crash courses, explainer videos, and other content on the subject. “It’s entertainment, to me, at the same time that it’s a passion,” he says. Today Kasigazi runs his own company, which he started in 2012 with friends and resumed when he returned to Uganda seven years ago. Since coming across the OCW YouTube channel, Kasigazi has worked through all of the freely available MIT psychology courses. Professor John Gabrieli’s 9.00SC (Introduction to Psychology) have particularly resonated with him, even prompting him to reach out to Gabrieli. “As much as I’d been getting some knowledge on psychology over the years online, it wasn’t as deep and as interesting or captivating as your classes were,” he wrote. “From your teaching style, to the explanations, to the topics, to how you make people understand a topic, to the experiments mentioned and referenced, to how you approach questions and later make one think deeper about them.” “The message from Emmanuel is deeply touching about the joy of learning,” says Gabrieli, who is also an investigator at the McGovern Institute. “I am so grateful to OCW for making this course on psychology open to the world, and to Emmanuel for so delightfully sharing what this course meant to him.” New courses are added regularly to both the OCW website and YouTube channel. Kasigazi, who’s currently enjoying 9.13 (Introduction to the Human Brain) from professor and McGovern Institute investigator Nancy Kanwisher, looks forward to discovering what new worlds of knowledge they’ll open. Reposted from https://news.mit.edu on November 7, 2022. We hope you’ve been inspired by this story and by OCW’s effort to meet the needs of learners eager to enhance their knowledge, lift up their communities, and change the world for the benefit of everyone. Please consider supporting our work with a donation or if giving isn’t possible right now, we’d love to hear how OCW has made a difference in your life or classroom. We’d appreciate it!
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Juan Guerrero
Juan Guerrero
Independent Learner
United States
After a 33-year career in biotechnology, Juan Guerrero uses MIT Open Learning’s online resources to continue improving his skills and understanding. Katherine Ouellette | MIT Open Learning Over Juan Guerrero’s 33-year biotechnology career, he has watched gene editing evolve from theory to reality. But Guerrero still recognizes the importance of continuing his education despite having a front-row seat to the genome industry since its inception. Guerrero received a degree in biology from University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in 1992, and joined the workforce of thousands of sequencers mapping DNA. However, six years after leaving his job as a sequencing associate at Incyte, a lecturer at UC Berkeley informed Guerrero that the technology used to sequence the human genome had already become obsolete. “This stark contrast highlights the rapid pace of technological evolution in this field,” says Guerrero. “Motivated by this insight, I decided to return to school, starting with a course in genetics.” That’s when Guerrero enrolled as a part-time student at Pasadena City College in Los Angeles in 2016. Since then, he continues to deepen his knowledge with MIT Open Learning educational resources. “I decided to update my skills in the sciences because they change rapidly,” says Guerrero. Strengthening understanding Guerrero credits MIT Open Learning’s online resources with making a significant difference in his academic journey over the last decade. While searching for extra study materials to practice key concepts from his Pasadena City College courses, Guerrero was thrilled to find that MIT OpenCourseWare, part of Open Learning, offers a comprehensive collection of educational materials from thousands of MIT courses all in one place. “Due to the excellent array of available biology courses, I selectively explore topics from various OpenCourseWare course materials according to the particular concepts I wish to comprehend,” he says. Guerrero appreciates that OpenCourseWare dives deep into specific topics through an assortment of quizzes, exams, lecture notes, and videos. “It does challenge you to learn the concept, while at the same time, retaining it much better,” says Guerrero. MIT’s approach is different from how he first learned these concepts as an undergraduate — which he describes as “brute force memorization.” In one OpenCourseWare biology course lecture, for example, Guerrero studied a diagram of a cell that traced the path from nucleus to DNA. During a later assignment about protein production, he made the connection, “Oh, it goes by path. It’s organized,” he says. This holistic approach to learning helped strengthen his understanding of the concept. Guerrero also appreciates the platform’s flexibility, allowing him to learn on his own schedule. “What truly sets OpenCourseWare apart is its commitment to accessibility,” Guerrero says. “Not every student needs to be enrolled in a program and OpenCourseWare has made that possible. You can access what you want and it’s free.” Additionally, OpenCourseWare’s Creative Commons license allows anyone to modify, remix, and reuse its resources. This is particularly important for community colleges, like Pasadena City College, participating in California’s Zero Textbook Cost Program. The strength of OpenCourseWare for educators and students, Guerrero says, is that “people know it’s coming from a reliable, verified source — coming from MIT.” Researching medical applications After three decades in the biotech industry with roles ranging from research and development, to production, to quality assurance, Guerrero aspires to return to DNA research. He hopes to use advanced technologies that weren’t available during his previous time in the field — such as Next Generation Sequencing and CRISPR — to develop new medical applications. He aims to transform theoretical concepts into practical treatments for curing diseases and other conditions. “I’ve always thought about that aspect of helping someone with the technology made available,” he says. “However, I would prefer to remain in an academic environment until I have developed a comprehensive understanding of these technologies, as well as a solid foundation in genetics, which I believe is essential for effectively employing these advancements.” He says that OpenCourseWare has offered him a wealth of resources for his studies in genetics and other biological and chemical sciences. “The internet sped up the dissemination of all kinds of information,” Guerrero says. “There’s always so much more out there. You need updated knowledge.”
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OpenCourseWare Stories

Stories from the OpenCourseWare community reflect the profound impact of sharing knowledge and the transformative power of open education.

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Freesia Gaul
Freesia Gaul
Independent Learner
Australia
Nineteen-year-old Freesia Gaul built a VR prototype thanks to MIT OpenCourseWare classes that provided “a solid foundation of knowledge and problem-solving abilities.” Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning When Freesia Gaul discovered MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare at just 14 years old, it opened up a world of learning far beyond what her classrooms could offer. Her parents had started a skiing company, and the seasonal work meant that Gaul had to change schools every six months. Growing up in small towns in Australia and Canada, she relied on the internet to fuel her curiosity. “I went to 13 different schools, which was hard because you’re in a different educational system every single time,” says Gaul. “That’s one of the reasons I gravitated toward online learning and teaching myself. Knowledge is something that exists beyond a curriculum.” The small towns she lived in often didn’t have a lot of resources, she says, so a computer served as a main tool for learning. She enjoyed engaging with Wikipedia, ultimately researching topics and writing and editing content for pages. In 2018, she discovered MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, and took her first course. OpenCouseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. “I really got started with the OpenCourseWare introductory electrical engineering classes, because I couldn’t find anything else quite like it online,” says Gaul, who was initially drawn to courses on circuits and electronics, such as 6.002 (Circuits and Electronics) and 6.01SC (Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science). “It really helped me in terms of understanding how electrical engineering worked in a practical sense, and I just started modding things.” In true MIT “mens et manus” (“mind and hand”) fashion, Gaul spent much of her childhood building and inventing, especially when she was able to access a 3D printer. She says that a highlight was when she built a life-sized, working version of a Mario Kart, constructed out of materials she had printed. Gaul calls herself a “serial learner,” and has taken many OpenCourseWare courses. In addition to classes on circuits and electronics, she also took courses in linear algebra, calculus, and quantum physics — in which she took a particular interest. When she was 15, she participated in Qubit by Qubit. Hosted by The Coding School, in collaboration with universities (including MIT) and tech companies, this two-semester course introduces high schoolers to quantum computing and quantum physics. During that time she started a blog called On Zero, representing the “zero state” of a qubit. “The ‘zero state’ in a quantum computer is the representation of creativity from nothing, infinite possibilities,” says Gaul. For the blog, she found different topics and researched them in depth. She would think of a topic or question, such as “What is color?” and then explore it in great detail. What she learned eventually led her to start asking questions such as “What is a hamiltonian?” and teaching quantum physics alongside PhDs. Building on these interests, Gaul chose to study quantum engineering at the University of New South Wales. She notes that on her first day of university, she participated in iQuHack, the MIT Quantum Hackathon. Her team worked to find a new way to approximate the value of a hyperbolic function using quantum logic, and received an honorable mention for “exceptional creativity.” Gaul’s passion for making things continued during her college days, especially in terms of innovating to solve a problem. When she found herself on a train, wanting to code a personal website on a computer with a dying battery, she wondered if there might be a way to make a glove that can act as a type of Bluetooth keyboard — essentially creating a way to type in the air. In her spare time, she started working on such a device, ultimately finding a less expensive way to build a lightweight, haptic, gesture-tracking glove with applications for virtual reality (VR) and robotics. Gaul says she has always had an interest in VR, using it to create her own worlds, reconstruct an old childhood house, and play Dungeons and Dragons with friends. She discovered a way to put into a glove some small linear resonant actuators, which can be found in a smartphone or gaming controller, and map to any object in VR so that the user can feel it. An early prototype that Gaul put together in her dorm room received a lot of attention on YouTube. She went on to win the People’s Choice award for it at the SxSW Sydney 2025 Tech and Innovation Festival. This design also sparked her co-founding of the tech startup On Zero, named after her childhood blog dedicated to the love of creation from nothing. Gaul sees the device, in general, as a way of “paying it forward,” making improved human-computer interaction available to many — from young students to professional technologists. She hopes to enable creative freedom in as many as she can. “The mind is just such a fun thing. I want to empower others to have the freedom to follow their curiosity, even if it’s pointless on paper. “I’ve benefited from people going far beyond what they needed to do to help me,” says Gaul. “I see OpenCourseWare as a part of that. The free courses gave me a solid foundation of knowledge and problem-solving abilities. Without these, it wouldn’t be possible to do what I’m doing now.” This story was originally published on MIT News.
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Hinata Yamahara
Hinata Yamahara
High School Student
United States
High schooler Hinata Yamahara’s interest in urban planning was nurtured by free MIT resources, including OpenCourseWare. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Hinata Yamahara was 10 years old, on a family trip to Osaka, Japan, when he started riding the train alone. Those train rides sparked an interest in something he didn’t have words for at the time — how cities are built, and how people navigate them. Now at 17 and applying to colleges, Yamahara has made the connection that investigating cities and how they work is a foundation for urban planning. MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, helped him develop knowledge and deepen his passion for walkable, community-oriented urban spaces. At the time of his first, fateful Osaka train ride, Yamahara lived in Atlanta, after having spent most of his elementary school years in rural Tennessee. Before that, he and his family had lived in Los Angeles. In all those places, he says, it was difficult for kids to get around. In fact, getting around without a car could be a challenge for anyone. Whenever he visited family in Japan, he was in awe of the efficiency of the train system and the ease of learning how to navigate it, in addition to the mixed-use buildings that combined commercial and residential spaces. As a 10-year-old, he simply thought they “were really cool” and quite different from what he saw at home. Now, he reflects on the efficient use of space in a country that is much smaller than the expansive United States. Back at home, Yamahara continued to reimagine the spaces around him, often printing out satellite imagery and drawing new possibilities over what existed. “Maybe instead of a giant parking lot, I’d draw a subway station and connect it to another part of the map,” he says. “But it was all imaginary. I didn’t know what was possible in terms of regulations or looking at past examples. So, I started to do research and kept coming across OpenCourseWare.” He remembers a moment of confusion, followed by one of excitement: “What is OpenCourseWare?” and, “Wait, everything is free!?” OpenCourseWare, an open publication of course materials from across the MIT curriculum, allows users to browse content at their own pace. Learners can watch video lectures, read course notes, and hear from faculty experts, with no enrollment fees or start dates. Yamahara dove into the content, starting with 11.001J (Introduction to Urban Design and Development). He has since accessed a variety of courses and counts 11.948 (Power of Place: Media Technology, Youth, and City Design and Development) and 11.304J (Site and Infrastructure Systems Planning) among the most memorable. Exploring OpenCourseWare resources gave him a strong foundation to take his interest in urban planning and redesign into the real world. In summer 2025, Yamahara completed an internship with an Atlanta-area real estate firm working on a redesign project with a city agency. “Right now, this city has a downtown area with a lot of parking lots and empty retail spaces. I’m getting to learn firsthand how to develop it into something else,” he explains. “I’m part of meetings where we brainstorm how to create a community feeling, how to make a space creative and walkable, and how to make it somewhere people really want to be.” According to Yamahara, the experience draws on his appreciation for Japanese efficiency, as well as American inclusivity and his deep knowledge of zoning regulations, community-centered design, and transit equity — all gained through OpenCourseWare materials and resources. As Yamahara looks toward college and his future, he says he sees two paths influenced by MIT’s free educational resources. On one path, he studies urban planning, as OpenCourseWare materials have only reaffirmed his passion for the field and given him knowledge and confidence. On another path, he imagines using his time as an undergraduate to explore other interests, including aviation and real estate. On that path, OpenCourseWare would allow him to continue his urban planning education independently. He’s grateful that he could take advantage of OpenCourseWare resources without submitting an application and considering tuition and financial aid. All he needed was an interest and a determination to learn, and he had both. “OpenCourseWare has helped me grow from a kid with questions into a student designing solutions,” Yamahara says. “I still ride the train in the U.S. and Japan, but now, I bring a vision with me, too.” To explore additional lifelong learning offerings from MIT, visit MIT Learn. This story was originally published on MIT News.
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Salim Al-Hassanieh
Salim Al-Hassanieh
Educator
Syria
Retired professor Salim Al-Hassanieh has turned to MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare resources for decades, enriching his research and teaching. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Salim Al-Hassanieh has moved a lot over the course of his education and career. Born in Syria, he received his PhD from Université de Rennes in France and taught management sciences, organizational development, and information systems at University of Damascus and institutions in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. These days, he’s retired and divides his time between Syria and Germany. But Al-Hassanieh knows that with MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, you don’t need to move at all to experience American higher education. “I frequently recommended OpenCourseWare to my students and colleagues, particularly those with international aspirations,” he says. “I often told them, ‘If you want to study in America without leaving your home, go to MIT OpenCourseWare.’” Al-Hassanieh first remembers becoming aware of MIT and the Sloan School of Management in 1997, when he was researching a book project. Years later, when he was working on another book, “Managing by Creativity,” he revisited MIT and discovered OpenCourseWare. “When I found OpenCourseWare, I was immediately drawn to the quality, openness, and academic rigor of the platform,” he recalls. “I continue to consult OpenCourseWare regularly and receive its newsletter to this day, at the age of 80 years old.” He views open education resources as a beacon, saying that they can be a “vital gateway” for learners who may not otherwise have access to educational materials or the ability to travel. Courses on project management, leadership, organizational behavior, creativity, entrepreneurship, and generative AI have aided Al-Hassanieh in his research and teaching over the years. He stresses that it is not just the course content that is so impactful, but also the practical, forward-looking style of instruction. Some lectures, particularly those which emphasize systems thinking, inspired Al-Hassanieh’s own curriculum design and left a lasting impression. The clear structure and self-paced nature of OpenCourseWare courses helped Al-Hassanieh improve his academic English, which in turn created new publishing opportunities for him and his students. In 2012, he wrote a cultural book in English, “Illuminations on Arab-Islamic Public Administration Contributions,” and, in 2024, wrote an English-Arabic encyclopedic dictionary called “Your Comprehensive Guide to Success in Knowledge Management,” published by the Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO). “My research and my students’ learning journeys benefited from my English language learning,” he says. “I often encouraged my students to use OpenCourseWare not only to deepen their subject knowledge, but also to strengthen their English in an academic context.” Al-Hassanieh continues to learn from OpenCourseWare — even in retirement. He is actively conducting research, examining ideas relevant to political transitions, especially in the context of Syria. He explores lectures on generative AI and just this year wrote the Arabic-language book “Unlocking the Potential of GAI,” also published by ARADO. In his retirement, Al-Hassanieh prioritizes hope and peace alongside learning. He spends six months of the year in Berlin to be close to his adult children, who are surgeons there. He follows the news of changing politics in Syria and the world and says, “I hope that resources like OpenCourseWare can continue to showcase a narrative of knowledge sharing and educational empowerment.”
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Mostafa Fawzy
Mostafa Fawzy
Educator
Egypt
For physicist Mostafa Fawzy, MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare was a steadfast companion through countless study sessions. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Mostafa Fawzy became interested in physics in high school. It was the “elegance and paradox” of quantum theory that got his attention and led to his studies at the undergraduate and graduate level. But even with a solid foundation of coursework and supportive mentors, Fawzy wanted more. MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare was just the thing he was looking for. Now a doctoral candidate in atomic physics at Alexandria University and an assistant lecturer of physics at Alamein International University in Egypt, Fawzy reflects on how MIT OpenCourseWare bolstered his learning early in his graduate studies in 2019. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Fawzy was looking for advanced resources to supplement his research in quantum mechanics and theoretical physics, and he was immediately struck by the quality, accessibility, and breadth of MIT’s resources. “OpenCourseWare was transformative in deepening my understanding of advanced physics,” Fawzy says. “I found the structured lectures and assignments in quantum physics particularly valuable. They enhanced both my theoretical insight and practical problem-solving skills — skills I later applied in research on atomic systems influenced by magnetic fields and plasma environments.” He completed educational resources including Quantum Physics I and Quantum Physics II, calling them “dense and mathematically sophisticated.” He met the challenge by engaging with the content in different ways: first, by simply listening to lectures, then by taking detailed notes, and finally by working though problem sets. Although initially he struggled to keep up, this methodical approach paid off, he says. Fawzy is now in the final stages of his doctoral research on high-precision atomic calculations under extreme conditions. While in graduate school, he has published eight peer-reviewed international research papers, making him one of the most prolific doctoral researchers in physics working in Egypt currently. He served as an ambassador for the United Nations International Youth Conference (IYC), and he was nominated for both the African Presidential Leadership Program and the Davisson–Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics, a prestigious annual prize offered by the American Physical Society. He is grateful to his undergraduate mentors, professors M. Sakr and T. Bahy of Alexandria University, as well as to MIT OpenCourseWare, calling it a “steadfast companion through countless solitary nights of study, a beacon in times when formal resources were scarce, and a living testament to the nobility of open, unbounded learning.” Recognizing the power of mentorship and teaching, Fawzy serves as an academic mentor with the African Academy of Sciences, supporting early-career researchers across the continent in theoretical and atomic physics. “Many of these mentees lack access to advanced academic resources,” he explains. “I regularly incorporate OpenCourseWare into our mentorship sessions, using it as a foundational teaching and reference tool. It’s an equalizer, providing the same high-caliber content to students regardless of geographical or institutional limitations.” As he looks toward the future, Fawzy has big plans, influenced by MIT. “I aspire to establish a regional center for excellence in atomic and plasma physics, blending cutting-edge research with open-access education in the Global South,” he says. As he continues his research and teaching, he also hopes to influence science policy and contribute to international partnerships that shine the spotlight on research and science in emerging nations. Along the way, he says, “OpenCourseWare remains a cornerstone resource that I will return to again and again.” Fawzy says he’s also interested in MIT Open Learning resources in computational physics and energy and sustainability. He’s following MIT’s Energy Initiative, calling it increasingly relevant to his current work and future plans. Fawzy is a proponent of open learning and a testament to its power. “The intellectual seeds sown by Open Learning resources such as MIT OpenCourseWare have flourished within me, shaping my identity as a physicist and affirming my deep belief in the transformative power of knowledge shared freely, without barriers,” he says.
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Martina Solano Soto
Martina Solano Soto
High School Student
Spain
The 17-year-old student from Spain uses MIT resources to deepen her understanding of math and physics. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Martina Solano Soto is on a mission to pursue her passion for physics and, ultimately, to solve big problems. Since she was a kid, she has had a lot of questions: Why do animals exist? What are we doing here? Why don’t we know more about the Big Bang? And she has been determined to find answers. “That’s why I found MIT OpenCourseWare,” says Solano, of Girona, Spain. “When I was 14, I started to browse and wanted to find information that was reliable, dynamic, and updated. I found MIT resources by chance, and it’s one of the biggest things that has happened to me.” In addition to OpenCourseWare, which offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum, Solano also took advantage of the MIT Open Learning Library. Part of MIT Open Learning, the library offers free courses and invites people to learn at their own pace while receiving immediate feedback through interactive content and exercises. Solano, who is now 17, has studied quantum physics via OpenCourseWare — also part of MIT Open Learning — and she has taken Open Learning Library courses on electricity and magnetism, calculus, quantum computation, and kinematics. She even created her own syllabus, complete with homework, to ensure she stayed on track and kept her goals in mind. Those goals include studying math and physics as an undergraduate. She also hopes to study general relativity and quantum mechanics at the doctoral level. “I really want to unify them to find a theory of quantum gravity,” she says. “I want to spend all my life studying and learning.” Solano was particularly motivated by Barton Zwiebach, professor of physics, whose courses Quantum Physics I and Quantum Physics II are available on MIT OpenCourseWare. She took advantage of all of the resources that were provided: video lectures, assignments, lecture notes, and exams. “I was fascinated by the way he explained. I just understood everything, and it was amazing,” she says. “Then, I learned about his book, ‘A First Course in String Theory,’ and it was because of him that I learned about black holes and gravity. I’m extremely grateful.” While Solano gives much credit to the variety and quality of Open Learning resources, she also stresses the importance of being organized. As a high school student, she has things other than string theory on her mind: her school, extracurriculars, friends, and family. For anyone in a similar position, she recommends “figuring out what you’re most interested in and how you can take advantage of the flexibility of Open Learning resources. Is there a half-hour before bed to watch a video, or some time on the weekend to read lecture notes? If you figure out how to make it work for you, it is definitely worth the effort.” “If you do that, you are going to grow academically and personally,” Solano says. “When you go to school, you will feel more confident.” And Solano is not slowing down. She plans to continue using Open Learning resources, this time turning her attention to graduate-level courses, all in service of her curiosity and drive for knowledge. “When I was younger, I read the book ‘The God Equation,’ by Michio Kaku, which explains quantum gravity theory. Something inside me awoke,” she recalls. “I really want to know what happens at the center of a black hole, and how we unify quantum mechanics, black holes, and general relativity. I decided that I want to invest my life in this.” She is well on her way. Last summer, Solano applied for and received a scholarship to study particle physics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. This summer, she’s applying for opportunities to study the cosmos. All of this, she says, is only possible thanks to what she has learned with MIT Open Learning resources. “The applications ask you to explain what you like about physics, and thanks to MIT, I’m able to express that,” Solano says. “I’m able to go for these scholarships and really fight for what I dream.” Read the Original Article published on MIT News
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Sangat Tiwari
Sangat Tiwari
High School Student
Canada
High school student Sangat Tiwari found MIT OpenCourseWare at Open Learning in 8th grade and hasn’t looked back. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare resources have been part of Sangat Tiwari’s life since he was in 8th grade. Sometimes, he came across the resources by chance, like when he was looking for ways to improve his public speaking skills and found Patrick Winston’s How to Speak on the OpenCourseWare YouTube channel. Other times, his teachers recommended courses to deepen his knowledge, or he sought out specific courses to supplement what he was learning in class. Now in 11th grade, he uses the resources to complement his biology and chemistry courses and has become an OpenCourseWare advocate to his friends, family, and teachers. “Professor Winston’s lecture on public speaking is super popular, and I stumbled upon it when I wanted to get ahead of a school presentation. Since then, MIT has been in my life,” Tiwari says. “My 9th grade teachers recommended OpenCourseWare even though they said it might be a bit advanced, which I thought was pretty cool. And in 10th grade, I used the resources in my biology course.” Through his school, Tiwari takes classes that are part of the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program. Students who earn an IB diploma are qualified to enter higher education anywhere in the world — something appealing to Tiwari, who moved to Canada as a Bhutanese refugee from Nepal with his family when he was three years old. IB requires students to write extended essays, or year-long reports. He is working on essays for his chemistry and biology courses. MIT OpenCourseWare’s resources on solid state chemistry are proving useful as Tiwari prepares his essay on the structures and properties of molecules. “I’m also taking biology at the moment, so I have been looking at Professor Kanwisher’s course on the human brain,” says Tiwari. “I know all that is going to come up in my course. She has these amazing anecdotes related to what she’s explaining, and it really supplements my learning.” Although he says that math is not his strong suit, Tiwari has also been drawn into Gilbert Strang’s materials on MIT OpenCourseWare, particularly the class on different approaches to linear algebra. His own algebra class was just starting to study linear equations and matrices, so some of Strang’s material was difficult for Tiwari to understand. But it intrigued him enough to share the content with his teacher. “I told my teacher about the videos and that I learned that we could use matrices to find the intersection of linear equations way quicker than using substitution or elimination,” Tiwari explains. “He told me we would get to that eventually, so I kept watching. I’m not the best at math, but Professor Strang’s passion got to me.” As for Tiwari’s passion, it lies in biology and chemistry, specifically neurology and how diseases affect the human brain. He is particularly interested in Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which he notes is becoming more prevalent in the United States, and how it impacts brain function. But another passion is spreading the word about MIT OpenCourseWare. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses spanning MIT’s undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Tiwari shares OpenCourseWare materials with members of his school’s peer tutoring club. He says the materials supplement the tutoring pedagogy promoted by his school guidance office and are helpful in demonstrating effective teaching and sharing ideas tutors can incorporate into their own sessions. “Tutors are expected to have a high degree of course understanding since they are tutoring others, so OpenCourseWare is a ‘two birds, one stone’ situation, where tutors themselves further their own understanding,” Tiwari says. “Overall, OpenCourseWare has been a profound resource to develop tutors’ skills and act as a great guide.” Tiwari plans to keep using MIT OpenCourseWare as he finishes high school and beyond. “OpenCourseWare has taught me that I can learn anything if I want to — and anyone can,” he says. “If you’re starting out or even if you’re at the top of your class or field, there is so much great content from world-class professors! I think it’s invaluable.”
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Sujood Eldouma
Sujood Eldouma
Student
Sudan
Turning adversity into opportunity How a love for math and access to MIT Open Learning’s online learning resources helped a Sudanese learner pursue a career in data science. Carolyn Tiernan | MIT Open Learning Sujood Eldouma always knew she loved math; she just didn’t know how to use it for good in the world. But after a personal and educational journey that took her from Sudan to Cairo to London, all while leveraging MIT Open Learning’s online educational resources, she finally knows the answer: data science. An early love of data Eldouma grew up in Omdurman, Sudan, with her parents and siblings. She always had an affinity for STEM subjects, and at the University of Khartoum she majored in electrical and electronic engineering with a focus in control and instrumentation engineering. In her second year at university, Eldouma struggled with her first coding courses in C++ and C#, which are general-purpose programming languages. When a teaching assistant introduced Eldouma and her classmates to MIT OpenCourseWare for additional support, she promptly worked through OpenCourseWare’s C++ and C courses in tandem with her in-person classes. This began Eldouma’s ongoing connection with the open educational resources available through MIT Open Learning. OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, offers a free collection of materials from thousands of MIT courses, spanning the entire curriculum. To date, Eldouma has explored over 20 OpenCourseWare courses, and she says it is a resource she returns to regularly. Sujood from Sudan: An Open Learner’s Story Video: MIT OpenCourseWare. Listen to the interview here. “We started watching the videos and reading the materials, and it made our lives easier,” says Eldouma. “I took many OpenCourseWare courses in parallel with my classes throughout my undergrad, because we still did the same material. OpenCourseWare courses are structured differently and have different resources and textbooks, but at the end of the day it’s the same content.” For her graduation thesis, Eldouma did a project on disaster response and management in complex contexts, because at the time, Sudan was suffering from heavy floods and the country had limited resources to respond. “That’s when I realized I really love data, and I wanted to explore that more,” she says. While Eldouma loves math, she always wanted to find ways to use it for good. Through the early exposure to data science and statistical methods at her university, she saw how data science leverages math for real-world impact. After graduation, she took a job at the DAL Group, the largest Sudanese conglomerate, where she helped to incorporate data science and new technologies to automate processes within the company. When civil war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, life as Eldouma knew it was turned upside down, and her family was forced to make the difficult choice to relocate to Egypt. Purpose in adversity Soon after relocating to Egypt, Eldouma lost her job and found herself struggling to find purpose in the life circumstances she had been handed. Due to visa restrictions, challenges getting right-to-work permits, and a complicated employment market in Egypt, she was also unable to find a new job. “I was sort of in a depressive episode, because of all that was happening,” she reflects. “It just hit me that I lost everything that I know, everything that I love. I’m in a new country. I need to start from scratch.” Around this time, a friend who knew Eldouma was curious about data science sent her the link to apply to the MIT Emerging Talent Certificate in Data and Computer Science. With less than 24 hours before the application deadline, Eldouma hit “Submit.” Finding community and joy through learning Part of MIT Open Learning, MIT Emerging Talent at the MIT Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) develops global education programs that target the needs of talented individuals from challenging economic and social circumstances by equipping them with the knowledge and tools to advance their education and careers. The Certificate in Computer and Data Science is a year-long online learning program that follows an agile continuous education model. It incorporates computer science and data analysis coursework from MITx, professional skill building, experiential learning, apprenticeship options, and opportunities for networking with MIT’s global community. The program is targeted toward refugees, migrants, and first-generation low-income students from historically marginalized backgrounds and underserved communities worldwide. Although Eldouma had used data science in her role at the DAL Group, she was happy to have a proper introduction to the field and to find joy in learning again. She also found community, support, and inspiration from her classmates who were connected to each other not just by their academic pursuits, but by their shared life challenges. The cohort of 100 students stayed in close contact through the program, both for casual conversation and for group work. “In the final step of the Emerging Talent program, learners apply their computer and data knowledge in an experiential learning opportunity,” says Megan Mitchell, associate director for Pathways for Talent and acting director of J-WEL. “The experiential learning opportunity takes the form of an internship, apprenticeship, or an independent or collaborative project, and allows students to apply their knowledge in real-world settings and build practical skills.” Determined to apply her newly acquired knowledge in a meaningful way, Eldouma and fellow displaced Sudanese classmates designed a project to help solve a problem in their home country. The group identified access to education as a major problem facing Sudanese people, with schooling disrupted due to the conflict. Focusing on the higher education audience, the group partnered with community platform Nas Al Sudan to create a centralized database where students can search for scholarships and other opportunities to continue their education. Eldouma completed the MIT Emerging Talent program in June 2024 with a clear vision to pursue a career in data science, and the confidence to achieve that goal. In fact, she had already taken the steps to get there: halfway through the certificate program, she applied and was accepted to the MITx MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science at Open Learning and the London School of Economics (LSE) Masters of Science in Data Science. In January 2024, Eldouma started the MicroMasters program with 12 of her Emerging Talent peers. While the MIT Emerging Talent program is focused on undergraduate-level, introductory computer and data science material, the MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science is graduate-level learning. MicroMasters programs are a series of courses that provide deep learning in a specific career field, and learners that successfully earn the credential may receive academic credit to universities around the world. This makes the credential a pathway to over 50 master’s degree programs and other advanced degrees, including at MIT. Eldouma believes that her experience in the MicroMasters courses prepared her well for the expectations of the LSE program. After finishing the MicroMasters and LSE programs, Eldouma aspires to a career using data science to better understand what is happening on the African continent from an economic and social point of view. She hopes to contribute to solutions to conflicts across the region. And, someday, she hopes to move back to Sudan. “My family’s roots are there. I have memories there,” she says. “I miss walking in the street and the background noise is the same language that I am thinking in. I don’t think I will ever find that in any place like Sudan.”
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Sofiia Lipkevych
Sofiia Lipkevych
College Student
Ukraine
Ukrainian students and collaborators provide high-quality translations of MIT OpenCourseWare educational resources. Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning With war continuing to disrupt education for millions of Ukrainian high school and college students, many are turning to online resources, including MIT OpenCourseWare, a part of MIT Open Learning offering educational materials from more than 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. For Ukrainian high school senior Sofiia Lipkevych and other students, MIT OpenCourseWare has provided valuable opportunities to take courses in key subject areas. However, while multiple Ukrainian students study English, many do not yet have sufficient command of the language to be able to fully understand and use the often very technical and complex OpenCourseWare content and materials. “At my school, I saw firsthand how language barriers prevented many Ukrainian students from accessing world-class education,” says Lipkevych. She was able to address this challenge as a participant in the Ukrainian Leadership and Technology Academy (ULTA), established by Ukrainian MIT students Dima Yanovsky and Andrii Zahorodnii. During summer 2024 at ULTA, Lipkevych worked on a browser extension that translated YouTube videos in real-time. Since MIT OpenCourseWare was a main source of learning materials for students participating in ULTA, she was inspired to translate OpenCourseWare lectures directly and to have this translation widely available on the OpenCourseWare website and YouTube channel. She reached out to Professor Elizabeth Wood, founding director of the MIT Ukraine Program, who connected her with MIT OpenCourseWare Director Curt Newton. Although there had been some translations of MIT OpenCourseWare’s educational resources available beginning in 2004, these initial translations were conducted manually by several global partners, without the efficiencies of the latest artificial intelligence tools, and over time the programs couldn’t be sustained, and shut down. “We were thrilled to have this contact with ULTA,” says Newton. “We’ve been missing having a vibrant translation community, and we are excited to have a ‘phase 2’ of translations emerge.” The ULTA team selected courses to translate based on demand among Ukrainian students, focusing on foundational subjects that are prerequisites for advanced learning — particularly those for which high-quality, Ukrainian-language materials are scarce. Starting with caption translations on videos of lectures, the team has translated the following courses so far: 18.06 (Linear Algebra), 2.003SC (Engineering Dynamics), 5.60 (Thermodynamics & Kinetics), 6.006 (Introduction to Algorithms), and 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python). They also worked directly with Andy Eskenazi, a PhD student in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, to translate 16.002 (How to CAD Almost Anything - Siemens NX Edition). Introduction to the Human Brain Video: MIT OpenCourseWare The ULTA team developed multiple tools to help break language barriers. For MIT OpenCourseWare’s PDF content available through the ULTA program, they created a specialized tool that uses optical character recognition to recognize LaTeX in documents — such as problem sets and other materials — and then used a few large language models to translate them, all while maintaining technical accuracy. The team built a glossary of technical terms used in the courses and their corresponding Ukrainian translations, to help make sure that the wording was correct and consistent. Each translation also undergoes human review to further ensure accuracy and high quality. For video content, the team initially created a browser extension that can translate YouTube video captions in real-time. They ultimately collaborated with ElevenLabs, implementing their advanced AI dubbing editor that preserves the original speaker’s tone, pace, and emotional delivery. The lectures are translated in the ElevenLabs dubbing editor, and then the audio is uploaded to the MIT OpenCourseWare YouTube channel. The team is currently finalizing the translation of the audio for class 9.13 (The Human Brain), taught by MIT Professor Nancy Kanwisher, which Lipkevych says they selected for its interdisciplinary nature and appeal to a wide variety of learners. This Ukrainian translation project highlights the transformative potential of the latest translation technologies, building upon a 2023 MIT OpenCourseWare experiment using the Google Aloud AI dubbing prototype on a few courses, including MIT Professor Patrick Winston’s How to Speak. The advanced capabilities of the dubbing editor used in this project are opening up possibilities for a much greater variety of language offerings throughout MIT OpenCourseWare materials. “I expect that in a few years we’ll look back and see that this was the moment when things shifted for OpenCourseWare to be truly usable for the whole world,” says Newton. Community-led language translations of MIT OpenCourseWare materials serve as a high-impact example of the power of OpenCourseWare’s Creative Commons licensing, which grants everyone the right to revise materials to suit their particular needs and redistribute those revisions to the world. While there isn’t currently a way for users of the MIT OpenCourseWare platform to quickly identify which videos are available in which languages, MIT OpenCourseWare is working toward building this capability into its website, as well as expanding its number of offerings in different languages. “This project represents more than just translation,” says Lipkevych. “We’re enabling thousands of Ukrainians to build skills that will be essential for the country’s eventual reconstruction. We’re also hoping this model of collaboration can be extended to other languages and institutions, creating a template for making high-quality education accessible worldwide.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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Bernardo Picão
Bernardo Picão
Student
Portugal
MIT OpenCourseWare “changed how I think about teaching and what a university is” Bernardo Picão, a graduate student in physics, has turned to MIT Open Learning’s resources throughout his educational journey. By Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Bernardo Picão has been interested in online learning since the early days of YouTube, when his father showed him a TED Talk. But it was with MIT Open Learning that he realized just how transformational digital resources can be. “YouTube was my first introduction to the idea that you can actually learn stuff via the internet,” Picão says. “So, when I became interested in mathematics and physics when I was 15 or 16, I turned to the internet and stumbled upon some playlists from MIT OpenCourseWare and went from there.” OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, offers free online educational resources from over 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. Since discovering it, Picão has explored linear algebra with Gilbert Strang, professor emeritus of mathematics — whom Picão calls “a legend” — and courses on metaphysics, functional analysis, quantum field theory, and English. He has returned to OpenCourseWare throughout his educational journey, which includes undergraduate studies in France and Portugal. Some courses provided different perspectives on material he was learning in his classes, while others filled gaps in his knowledge or satisfied his curiosity. Overall, Picão says that MIT resources made him a more robust scientist. He is currently completing a master’s degree in physics at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, where he researches prominent lattice quantum chromodynamics, an approach to the study of quarks that uses precise computer simulations. After completing his master’s degree, Picão says he will continue to a doctoral program in the field. At a recent symposium in Lisbon, Picão attended a lecture given by someone he had first seen in an OpenCourseWare video — Krishna Rajagopal, the William A. M. Burden Professor of Physics and former dean for digital learning at MIT Open Learning. There, he took the opportunity to thank Rajagopal for his support of OpenCourseWare, which Picão says is an important part of MIT’s mission as a leader in education. In addition to the range of subjects covered by OpenCourseWare, Picão praises the variety of instructors. All the courses are well-constructed, he says, but sometimes learners will connect with certain instructors or benefit from a particular presentation style. Since OpenCourseWare and other Open Learning programs offer such a wide range of free educational resources from MIT, learners can explore similar courses from different instructors to get new perspectives and round out their knowledge. While he enjoys his research, Picão’s passion is teaching. OpenCourseWare has helped him with that too, by providing models for how to teach math and science and how to connect with learners of different abilities and backgrounds. “I’m a very philosophical person,” he says. “I used to think that knowledge was intrinsically secluded in the large bindings of books, beyond the classroom walls, or inside the idiosyncratic minds of professors. OpenCourseWare changed how I think about teaching and what a university is — the point is not to keep knowledge inside of it, but to spread it.” Picão, now a teaching assistant at his institution, has been teaching since his days as a high school student tutoring his classmates or talking with members of his family. “I spent my youth sharing my knowledge with my grandmother and my extended family, including people who weren’t able to attend school past the fourth grade,” he says. “Seeing them get excited about knowledge is the coolest thing. Open Learning scales that up to the rest of the world and that can have an incredible impact.” The ability to learn from MIT experts has benefited Picão, deepening his understanding of the complex subjects that interest him. But, he acknowledges, he is a person who has access to high-quality instruction even without Open Learning. For learners who do not have that access, Open Learning is invaluable. “It’s hard to overstate the importance of such a project. MIT’s OpenCourseware and Open Learning profoundly shift how students all over the world can perceive their relationship with education: Besides an internet connection, the only requirement is the curiosity to explore the hundreds of expertly crafted courses and worksheets, perfect for self-studying,” says Picão. He continues, “People may find OpenCourseWare and think it is too good to be true. Why would such a prestigious institution break down the barriers to scientific education and commit to open-access, free resources? I want people to know: There is no catch. Sharing is the point.” “MIT OpenCourseWare ‘changed how I think about teaching and what a university is’” was originally published in MIT News on July 15, 2024.
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Ana Trišović
Ana Trišović
Researcher
USA
Ana Trišović, who studies the democratization of AI, reflects on a career path that she began as a student downloading free MIT resources in Serbia. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning As a college student in Serbia with a passion for math and physics, Ana Trišović found herself drawn to computer science and its practical, problem-solving approaches. It was then that she discovered MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, and decided to study a course on Data Analytics with Python in 2012 — something her school didn’t offer. That experience was transformative, says Trišović, who is now a research scientist at the FutureTech lab within MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. “That course changed my life,” she says. “Throughout my career, I have considered myself a Python coder, and MIT OpenCourseWare made it possible. I was in my hometown on another continent, learning from MIT world-class resources. When I reflect on my path, it’s incredible.” Over time, Trišović’s path led her to explore a range of OpenCourseWare resources. She recalls that, as a non-native English speaker, some of the materials were challenging. But thanks to the variety of courses and learning opportunities available on OpenCourseWare, she was always able to find ones that suited her. She encourages anyone facing that same challenge to be persistent. “If the first course doesn’t work for you, try another,” she says. “Being persistent and investing in yourself is the best thing a young person can do.” In her home country of Serbia, Trišović earned undergraduate degrees in computer science and mechanical engineering before going on to Cambridge University and CERN, where she contributed to work on the Large Hadron Collider and completed her PhD in computer science in 2018. She has also done research at the University of Chicago and Harvard University. “I like that computer science allows me to make an impact in a range of fields, but physics remains close to my heart, and I’m constantly inspired by it,” she says. MIT FutureTech, an interdisciplinary research group, draws on computer science, economics, and management to identify computing trends that create risk and opportunities for sustainable economic growth. There, Trišović studies the democratization of AI, including the implications of open-source AI and how that will impact science. Her work at MIT is a chance to build on research she has been pursuing since she was in graduate school. “My work focuses on computational social science. For many years, I’ve been looking at what’s known as ’the science of science’ — investigating issues like research reproducibility," Trišović explains. “Now, as AI becomes increasingly prevalent and introduces new challenges, I’m interested in examining a range of topics — from AI democratization to its effects on the scientific method and the broader landscape of science.” Trišović is grateful that, way back in 2012, she made the decision to try something new and learn with an OpenCourseWare course. “I instantly fell in love with Python the moment I took that course. I have such a soft spot for OpenCourseWare — it shaped my career,” she says. “Every day at MIT is inspiring. I work with people who are excited to talk about AI and other fascinating topics.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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Bia Adams
Bia Adams
Independent Learner
United Kingdom
Psychologist Bia Adams discovered a passion for computational neuroscience thanks to open-access MIT educational resources. Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning Bia Adams, a London-based neuropsychologist, former professional ballet dancer, and MIT Open Learning learner, has built her career across decades of diverse, interconnected experiences and an emphasis on lifelong learning. She earned her bachelor’s degree in clinical and behavioral psychology, and then worked as a psychologist and therapist for several years before taking a sabbatical in her late 20s to study at the London Contemporary Dance School and The Royal Ballet — fulfilling a long-time dream. “In hindsight, I think what drew me most to ballet was not so much the form itself,” says Adams, “but more of a subconscious desire to make sense of my body moving through space and time, my emotions and motivations — all within a discipline that is rigorous, meticulous, and routine-based. It’s an endeavor to make sense of the world and myself.” After acquiring some dance-related injuries, Adams returned to psychology. She completed an online certificate program specializing in medical neuroscience via Duke University, focusing on how pathology arises out of the way the brain computes information and generates behavior. In addition to her clinical practice, she has also worked at a data science and AI consultancy for neural network research. In 2022, in search of new things to learn and apply to both her work and personal life, Adams discovered MIT OpenCourseWare within MIT Open Learning. She was drawn to class 8.04 (Quantum Physics I), which specifically focuses on quantum mechanics, as she was hoping to finally gain some understanding of complex topics that she had tried to teach herself in the past with limited success. She credits the course’s lectures, taught by Allan Adams (physicist and principal investigator of the MIT Future Ocean Lab), with finally making these challenging topics approachable. “I still talk to my friends at length about exciting moments in these lectures,” says Adams. “After the first class, I was hooked.” Adams’s journey through MIT Open Learning’s educational resources quickly led to a deeper interest in computational neuroscience. She learned how to use tools from mathematics and computer science to better understand the brain, nervous system, and behavior. She says she gained many new insights from class 6.034 (Artificial Intelligence), particularly in watching the late Professor Patrick Winston’s lectures. She appreciated learning more about the cognitive psychology aspect of AI, including how pioneers in the field looked at how the brain processes information and aimed to build programs that could solve problems. She further enhanced her understanding of AI with the Minds and Machines course on MITx Online, part of Open Learning. Adams is now in the process of completing Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python, taught by John Guttag; Eric Grimson, former interim vice president for Open Learning; and Ana Bell. “I am multilingual, and I think the way my brain processes code is similar to the way computers code,” says Adams. “I find learning to code similar to learning a foreign language: both exhilarating and intimidating. Learning the rules, deciphering the syntax, and building my own world through code is one of the most fascinating challenges of my life.” Adams is also pursuing a master’s degree at Duke and the University College of London, focusing on the neurobiology of sleep and looking particularly at how the biochemistry of the brain can affect this critical function. As a complement to this research, she is currently exploring class 9.40 (Introduction to Neural Computation), taught by Michale Fee and Daniel Zysman, which introduces quantitative approaches to understanding brain and cognitive functions and neurons and covers foundational quantitative tools of data analysis in neuroscience. In addition to the courses related more directly to her field, MIT Open Learning also provided Adams an opportunity to explore other academic areas. She delved into philosophy for the first time, taking Paradox and Infinity, taught by Professor Agustín Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and Digital Learning Lab Fellow David Balcarras, which looks at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics. She also was able to explore in more depth immunology, which had always been of great interest to her, through Professor Adam Martin’s lectures on this topic in class 7.016 (Introductory Biology). “I am forever grateful for MIT Open Learning,” says Adams, “for making knowledge accessible and fostering a network of curious minds, all striving to share, expand, and apply this knowledge for the greater good.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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June Odongo
June Odongo
Independent Learner
Kenya
Entrepreneur creates career pathways with MIT OpenCourseWare June Odongo uses free, online MIT courses to train high-quality candidates, making them job-ready. By Sara Feijo | MIT Open Learning When June Odongo interviewed early-career electrical engineer Cynthia Wacheke for a software engineering position at her company, Wacheke lacked knowledge of computer science theory but showed potential in complex problem-solving. Determined to give Wacheke a shot, Odongo turned to MIT OpenCourseWare to create a six-month “bridging course” modeled after the classes she once took as a computer science student. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. “Wacheke had the potential and interest to do the work that needed to be done, so the way to solve this was for me to literally create a path for her to get that work done,” says Odongo, founder and CEO of Senga Technologies. Developers, Odongo says, are not easy to find. The OpenCourseWare educational resources provided a way to close that gap. “We put Wacheke through the course last year, and she is so impressive,” Odongo says. “Right now, she is doing our first machine learning models. It’s insane how good of a team member she is. She has done so much in such a short time.” Making high-quality candidates job-ready Wacheke, who holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nairobi, started her professional career as a hardware engineer. She discovered a passion for software while working on a dashboard design project, and decided to pivot from hardware to software engineering. That’s when she discovered Senga Technologies, a logistics software and services company in Kenya catering to businesses that ship in Africa. Odongo founded Senga with the goal of simplifying and easing the supply chain and logistics experience, from the movement of goods to software tools. Senga’s ultimate goal, Odongo says, is to have most of their services driven by software. That means employees — and candidates — need to be able to think through complex problems using computer science theory. “A lot of people are focused on programming, but we care less about programming and more about problem-solving,” says Odongo, who received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and an MBA from Harvard Business School. “We actually apply the things people learn in computer science programs.” Wacheke started the bridging course in June 2022 and was given six months to complete the curriculum on the MIT OpenCourseWare website. She took nine courses, including: Introduction to Algorithms; Mathematics for Computer Science; Design and Analysis of Algorithms; Elements of Software Construction; Automata, Computability, and Complexity; Database Systems; Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making; Introduction to Machine Learning; and Networks. “The bridging course helped me learn how to think through things,” Wacheke says. “It’s one thing to know how to do something, but it’s another to design that thing from scratch and implement it.” During the bridging course, Wacheke was paired with a software engineer at Senga, who mentored her and answered questions along the way. She learned Ruby on Rails, a server-side web application framework under the MIT License. Wacheke also completed other projects to complement the theory she was learning. She created a new website that included an integration to channel external requests to Slack, a cross-platform team communication tool used by the company’s employees. Continuous learning for team members The bridging course concluded with a presentation to Senga employees, during which Wacheke explained how the company could use graph theory for decision-making. “If you want to get from point A to B, there are algorithms you can use to find the shortest path,” Wacheke says. “Since we’re a logistics company, I thought we could use this when we’re deciding which routes our trucks take.” The presentation, which is the final requirement for the bridging course, is also a professional development opportunity for Senga employees. “This process is helpful for our team members, particularly those who have been out of school for a while,” Odongo says. “The candidates present what they’ve learned in relation to Senga. It’s a way of doing continuous learning for the existing team members.” After successfully completing the bridging course in November 2022, Wacheke transitioned to a full-time software engineer role. She is currently developing a “machine” that can interpret and categorize hundreds of documents, including delivery notes, cash flows, and receipts. “The goal is to enable our customers to simply feed those documents into our machine, and then we can more accurately read and convert them to digital formats to drive automation,” Odongo says. “The machine will also enable someone to ask a document a question, such as ‘What did I deliver to retailer X on date Y?’ or ‘What is the total price of the goods delivered?’” The bridging course, which was initially custom-designed for Wacheke, is now a permanent program at Senga. A second team member completed the course in October 2023 and has joined the software team full time. “Developers are not easy to find, and you also want high-quality developers,” Odongo says. “At least when we do this, we know that the person has gone through what we need.” Read the Original Article This article was republished with permission from the MIT News Office
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Andrea Henshall
Andrea Henshall
Independent Learner
United States
Veteran and PhD student Andrea Henshall has used MIT Open Learning to soar from the Air Force to multiple aeronautics degrees. By Katherine Ouellette | MIT Open Learning Andrea Henshall, a retired major in the U.S. Air Force and current MIT PhD student, has completed seven tours of combat, two years of aerial circus performance, and three higher education degrees (so far). But throughout each step of her journey, all roads seemed to point to MIT. Currently working on her doctoral degree with an MIT master’s already in her toolkit, she is quick to attribute her academic success to MIT’s open educational resources. “I kept coming back to MIT-produced open source learning,” she says. “MIT dominates in educational philanthropy when it comes to free high-quality learning sources.” To this day, Henshall recommends MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and MITx courses to students and her fellow veterans who are transitioning out of the service. A love of flight and a drive to excel Henshall first discovered OCW as she was pursuing her master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. Transitioning from an applied engineering program at the United States Air Force Academy to a more theoretical program proved a challenge for Henshall, and her first semester grades got her put on academic probation. During Independent Activities Period, she took Professor Gilbert Strang’s linear algebra courses on OCW, which included both videos and homework. Henshall found Strang very engaging and easy to learn from and found it helpful to work through the homework when they had the solutions available. She was able to lift her grades the following semester, and by the end of her program, she was getting all A’s. Henshall says, “OpenCourseWare really saved me. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to complete my master’s.” Ever since Henshall learned the term “astronautical engineer” in the fourth grade, she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. That early love of outer space and building things led her to a bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering and the Air Force. There she served as a research and development officer, instructor pilot, and chief financial officer of her squadron. But a non-combat-related injury forced her to medically retire from being a pilot. “I was not doing well physically, and it was impossible for me to get hired to be a pilot outside of the Air Force.” After a brief detour as a part-time aerial circus performer, she decided to go back to school. Watch Andrea Henshall’s story about How MIT OpenCourseWare and MITx helped her soar. Learning how to learn Working outside of academia for eight years proved to be a tough transition. Henshall says, “I had to translate the work I had done in the military into something relevant for an academic application, and the language they were looking for was very different from what I was used to.” She thought acquiring more recent academic work might help improve her application. She attended Auburn University for her second master’s degree (this time in computer science and software engineering) and started a PhD. Again she turned to MIT OCW to supplement her studies. Henshall says, “I remembered vividly how much it had helped me in 2005, so of course that’s where I was going to start. Then I noticed that OCW linked to MITx, which had more interactive quizzes.” The OCW platform had also become more robust since she had first used it. “Back then, it was new, there wasn’t necessarily a standard,” she says. Over 10 years later, she found that most courses had more material, videos, and notes that more closely approximated an MIT course experience. Those additional open education resources gave Henshall an extra edge to complete a 21-month program in 12 months with a 4.0 GPA. Her advisor told her that she had the best thesis defense he had seen in 25 years. In 2019, Henshall’s success helped her get accepted to MIT’s PhD program in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in the Autonomy and Embedded Robotics Accelerated (AERA) lab under the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), with a Lester Durand Gardner Fellowship. Her focus is controls systems with a minor in quantum information. She says, “I’m literally living my dream. I’m at my dream school with my dream advisor.” Working with Professor Sertac Karaman in LIDS, Henshall plans to write her thesis on multi-agent reinforcement learning. But her relationship with online learning is far from over; again she has turned to OCW and MITx resources for the foundation to succeed in subjects such as controls, machine learning, quantum mechanics, and quantum computation. When the pandemic struck the East Coast, Henshall was only nine months into her PhD program at MIT. The pivot to online learning made it difficult to continue building relationships with classmates. But what was a new course experience for many learners during the pandemic felt very familiar to Henshall. “I had a leg up because I already knew how to learn through prerecorded videos on a computer instead of three-dimensional human standing in front of a chalkboard. I had already learned how to learn.” A lifelong commitment to service Henshall plans to return to the Department of Defense or related industries. Currently, she works collaboratively on two major projects related to her PhD thesis and her career path after she completes the program. The first project is an AI accelerator program through the Air Force. Her work with unmanned aerial vehicles (a.k.a. drones) uses a small quadrotor to autonomously and quickly search a building using reinforcement learning. The primary intended use is search and rescue. The second project involves research into multi-agent reinforcement learning and pathfinding. While also intended for search and rescue, they could be used for a variety of non-emergency inspection purposes as well. Henshall is eager to share open education resources. At Auburn she shared OCW materials with her classmates, and now she uses them with the students she tutors. She’s also committed to sharing knowledge and resources with her fellow service members, and is an active member of a number of veterans’ organizations. With the Warrior-Scholar Project, she answers questions from enlisted people going into undergraduate programs, ranging from “What’s parking like?” to “How did you prepare for school?” As a Service to School ambassador, she is assigned to mentor veterans who are transitioning out of the military and looking to apply to graduate school, usually MIT hopefuls or other competitive schools. She’s able to draw from her own application experience to help others identify the core message their application should communicate and finesse the language to sound less like a military brief and more like the “academic speak” they will encounter moving forward. Henshall says, “My trajectory would be so different if MITx and OCW didn’t exist, and I feel that’s true for so many thousands of other students. So many other institutions have copied the model, but MIT was the first and it’s still the best.” Originally published on https://news.mit.edu on March 16, 2022 and reposted from Medium. We hope you’ve been inspired by this story and by OCW’s effort to meet the needs of learners eager to enhance their knowledge, lift up their communities, and change the world for the benefit of everyone. Please consider supporting our work with a donation or if giving isn’t possible right now, we’d love to hear how OCW has made a difference in your life or classroom. We’d appreciate it!
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İleri Çalışmalar
İleri Çalışmalar
Students
Turkey
Study group of medical students in Turkey uses free MIT resources to pursue a PhD-level research agenda. By Duyen Nguyen | MIT Open Learning About two years ago, a group of medical students at Ege University Faculty of Medicine in Turkey began meeting to study single variable calculus. None of the students had taken a course in this subject before. But with the guidance of lectures, slides, and other freely available resources on MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), they soon advanced onto multivariable calculus. Then differential equations. Then linear algebra. Today, the students, who call their study group İleri Çalışmalar, or “Advanced Studies,” are paving their own road toward doctoral-level studies — with MIT OCW as their main resource. “Our motivation is to create a theoretical background in order to do research while we’re studying in medical school,” says Yıldırım Adalıoğlu, one of the study group’s co-founders, who explains that MD-PhD programs, which prepare students to become both clinicians and researchers, have only recently become available in Turkey, and are rare. “We didn’t have the chance to do doctoral-level research during medical school. We decided to create that for ourselves.” Using OCW courses to build their own curriculum, the members of İleri Çalışmalar have developed an independent program of study while working toward their medical degrees. The study group devotes about three months — the equivalent of an MIT semester — to each course in their curriculum. While most of their peers are on the clinician path, the group co-founded by Sıla Özkal, Begüm Tahhan, and Çağan Kaplan typically draws six to 10 students per course. Support and collaboration to pursue focused interests Depending on their schedule, Kaplan explains, the students meet weekly to discuss the OCW lectures and to review course materials. At each meeting, one or more members of the group volunteer to recap the lectures and to facilitate discussion. For new courses — like probability, the group’s current focus — the students approach discussion sessions collaboratively. “After nearly two years of medical coursework,” Adalıoğlu says, “we can now teach and adapt the earlier courses for new students as well.” The group also brainstorms potential research projects, some of which they have already carried out, independently and in collaboration with faculty from other departments and labs. For instance, over the summer a few students from the group interned at a biomedicine and genome research center. They drew on the knowledge they gained from classes 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python) and 6.0002 (Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science) to work on a study on analyzing the effects of mutations in a specific protein. The internship called for a background in computational research and data analysis. Thanks to MIT OCW, the İleri Çalışmalar students were well-prepared, says Adalıoğlu. “If we didn’t have the Python course from MIT, then we couldn’t go to the lab and do the internship there.” Combining their medical interests with their OCW coursework, Adalıoğlu and Kaplan also developed a computational model to study the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany. They’re now in the process of trying to publish their findings. “OCW broadens our horizons,” Kaplan says. Adalıoğlu adds, “If we want to do computational research, it’s mainly up to us. There aren’t many people on the medical faculty that work on computational projects. That’s why when we decide to do a computational project, either we solve the problems ourselves or we ask for help from professors from other universities and labs.” For Tahhan, who interned at a government science institute, where she studied hyperlipidemia in pediatric patients, the OCW courses have opened new areas of interest. “I realized I was interested in biochemistry when I took the 5.08J Biological Chemistry II course from OCW, so I applied for the internship,” she says. Özkal, who attends a cancer research internship, also credits the OCW courses that İleri Çalışmalar has covered with advancing her research goals. The tool kits to build their own future Currently in their third and fourth years of medical school, the İleri Çalışmalar founders note that OpenCourseWare has been a useful supplement to their medical studies as well. While studying the human gastrointestinal system, for example, they revisited the biological chemistry course materials to better understand the biochemical pathways that lead to absorption. “When we are confused about any subject, we can always go back to OCW and search for the slides,” says Kaplan. “We all want to do novel research and study the topics that allow people to understand our universe better. That’s why we started medical school, that’s why we want to do a PhD after medical school,” Adalıoğlu says. “We all love medicine and we love pathology, physiology, learning about diseases — we want to solve the problems that come from these diseases, but we need the tool kits to do research. Thanks to MIT OpenCourseWare and our own efforts, I hope we can create some vision — a path for other students after us.” “Enabling advanced studies in Turkey with MIT OpenCourseWare” was originally published in MIT News on January 12, 2023.
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Emmanuel Kasigazi
Emmanuel Kasigazi
Independent Learner
Uganda
“I get the chance to not only watch the future happen, but I can actually be a part of it and create it,” says Ugandan entrepreneur Emmanuel Kasigazi. Duyen Nguyen | MIT Open Learning Like millions of others during the global Covid-19 lockdowns, Emmanuel Kasigazi, an entrepreneur from Uganda, turned to YouTube to pass the time. But he wasn’t following an influencer or watching music videos. A lifelong learner, Kasigazi was scouring the video-sharing platform for educational resources. Since 2013, when he got his first smartphone, Kasigazi has been charting his own learning journey through YouTube, educating himself on subjects as diverse as psychology and artificial intelligence. And it was while searching for the answer to an AI-related question that Kasigazi first discovered MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW). “Here they were, all these courses by one of the best — if not the best — schools in tech in the world, and they were free. For a long time I couldn’t believe it. I told everyone I knew." “The search results showed MIT lectures, and I thought, ‘Which MIT is this?’” recalls Kasigazi, who admits he was initially skeptical as he opened the OCW YouTube channel. To his amazement, he found hundreds of courses there — not only clips, but complete lectures that he could follow alongside the students in MIT classrooms. He searched for more information on OCW and tried the channel on different browsers to triple-check its credibility. “Here they were, all these courses by one of the best — if not the best — schools in tech in the world, and they were free. For a long time I couldn’t believe it. I told everyone I knew,” he remembers. For Kasigazi, the channel became a gateway to other open education resources, including the OpenCourseWare website and MITx courses, both part of MIT Open Learning. “I always had the questions — I grew up on science cartoons like ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ and ‘Pinky and the Brain’ — so I would go on YouTube to try to find answers to these questions, and I found this whole other world,” he says. OCW launched its YouTube channel in 2008, and this August passed 4 million subscribers. While introductory computer science, math, and physics are the most-visited courses on the OCW website, the most popular YouTube videos reflect a more diverse range of interests, including a lecture about piloting a fighter jet aircraft, an introduction to the human brain, and an introduction to financial terms and concepts. Through this extensive collection, Kasigazi explains that he’s been able to explore “the things I love,” while also studying cloud computing, data science, and AI — fields that he plans to pursue in graduate studies. He says, “This is what OpenCourseWare has enabled me to do: I get the chance to not only watch the future happen, but I can actually be a part of it and create it.” Understanding humanity through the liberal arts When Kasigazi was young, a beloved aunt recognized his natural curiosity and steered him toward the best schools. “I owe her everything,” he says, “everything I am is because of her.” Thanks to his excellent grades he received an academic scholarship from the Ugandan government to attend Makerere University, one of the top universities in sub-Saharan Africa, where he earned a degree in information systems. Having pursued IT for its practical applications, Kasigazi admits that he was initially more interested in the science and theory behind computers than “the coding bits of it.” “I love the concept of it — how we are trying to make these machines,” he says, explaining that he’s long been drawn to the social sciences and humanities, particularly psychology and philosophy. “I’m interested in how we work as human beings, because everything we do is for, with, and around human beings,” says Kasigazi, who considers psychology to be foundational to almost every field. “Whatever it is you’re teaching these kids, they’re going to be dealing with people. So first teach them what people think, how they act — that was my drive to love psychology.” Kasigazi has also turned to OCW to brush up on his coding skills, watching 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python) lectures with Professor Ana Bell and reviewing the instructor-paced version with Professor Eric Grimson now on MITx. “I am proud to say MIT OCW has made me fall in love with coding … it makes sense like it never has before,” he says. Nurturing a worldview In 2014 Kasigazi moved to South Sudan, which had only recently emerged from a civil war as an independent nation. Fresh out of university, he was there to teach computer skills and graphic design — some of his students included members of the new country’s government — but his time in South Sudan quickly became a learning experience for him, too. “When you grow up in your community, you have this bubble. We all experience it — it’s a human thing,” he reflects. “For the first time, I realized that everything I knew is not a given. Everything I grew up knowing is not universal.” With his worldview newly broadened, he began to nurture his interest in psychology, philosophy, and the sciences, watching crash courses, explainer videos, and other content on the subject. “It’s entertainment, to me, at the same time that it’s a passion,” he says. Today Kasigazi runs his own company, which he started in 2012 with friends and resumed when he returned to Uganda seven years ago. Since coming across the OCW YouTube channel, Kasigazi has worked through all of the freely available MIT psychology courses. Professor John Gabrieli’s 9.00SC (Introduction to Psychology) have particularly resonated with him, even prompting him to reach out to Gabrieli. “As much as I’d been getting some knowledge on psychology over the years online, it wasn’t as deep and as interesting or captivating as your classes were,” he wrote. “From your teaching style, to the explanations, to the topics, to how you make people understand a topic, to the experiments mentioned and referenced, to how you approach questions and later make one think deeper about them.” “The message from Emmanuel is deeply touching about the joy of learning,” says Gabrieli, who is also an investigator at the McGovern Institute. “I am so grateful to OCW for making this course on psychology open to the world, and to Emmanuel for so delightfully sharing what this course meant to him.” New courses are added regularly to both the OCW website and YouTube channel. Kasigazi, who’s currently enjoying 9.13 (Introduction to the Human Brain) from professor and McGovern Institute investigator Nancy Kanwisher, looks forward to discovering what new worlds of knowledge they’ll open. Reposted from https://news.mit.edu on November 7, 2022. We hope you’ve been inspired by this story and by OCW’s effort to meet the needs of learners eager to enhance their knowledge, lift up their communities, and change the world for the benefit of everyone. Please consider supporting our work with a donation or if giving isn’t possible right now, we’d love to hear how OCW has made a difference in your life or classroom. We’d appreciate it!
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Juan Guerrero
Juan Guerrero
Independent Learner
United States
After a 33-year career in biotechnology, Juan Guerrero uses MIT Open Learning’s online resources to continue improving his skills and understanding. Katherine Ouellette | MIT Open Learning Over Juan Guerrero’s 33-year biotechnology career, he has watched gene editing evolve from theory to reality. But Guerrero still recognizes the importance of continuing his education despite having a front-row seat to the genome industry since its inception. Guerrero received a degree in biology from University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in 1992, and joined the workforce of thousands of sequencers mapping DNA. However, six years after leaving his job as a sequencing associate at Incyte, a lecturer at UC Berkeley informed Guerrero that the technology used to sequence the human genome had already become obsolete. “This stark contrast highlights the rapid pace of technological evolution in this field,” says Guerrero. “Motivated by this insight, I decided to return to school, starting with a course in genetics.” That’s when Guerrero enrolled as a part-time student at Pasadena City College in Los Angeles in 2016. Since then, he continues to deepen his knowledge with MIT Open Learning educational resources. “I decided to update my skills in the sciences because they change rapidly,” says Guerrero. Strengthening understanding Guerrero credits MIT Open Learning’s online resources with making a significant difference in his academic journey over the last decade. While searching for extra study materials to practice key concepts from his Pasadena City College courses, Guerrero was thrilled to find that MIT OpenCourseWare, part of Open Learning, offers a comprehensive collection of educational materials from thousands of MIT courses all in one place. “Due to the excellent array of available biology courses, I selectively explore topics from various OpenCourseWare course materials according to the particular concepts I wish to comprehend,” he says. Guerrero appreciates that OpenCourseWare dives deep into specific topics through an assortment of quizzes, exams, lecture notes, and videos. “It does challenge you to learn the concept, while at the same time, retaining it much better,” says Guerrero. MIT’s approach is different from how he first learned these concepts as an undergraduate — which he describes as “brute force memorization.” In one OpenCourseWare biology course lecture, for example, Guerrero studied a diagram of a cell that traced the path from nucleus to DNA. During a later assignment about protein production, he made the connection, “Oh, it goes by path. It’s organized,” he says. This holistic approach to learning helped strengthen his understanding of the concept. Guerrero also appreciates the platform’s flexibility, allowing him to learn on his own schedule. “What truly sets OpenCourseWare apart is its commitment to accessibility,” Guerrero says. “Not every student needs to be enrolled in a program and OpenCourseWare has made that possible. You can access what you want and it’s free.” Additionally, OpenCourseWare’s Creative Commons license allows anyone to modify, remix, and reuse its resources. This is particularly important for community colleges, like Pasadena City College, participating in California’s Zero Textbook Cost Program. The strength of OpenCourseWare for educators and students, Guerrero says, is that “people know it’s coming from a reliable, verified source — coming from MIT.” Researching medical applications After three decades in the biotech industry with roles ranging from research and development, to production, to quality assurance, Guerrero aspires to return to DNA research. He hopes to use advanced technologies that weren’t available during his previous time in the field — such as Next Generation Sequencing and CRISPR — to develop new medical applications. He aims to transform theoretical concepts into practical treatments for curing diseases and other conditions. “I’ve always thought about that aspect of helping someone with the technology made available,” he says. “However, I would prefer to remain in an academic environment until I have developed a comprehensive understanding of these technologies, as well as a solid foundation in genetics, which I believe is essential for effectively employing these advancements.” He says that OpenCourseWare has offered him a wealth of resources for his studies in genetics and other biological and chemical sciences. “The internet sped up the dissemination of all kinds of information,” Guerrero says. “There’s always so much more out there. You need updated knowledge.”
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OpenCourseWare Stories

Stories from the OpenCourseWare community reflect the profound impact of sharing knowledge and the transformative power of open education.

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Freesia Gaul
Freesia Gaul
Independent Learner
Australia
Nineteen-year-old Freesia Gaul built a VR prototype thanks to MIT OpenCourseWare classes that provided “a solid foundation of knowledge and problem-solving abilities.” Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning When Freesia Gaul discovered MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare at just 14 years old, it opened up a world of learning far beyond what her classrooms could offer. Her parents had started a skiing company, and the seasonal work meant that Gaul had to change schools every six months. Growing up in small towns in Australia and Canada, she relied on the internet to fuel her curiosity. “I went to 13 different schools, which was hard because you’re in a different educational system every single time,” says Gaul. “That’s one of the reasons I gravitated toward online learning and teaching myself. Knowledge is something that exists beyond a curriculum.” The small towns she lived in often didn’t have a lot of resources, she says, so a computer served as a main tool for learning. She enjoyed engaging with Wikipedia, ultimately researching topics and writing and editing content for pages. In 2018, she discovered MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, and took her first course. OpenCouseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. “I really got started with the OpenCourseWare introductory electrical engineering classes, because I couldn’t find anything else quite like it online,” says Gaul, who was initially drawn to courses on circuits and electronics, such as 6.002 (Circuits and Electronics) and 6.01SC (Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science). “It really helped me in terms of understanding how electrical engineering worked in a practical sense, and I just started modding things.” In true MIT “mens et manus” (“mind and hand”) fashion, Gaul spent much of her childhood building and inventing, especially when she was able to access a 3D printer. She says that a highlight was when she built a life-sized, working version of a Mario Kart, constructed out of materials she had printed. Gaul calls herself a “serial learner,” and has taken many OpenCourseWare courses. In addition to classes on circuits and electronics, she also took courses in linear algebra, calculus, and quantum physics — in which she took a particular interest. When she was 15, she participated in Qubit by Qubit. Hosted by The Coding School, in collaboration with universities (including MIT) and tech companies, this two-semester course introduces high schoolers to quantum computing and quantum physics. During that time she started a blog called On Zero, representing the “zero state” of a qubit. “The ‘zero state’ in a quantum computer is the representation of creativity from nothing, infinite possibilities,” says Gaul. For the blog, she found different topics and researched them in depth. She would think of a topic or question, such as “What is color?” and then explore it in great detail. What she learned eventually led her to start asking questions such as “What is a hamiltonian?” and teaching quantum physics alongside PhDs. Building on these interests, Gaul chose to study quantum engineering at the University of New South Wales. She notes that on her first day of university, she participated in iQuHack, the MIT Quantum Hackathon. Her team worked to find a new way to approximate the value of a hyperbolic function using quantum logic, and received an honorable mention for “exceptional creativity.” Gaul’s passion for making things continued during her college days, especially in terms of innovating to solve a problem. When she found herself on a train, wanting to code a personal website on a computer with a dying battery, she wondered if there might be a way to make a glove that can act as a type of Bluetooth keyboard — essentially creating a way to type in the air. In her spare time, she started working on such a device, ultimately finding a less expensive way to build a lightweight, haptic, gesture-tracking glove with applications for virtual reality (VR) and robotics. Gaul says she has always had an interest in VR, using it to create her own worlds, reconstruct an old childhood house, and play Dungeons and Dragons with friends. She discovered a way to put into a glove some small linear resonant actuators, which can be found in a smartphone or gaming controller, and map to any object in VR so that the user can feel it. An early prototype that Gaul put together in her dorm room received a lot of attention on YouTube. She went on to win the People’s Choice award for it at the SxSW Sydney 2025 Tech and Innovation Festival. This design also sparked her co-founding of the tech startup On Zero, named after her childhood blog dedicated to the love of creation from nothing. Gaul sees the device, in general, as a way of “paying it forward,” making improved human-computer interaction available to many — from young students to professional technologists. She hopes to enable creative freedom in as many as she can. “The mind is just such a fun thing. I want to empower others to have the freedom to follow their curiosity, even if it’s pointless on paper. “I’ve benefited from people going far beyond what they needed to do to help me,” says Gaul. “I see OpenCourseWare as a part of that. The free courses gave me a solid foundation of knowledge and problem-solving abilities. Without these, it wouldn’t be possible to do what I’m doing now.” This story was originally published on MIT News.
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Hinata Yamahara
Hinata Yamahara
High School Student
United States
High schooler Hinata Yamahara’s interest in urban planning was nurtured by free MIT resources, including OpenCourseWare. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Hinata Yamahara was 10 years old, on a family trip to Osaka, Japan, when he started riding the train alone. Those train rides sparked an interest in something he didn’t have words for at the time — how cities are built, and how people navigate them. Now at 17 and applying to colleges, Yamahara has made the connection that investigating cities and how they work is a foundation for urban planning. MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, helped him develop knowledge and deepen his passion for walkable, community-oriented urban spaces. At the time of his first, fateful Osaka train ride, Yamahara lived in Atlanta, after having spent most of his elementary school years in rural Tennessee. Before that, he and his family had lived in Los Angeles. In all those places, he says, it was difficult for kids to get around. In fact, getting around without a car could be a challenge for anyone. Whenever he visited family in Japan, he was in awe of the efficiency of the train system and the ease of learning how to navigate it, in addition to the mixed-use buildings that combined commercial and residential spaces. As a 10-year-old, he simply thought they “were really cool” and quite different from what he saw at home. Now, he reflects on the efficient use of space in a country that is much smaller than the expansive United States. Back at home, Yamahara continued to reimagine the spaces around him, often printing out satellite imagery and drawing new possibilities over what existed. “Maybe instead of a giant parking lot, I’d draw a subway station and connect it to another part of the map,” he says. “But it was all imaginary. I didn’t know what was possible in terms of regulations or looking at past examples. So, I started to do research and kept coming across OpenCourseWare.” He remembers a moment of confusion, followed by one of excitement: “What is OpenCourseWare?” and, “Wait, everything is free!?” OpenCourseWare, an open publication of course materials from across the MIT curriculum, allows users to browse content at their own pace. Learners can watch video lectures, read course notes, and hear from faculty experts, with no enrollment fees or start dates. Yamahara dove into the content, starting with 11.001J (Introduction to Urban Design and Development). He has since accessed a variety of courses and counts 11.948 (Power of Place: Media Technology, Youth, and City Design and Development) and 11.304J (Site and Infrastructure Systems Planning) among the most memorable. Exploring OpenCourseWare resources gave him a strong foundation to take his interest in urban planning and redesign into the real world. In summer 2025, Yamahara completed an internship with an Atlanta-area real estate firm working on a redesign project with a city agency. “Right now, this city has a downtown area with a lot of parking lots and empty retail spaces. I’m getting to learn firsthand how to develop it into something else,” he explains. “I’m part of meetings where we brainstorm how to create a community feeling, how to make a space creative and walkable, and how to make it somewhere people really want to be.” According to Yamahara, the experience draws on his appreciation for Japanese efficiency, as well as American inclusivity and his deep knowledge of zoning regulations, community-centered design, and transit equity — all gained through OpenCourseWare materials and resources. As Yamahara looks toward college and his future, he says he sees two paths influenced by MIT’s free educational resources. On one path, he studies urban planning, as OpenCourseWare materials have only reaffirmed his passion for the field and given him knowledge and confidence. On another path, he imagines using his time as an undergraduate to explore other interests, including aviation and real estate. On that path, OpenCourseWare would allow him to continue his urban planning education independently. He’s grateful that he could take advantage of OpenCourseWare resources without submitting an application and considering tuition and financial aid. All he needed was an interest and a determination to learn, and he had both. “OpenCourseWare has helped me grow from a kid with questions into a student designing solutions,” Yamahara says. “I still ride the train in the U.S. and Japan, but now, I bring a vision with me, too.” To explore additional lifelong learning offerings from MIT, visit MIT Learn. This story was originally published on MIT News.
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Salim Al-Hassanieh
Salim Al-Hassanieh
Educator
Syria
Retired professor Salim Al-Hassanieh has turned to MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare resources for decades, enriching his research and teaching. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Salim Al-Hassanieh has moved a lot over the course of his education and career. Born in Syria, he received his PhD from Université de Rennes in France and taught management sciences, organizational development, and information systems at University of Damascus and institutions in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. These days, he’s retired and divides his time between Syria and Germany. But Al-Hassanieh knows that with MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, you don’t need to move at all to experience American higher education. “I frequently recommended OpenCourseWare to my students and colleagues, particularly those with international aspirations,” he says. “I often told them, ‘If you want to study in America without leaving your home, go to MIT OpenCourseWare.’” Al-Hassanieh first remembers becoming aware of MIT and the Sloan School of Management in 1997, when he was researching a book project. Years later, when he was working on another book, “Managing by Creativity,” he revisited MIT and discovered OpenCourseWare. “When I found OpenCourseWare, I was immediately drawn to the quality, openness, and academic rigor of the platform,” he recalls. “I continue to consult OpenCourseWare regularly and receive its newsletter to this day, at the age of 80 years old.” He views open education resources as a beacon, saying that they can be a “vital gateway” for learners who may not otherwise have access to educational materials or the ability to travel. Courses on project management, leadership, organizational behavior, creativity, entrepreneurship, and generative AI have aided Al-Hassanieh in his research and teaching over the years. He stresses that it is not just the course content that is so impactful, but also the practical, forward-looking style of instruction. Some lectures, particularly those which emphasize systems thinking, inspired Al-Hassanieh’s own curriculum design and left a lasting impression. The clear structure and self-paced nature of OpenCourseWare courses helped Al-Hassanieh improve his academic English, which in turn created new publishing opportunities for him and his students. In 2012, he wrote a cultural book in English, “Illuminations on Arab-Islamic Public Administration Contributions,” and, in 2024, wrote an English-Arabic encyclopedic dictionary called “Your Comprehensive Guide to Success in Knowledge Management,” published by the Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO). “My research and my students’ learning journeys benefited from my English language learning,” he says. “I often encouraged my students to use OpenCourseWare not only to deepen their subject knowledge, but also to strengthen their English in an academic context.” Al-Hassanieh continues to learn from OpenCourseWare — even in retirement. He is actively conducting research, examining ideas relevant to political transitions, especially in the context of Syria. He explores lectures on generative AI and just this year wrote the Arabic-language book “Unlocking the Potential of GAI,” also published by ARADO. In his retirement, Al-Hassanieh prioritizes hope and peace alongside learning. He spends six months of the year in Berlin to be close to his adult children, who are surgeons there. He follows the news of changing politics in Syria and the world and says, “I hope that resources like OpenCourseWare can continue to showcase a narrative of knowledge sharing and educational empowerment.”
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Mostafa Fawzy
Mostafa Fawzy
Educator
Egypt
For physicist Mostafa Fawzy, MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare was a steadfast companion through countless study sessions. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Mostafa Fawzy became interested in physics in high school. It was the “elegance and paradox” of quantum theory that got his attention and led to his studies at the undergraduate and graduate level. But even with a solid foundation of coursework and supportive mentors, Fawzy wanted more. MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare was just the thing he was looking for. Now a doctoral candidate in atomic physics at Alexandria University and an assistant lecturer of physics at Alamein International University in Egypt, Fawzy reflects on how MIT OpenCourseWare bolstered his learning early in his graduate studies in 2019. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Fawzy was looking for advanced resources to supplement his research in quantum mechanics and theoretical physics, and he was immediately struck by the quality, accessibility, and breadth of MIT’s resources. “OpenCourseWare was transformative in deepening my understanding of advanced physics,” Fawzy says. “I found the structured lectures and assignments in quantum physics particularly valuable. They enhanced both my theoretical insight and practical problem-solving skills — skills I later applied in research on atomic systems influenced by magnetic fields and plasma environments.” He completed educational resources including Quantum Physics I and Quantum Physics II, calling them “dense and mathematically sophisticated.” He met the challenge by engaging with the content in different ways: first, by simply listening to lectures, then by taking detailed notes, and finally by working though problem sets. Although initially he struggled to keep up, this methodical approach paid off, he says. Fawzy is now in the final stages of his doctoral research on high-precision atomic calculations under extreme conditions. While in graduate school, he has published eight peer-reviewed international research papers, making him one of the most prolific doctoral researchers in physics working in Egypt currently. He served as an ambassador for the United Nations International Youth Conference (IYC), and he was nominated for both the African Presidential Leadership Program and the Davisson–Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics, a prestigious annual prize offered by the American Physical Society. He is grateful to his undergraduate mentors, professors M. Sakr and T. Bahy of Alexandria University, as well as to MIT OpenCourseWare, calling it a “steadfast companion through countless solitary nights of study, a beacon in times when formal resources were scarce, and a living testament to the nobility of open, unbounded learning.” Recognizing the power of mentorship and teaching, Fawzy serves as an academic mentor with the African Academy of Sciences, supporting early-career researchers across the continent in theoretical and atomic physics. “Many of these mentees lack access to advanced academic resources,” he explains. “I regularly incorporate OpenCourseWare into our mentorship sessions, using it as a foundational teaching and reference tool. It’s an equalizer, providing the same high-caliber content to students regardless of geographical or institutional limitations.” As he looks toward the future, Fawzy has big plans, influenced by MIT. “I aspire to establish a regional center for excellence in atomic and plasma physics, blending cutting-edge research with open-access education in the Global South,” he says. As he continues his research and teaching, he also hopes to influence science policy and contribute to international partnerships that shine the spotlight on research and science in emerging nations. Along the way, he says, “OpenCourseWare remains a cornerstone resource that I will return to again and again.” Fawzy says he’s also interested in MIT Open Learning resources in computational physics and energy and sustainability. He’s following MIT’s Energy Initiative, calling it increasingly relevant to his current work and future plans. Fawzy is a proponent of open learning and a testament to its power. “The intellectual seeds sown by Open Learning resources such as MIT OpenCourseWare have flourished within me, shaping my identity as a physicist and affirming my deep belief in the transformative power of knowledge shared freely, without barriers,” he says.
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Martina Solano Soto
Martina Solano Soto
High School Student
Spain
The 17-year-old student from Spain uses MIT resources to deepen her understanding of math and physics. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Martina Solano Soto is on a mission to pursue her passion for physics and, ultimately, to solve big problems. Since she was a kid, she has had a lot of questions: Why do animals exist? What are we doing here? Why don’t we know more about the Big Bang? And she has been determined to find answers. “That’s why I found MIT OpenCourseWare,” says Solano, of Girona, Spain. “When I was 14, I started to browse and wanted to find information that was reliable, dynamic, and updated. I found MIT resources by chance, and it’s one of the biggest things that has happened to me.” In addition to OpenCourseWare, which offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum, Solano also took advantage of the MIT Open Learning Library. Part of MIT Open Learning, the library offers free courses and invites people to learn at their own pace while receiving immediate feedback through interactive content and exercises. Solano, who is now 17, has studied quantum physics via OpenCourseWare — also part of MIT Open Learning — and she has taken Open Learning Library courses on electricity and magnetism, calculus, quantum computation, and kinematics. She even created her own syllabus, complete with homework, to ensure she stayed on track and kept her goals in mind. Those goals include studying math and physics as an undergraduate. She also hopes to study general relativity and quantum mechanics at the doctoral level. “I really want to unify them to find a theory of quantum gravity,” she says. “I want to spend all my life studying and learning.” Solano was particularly motivated by Barton Zwiebach, professor of physics, whose courses Quantum Physics I and Quantum Physics II are available on MIT OpenCourseWare. She took advantage of all of the resources that were provided: video lectures, assignments, lecture notes, and exams. “I was fascinated by the way he explained. I just understood everything, and it was amazing,” she says. “Then, I learned about his book, ‘A First Course in String Theory,’ and it was because of him that I learned about black holes and gravity. I’m extremely grateful.” While Solano gives much credit to the variety and quality of Open Learning resources, she also stresses the importance of being organized. As a high school student, she has things other than string theory on her mind: her school, extracurriculars, friends, and family. For anyone in a similar position, she recommends “figuring out what you’re most interested in and how you can take advantage of the flexibility of Open Learning resources. Is there a half-hour before bed to watch a video, or some time on the weekend to read lecture notes? If you figure out how to make it work for you, it is definitely worth the effort.” “If you do that, you are going to grow academically and personally,” Solano says. “When you go to school, you will feel more confident.” And Solano is not slowing down. She plans to continue using Open Learning resources, this time turning her attention to graduate-level courses, all in service of her curiosity and drive for knowledge. “When I was younger, I read the book ‘The God Equation,’ by Michio Kaku, which explains quantum gravity theory. Something inside me awoke,” she recalls. “I really want to know what happens at the center of a black hole, and how we unify quantum mechanics, black holes, and general relativity. I decided that I want to invest my life in this.” She is well on her way. Last summer, Solano applied for and received a scholarship to study particle physics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. This summer, she’s applying for opportunities to study the cosmos. All of this, she says, is only possible thanks to what she has learned with MIT Open Learning resources. “The applications ask you to explain what you like about physics, and thanks to MIT, I’m able to express that,” Solano says. “I’m able to go for these scholarships and really fight for what I dream.” Read the Original Article published on MIT News
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Sangat Tiwari
Sangat Tiwari
High School Student
Canada
High school student Sangat Tiwari found MIT OpenCourseWare at Open Learning in 8th grade and hasn’t looked back. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare resources have been part of Sangat Tiwari’s life since he was in 8th grade. Sometimes, he came across the resources by chance, like when he was looking for ways to improve his public speaking skills and found Patrick Winston’s How to Speak on the OpenCourseWare YouTube channel. Other times, his teachers recommended courses to deepen his knowledge, or he sought out specific courses to supplement what he was learning in class. Now in 11th grade, he uses the resources to complement his biology and chemistry courses and has become an OpenCourseWare advocate to his friends, family, and teachers. “Professor Winston’s lecture on public speaking is super popular, and I stumbled upon it when I wanted to get ahead of a school presentation. Since then, MIT has been in my life,” Tiwari says. “My 9th grade teachers recommended OpenCourseWare even though they said it might be a bit advanced, which I thought was pretty cool. And in 10th grade, I used the resources in my biology course.” Through his school, Tiwari takes classes that are part of the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program. Students who earn an IB diploma are qualified to enter higher education anywhere in the world — something appealing to Tiwari, who moved to Canada as a Bhutanese refugee from Nepal with his family when he was three years old. IB requires students to write extended essays, or year-long reports. He is working on essays for his chemistry and biology courses. MIT OpenCourseWare’s resources on solid state chemistry are proving useful as Tiwari prepares his essay on the structures and properties of molecules. “I’m also taking biology at the moment, so I have been looking at Professor Kanwisher’s course on the human brain,” says Tiwari. “I know all that is going to come up in my course. She has these amazing anecdotes related to what she’s explaining, and it really supplements my learning.” Although he says that math is not his strong suit, Tiwari has also been drawn into Gilbert Strang’s materials on MIT OpenCourseWare, particularly the class on different approaches to linear algebra. His own algebra class was just starting to study linear equations and matrices, so some of Strang’s material was difficult for Tiwari to understand. But it intrigued him enough to share the content with his teacher. “I told my teacher about the videos and that I learned that we could use matrices to find the intersection of linear equations way quicker than using substitution or elimination,” Tiwari explains. “He told me we would get to that eventually, so I kept watching. I’m not the best at math, but Professor Strang’s passion got to me.” As for Tiwari’s passion, it lies in biology and chemistry, specifically neurology and how diseases affect the human brain. He is particularly interested in Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which he notes is becoming more prevalent in the United States, and how it impacts brain function. But another passion is spreading the word about MIT OpenCourseWare. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses spanning MIT’s undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Tiwari shares OpenCourseWare materials with members of his school’s peer tutoring club. He says the materials supplement the tutoring pedagogy promoted by his school guidance office and are helpful in demonstrating effective teaching and sharing ideas tutors can incorporate into their own sessions. “Tutors are expected to have a high degree of course understanding since they are tutoring others, so OpenCourseWare is a ‘two birds, one stone’ situation, where tutors themselves further their own understanding,” Tiwari says. “Overall, OpenCourseWare has been a profound resource to develop tutors’ skills and act as a great guide.” Tiwari plans to keep using MIT OpenCourseWare as he finishes high school and beyond. “OpenCourseWare has taught me that I can learn anything if I want to — and anyone can,” he says. “If you’re starting out or even if you’re at the top of your class or field, there is so much great content from world-class professors! I think it’s invaluable.”
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Sujood Eldouma
Sujood Eldouma
Student
Sudan
Turning adversity into opportunity How a love for math and access to MIT Open Learning’s online learning resources helped a Sudanese learner pursue a career in data science. Carolyn Tiernan | MIT Open Learning Sujood Eldouma always knew she loved math; she just didn’t know how to use it for good in the world. But after a personal and educational journey that took her from Sudan to Cairo to London, all while leveraging MIT Open Learning’s online educational resources, she finally knows the answer: data science. An early love of data Eldouma grew up in Omdurman, Sudan, with her parents and siblings. She always had an affinity for STEM subjects, and at the University of Khartoum she majored in electrical and electronic engineering with a focus in control and instrumentation engineering. In her second year at university, Eldouma struggled with her first coding courses in C++ and C#, which are general-purpose programming languages. When a teaching assistant introduced Eldouma and her classmates to MIT OpenCourseWare for additional support, she promptly worked through OpenCourseWare’s C++ and C courses in tandem with her in-person classes. This began Eldouma’s ongoing connection with the open educational resources available through MIT Open Learning. OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, offers a free collection of materials from thousands of MIT courses, spanning the entire curriculum. To date, Eldouma has explored over 20 OpenCourseWare courses, and she says it is a resource she returns to regularly. Sujood from Sudan: An Open Learner’s Story Video: MIT OpenCourseWare. Listen to the interview here. “We started watching the videos and reading the materials, and it made our lives easier,” says Eldouma. “I took many OpenCourseWare courses in parallel with my classes throughout my undergrad, because we still did the same material. OpenCourseWare courses are structured differently and have different resources and textbooks, but at the end of the day it’s the same content.” For her graduation thesis, Eldouma did a project on disaster response and management in complex contexts, because at the time, Sudan was suffering from heavy floods and the country had limited resources to respond. “That’s when I realized I really love data, and I wanted to explore that more,” she says. While Eldouma loves math, she always wanted to find ways to use it for good. Through the early exposure to data science and statistical methods at her university, she saw how data science leverages math for real-world impact. After graduation, she took a job at the DAL Group, the largest Sudanese conglomerate, where she helped to incorporate data science and new technologies to automate processes within the company. When civil war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, life as Eldouma knew it was turned upside down, and her family was forced to make the difficult choice to relocate to Egypt. Purpose in adversity Soon after relocating to Egypt, Eldouma lost her job and found herself struggling to find purpose in the life circumstances she had been handed. Due to visa restrictions, challenges getting right-to-work permits, and a complicated employment market in Egypt, she was also unable to find a new job. “I was sort of in a depressive episode, because of all that was happening,” she reflects. “It just hit me that I lost everything that I know, everything that I love. I’m in a new country. I need to start from scratch.” Around this time, a friend who knew Eldouma was curious about data science sent her the link to apply to the MIT Emerging Talent Certificate in Data and Computer Science. With less than 24 hours before the application deadline, Eldouma hit “Submit.” Finding community and joy through learning Part of MIT Open Learning, MIT Emerging Talent at the MIT Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) develops global education programs that target the needs of talented individuals from challenging economic and social circumstances by equipping them with the knowledge and tools to advance their education and careers. The Certificate in Computer and Data Science is a year-long online learning program that follows an agile continuous education model. It incorporates computer science and data analysis coursework from MITx, professional skill building, experiential learning, apprenticeship options, and opportunities for networking with MIT’s global community. The program is targeted toward refugees, migrants, and first-generation low-income students from historically marginalized backgrounds and underserved communities worldwide. Although Eldouma had used data science in her role at the DAL Group, she was happy to have a proper introduction to the field and to find joy in learning again. She also found community, support, and inspiration from her classmates who were connected to each other not just by their academic pursuits, but by their shared life challenges. The cohort of 100 students stayed in close contact through the program, both for casual conversation and for group work. “In the final step of the Emerging Talent program, learners apply their computer and data knowledge in an experiential learning opportunity,” says Megan Mitchell, associate director for Pathways for Talent and acting director of J-WEL. “The experiential learning opportunity takes the form of an internship, apprenticeship, or an independent or collaborative project, and allows students to apply their knowledge in real-world settings and build practical skills.” Determined to apply her newly acquired knowledge in a meaningful way, Eldouma and fellow displaced Sudanese classmates designed a project to help solve a problem in their home country. The group identified access to education as a major problem facing Sudanese people, with schooling disrupted due to the conflict. Focusing on the higher education audience, the group partnered with community platform Nas Al Sudan to create a centralized database where students can search for scholarships and other opportunities to continue their education. Eldouma completed the MIT Emerging Talent program in June 2024 with a clear vision to pursue a career in data science, and the confidence to achieve that goal. In fact, she had already taken the steps to get there: halfway through the certificate program, she applied and was accepted to the MITx MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science at Open Learning and the London School of Economics (LSE) Masters of Science in Data Science. In January 2024, Eldouma started the MicroMasters program with 12 of her Emerging Talent peers. While the MIT Emerging Talent program is focused on undergraduate-level, introductory computer and data science material, the MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science is graduate-level learning. MicroMasters programs are a series of courses that provide deep learning in a specific career field, and learners that successfully earn the credential may receive academic credit to universities around the world. This makes the credential a pathway to over 50 master’s degree programs and other advanced degrees, including at MIT. Eldouma believes that her experience in the MicroMasters courses prepared her well for the expectations of the LSE program. After finishing the MicroMasters and LSE programs, Eldouma aspires to a career using data science to better understand what is happening on the African continent from an economic and social point of view. She hopes to contribute to solutions to conflicts across the region. And, someday, she hopes to move back to Sudan. “My family’s roots are there. I have memories there,” she says. “I miss walking in the street and the background noise is the same language that I am thinking in. I don’t think I will ever find that in any place like Sudan.”
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Sofiia Lipkevych
Sofiia Lipkevych
College Student
Ukraine
Ukrainian students and collaborators provide high-quality translations of MIT OpenCourseWare educational resources. Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning With war continuing to disrupt education for millions of Ukrainian high school and college students, many are turning to online resources, including MIT OpenCourseWare, a part of MIT Open Learning offering educational materials from more than 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. For Ukrainian high school senior Sofiia Lipkevych and other students, MIT OpenCourseWare has provided valuable opportunities to take courses in key subject areas. However, while multiple Ukrainian students study English, many do not yet have sufficient command of the language to be able to fully understand and use the often very technical and complex OpenCourseWare content and materials. “At my school, I saw firsthand how language barriers prevented many Ukrainian students from accessing world-class education,” says Lipkevych. She was able to address this challenge as a participant in the Ukrainian Leadership and Technology Academy (ULTA), established by Ukrainian MIT students Dima Yanovsky and Andrii Zahorodnii. During summer 2024 at ULTA, Lipkevych worked on a browser extension that translated YouTube videos in real-time. Since MIT OpenCourseWare was a main source of learning materials for students participating in ULTA, she was inspired to translate OpenCourseWare lectures directly and to have this translation widely available on the OpenCourseWare website and YouTube channel. She reached out to Professor Elizabeth Wood, founding director of the MIT Ukraine Program, who connected her with MIT OpenCourseWare Director Curt Newton. Although there had been some translations of MIT OpenCourseWare’s educational resources available beginning in 2004, these initial translations were conducted manually by several global partners, without the efficiencies of the latest artificial intelligence tools, and over time the programs couldn’t be sustained, and shut down. “We were thrilled to have this contact with ULTA,” says Newton. “We’ve been missing having a vibrant translation community, and we are excited to have a ‘phase 2’ of translations emerge.” The ULTA team selected courses to translate based on demand among Ukrainian students, focusing on foundational subjects that are prerequisites for advanced learning — particularly those for which high-quality, Ukrainian-language materials are scarce. Starting with caption translations on videos of lectures, the team has translated the following courses so far: 18.06 (Linear Algebra), 2.003SC (Engineering Dynamics), 5.60 (Thermodynamics & Kinetics), 6.006 (Introduction to Algorithms), and 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python). They also worked directly with Andy Eskenazi, a PhD student in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, to translate 16.002 (How to CAD Almost Anything - Siemens NX Edition). Introduction to the Human Brain Video: MIT OpenCourseWare The ULTA team developed multiple tools to help break language barriers. For MIT OpenCourseWare’s PDF content available through the ULTA program, they created a specialized tool that uses optical character recognition to recognize LaTeX in documents — such as problem sets and other materials — and then used a few large language models to translate them, all while maintaining technical accuracy. The team built a glossary of technical terms used in the courses and their corresponding Ukrainian translations, to help make sure that the wording was correct and consistent. Each translation also undergoes human review to further ensure accuracy and high quality. For video content, the team initially created a browser extension that can translate YouTube video captions in real-time. They ultimately collaborated with ElevenLabs, implementing their advanced AI dubbing editor that preserves the original speaker’s tone, pace, and emotional delivery. The lectures are translated in the ElevenLabs dubbing editor, and then the audio is uploaded to the MIT OpenCourseWare YouTube channel. The team is currently finalizing the translation of the audio for class 9.13 (The Human Brain), taught by MIT Professor Nancy Kanwisher, which Lipkevych says they selected for its interdisciplinary nature and appeal to a wide variety of learners. This Ukrainian translation project highlights the transformative potential of the latest translation technologies, building upon a 2023 MIT OpenCourseWare experiment using the Google Aloud AI dubbing prototype on a few courses, including MIT Professor Patrick Winston’s How to Speak. The advanced capabilities of the dubbing editor used in this project are opening up possibilities for a much greater variety of language offerings throughout MIT OpenCourseWare materials. “I expect that in a few years we’ll look back and see that this was the moment when things shifted for OpenCourseWare to be truly usable for the whole world,” says Newton. Community-led language translations of MIT OpenCourseWare materials serve as a high-impact example of the power of OpenCourseWare’s Creative Commons licensing, which grants everyone the right to revise materials to suit their particular needs and redistribute those revisions to the world. While there isn’t currently a way for users of the MIT OpenCourseWare platform to quickly identify which videos are available in which languages, MIT OpenCourseWare is working toward building this capability into its website, as well as expanding its number of offerings in different languages. “This project represents more than just translation,” says Lipkevych. “We’re enabling thousands of Ukrainians to build skills that will be essential for the country’s eventual reconstruction. We’re also hoping this model of collaboration can be extended to other languages and institutions, creating a template for making high-quality education accessible worldwide.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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Bernardo Picão
Bernardo Picão
Student
Portugal
MIT OpenCourseWare “changed how I think about teaching and what a university is” Bernardo Picão, a graduate student in physics, has turned to MIT Open Learning’s resources throughout his educational journey. By Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Bernardo Picão has been interested in online learning since the early days of YouTube, when his father showed him a TED Talk. But it was with MIT Open Learning that he realized just how transformational digital resources can be. “YouTube was my first introduction to the idea that you can actually learn stuff via the internet,” Picão says. “So, when I became interested in mathematics and physics when I was 15 or 16, I turned to the internet and stumbled upon some playlists from MIT OpenCourseWare and went from there.” OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, offers free online educational resources from over 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. Since discovering it, Picão has explored linear algebra with Gilbert Strang, professor emeritus of mathematics — whom Picão calls “a legend” — and courses on metaphysics, functional analysis, quantum field theory, and English. He has returned to OpenCourseWare throughout his educational journey, which includes undergraduate studies in France and Portugal. Some courses provided different perspectives on material he was learning in his classes, while others filled gaps in his knowledge or satisfied his curiosity. Overall, Picão says that MIT resources made him a more robust scientist. He is currently completing a master’s degree in physics at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, where he researches prominent lattice quantum chromodynamics, an approach to the study of quarks that uses precise computer simulations. After completing his master’s degree, Picão says he will continue to a doctoral program in the field. At a recent symposium in Lisbon, Picão attended a lecture given by someone he had first seen in an OpenCourseWare video — Krishna Rajagopal, the William A. M. Burden Professor of Physics and former dean for digital learning at MIT Open Learning. There, he took the opportunity to thank Rajagopal for his support of OpenCourseWare, which Picão says is an important part of MIT’s mission as a leader in education. In addition to the range of subjects covered by OpenCourseWare, Picão praises the variety of instructors. All the courses are well-constructed, he says, but sometimes learners will connect with certain instructors or benefit from a particular presentation style. Since OpenCourseWare and other Open Learning programs offer such a wide range of free educational resources from MIT, learners can explore similar courses from different instructors to get new perspectives and round out their knowledge. While he enjoys his research, Picão’s passion is teaching. OpenCourseWare has helped him with that too, by providing models for how to teach math and science and how to connect with learners of different abilities and backgrounds. “I’m a very philosophical person,” he says. “I used to think that knowledge was intrinsically secluded in the large bindings of books, beyond the classroom walls, or inside the idiosyncratic minds of professors. OpenCourseWare changed how I think about teaching and what a university is — the point is not to keep knowledge inside of it, but to spread it.” Picão, now a teaching assistant at his institution, has been teaching since his days as a high school student tutoring his classmates or talking with members of his family. “I spent my youth sharing my knowledge with my grandmother and my extended family, including people who weren’t able to attend school past the fourth grade,” he says. “Seeing them get excited about knowledge is the coolest thing. Open Learning scales that up to the rest of the world and that can have an incredible impact.” The ability to learn from MIT experts has benefited Picão, deepening his understanding of the complex subjects that interest him. But, he acknowledges, he is a person who has access to high-quality instruction even without Open Learning. For learners who do not have that access, Open Learning is invaluable. “It’s hard to overstate the importance of such a project. MIT’s OpenCourseware and Open Learning profoundly shift how students all over the world can perceive their relationship with education: Besides an internet connection, the only requirement is the curiosity to explore the hundreds of expertly crafted courses and worksheets, perfect for self-studying,” says Picão. He continues, “People may find OpenCourseWare and think it is too good to be true. Why would such a prestigious institution break down the barriers to scientific education and commit to open-access, free resources? I want people to know: There is no catch. Sharing is the point.” “MIT OpenCourseWare ‘changed how I think about teaching and what a university is’” was originally published in MIT News on July 15, 2024.
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Ana Trišović
Ana Trišović
Researcher
USA
Ana Trišović, who studies the democratization of AI, reflects on a career path that she began as a student downloading free MIT resources in Serbia. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning As a college student in Serbia with a passion for math and physics, Ana Trišović found herself drawn to computer science and its practical, problem-solving approaches. It was then that she discovered MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, and decided to study a course on Data Analytics with Python in 2012 — something her school didn’t offer. That experience was transformative, says Trišović, who is now a research scientist at the FutureTech lab within MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. “That course changed my life,” she says. “Throughout my career, I have considered myself a Python coder, and MIT OpenCourseWare made it possible. I was in my hometown on another continent, learning from MIT world-class resources. When I reflect on my path, it’s incredible.” Over time, Trišović’s path led her to explore a range of OpenCourseWare resources. She recalls that, as a non-native English speaker, some of the materials were challenging. But thanks to the variety of courses and learning opportunities available on OpenCourseWare, she was always able to find ones that suited her. She encourages anyone facing that same challenge to be persistent. “If the first course doesn’t work for you, try another,” she says. “Being persistent and investing in yourself is the best thing a young person can do.” In her home country of Serbia, Trišović earned undergraduate degrees in computer science and mechanical engineering before going on to Cambridge University and CERN, where she contributed to work on the Large Hadron Collider and completed her PhD in computer science in 2018. She has also done research at the University of Chicago and Harvard University. “I like that computer science allows me to make an impact in a range of fields, but physics remains close to my heart, and I’m constantly inspired by it,” she says. MIT FutureTech, an interdisciplinary research group, draws on computer science, economics, and management to identify computing trends that create risk and opportunities for sustainable economic growth. There, Trišović studies the democratization of AI, including the implications of open-source AI and how that will impact science. Her work at MIT is a chance to build on research she has been pursuing since she was in graduate school. “My work focuses on computational social science. For many years, I’ve been looking at what’s known as ’the science of science’ — investigating issues like research reproducibility," Trišović explains. “Now, as AI becomes increasingly prevalent and introduces new challenges, I’m interested in examining a range of topics — from AI democratization to its effects on the scientific method and the broader landscape of science.” Trišović is grateful that, way back in 2012, she made the decision to try something new and learn with an OpenCourseWare course. “I instantly fell in love with Python the moment I took that course. I have such a soft spot for OpenCourseWare — it shaped my career,” she says. “Every day at MIT is inspiring. I work with people who are excited to talk about AI and other fascinating topics.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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Bia Adams
Bia Adams
Independent Learner
United Kingdom
Psychologist Bia Adams discovered a passion for computational neuroscience thanks to open-access MIT educational resources. Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning Bia Adams, a London-based neuropsychologist, former professional ballet dancer, and MIT Open Learning learner, has built her career across decades of diverse, interconnected experiences and an emphasis on lifelong learning. She earned her bachelor’s degree in clinical and behavioral psychology, and then worked as a psychologist and therapist for several years before taking a sabbatical in her late 20s to study at the London Contemporary Dance School and The Royal Ballet — fulfilling a long-time dream. “In hindsight, I think what drew me most to ballet was not so much the form itself,” says Adams, “but more of a subconscious desire to make sense of my body moving through space and time, my emotions and motivations — all within a discipline that is rigorous, meticulous, and routine-based. It’s an endeavor to make sense of the world and myself.” After acquiring some dance-related injuries, Adams returned to psychology. She completed an online certificate program specializing in medical neuroscience via Duke University, focusing on how pathology arises out of the way the brain computes information and generates behavior. In addition to her clinical practice, she has also worked at a data science and AI consultancy for neural network research. In 2022, in search of new things to learn and apply to both her work and personal life, Adams discovered MIT OpenCourseWare within MIT Open Learning. She was drawn to class 8.04 (Quantum Physics I), which specifically focuses on quantum mechanics, as she was hoping to finally gain some understanding of complex topics that she had tried to teach herself in the past with limited success. She credits the course’s lectures, taught by Allan Adams (physicist and principal investigator of the MIT Future Ocean Lab), with finally making these challenging topics approachable. “I still talk to my friends at length about exciting moments in these lectures,” says Adams. “After the first class, I was hooked.” Adams’s journey through MIT Open Learning’s educational resources quickly led to a deeper interest in computational neuroscience. She learned how to use tools from mathematics and computer science to better understand the brain, nervous system, and behavior. She says she gained many new insights from class 6.034 (Artificial Intelligence), particularly in watching the late Professor Patrick Winston’s lectures. She appreciated learning more about the cognitive psychology aspect of AI, including how pioneers in the field looked at how the brain processes information and aimed to build programs that could solve problems. She further enhanced her understanding of AI with the Minds and Machines course on MITx Online, part of Open Learning. Adams is now in the process of completing Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python, taught by John Guttag; Eric Grimson, former interim vice president for Open Learning; and Ana Bell. “I am multilingual, and I think the way my brain processes code is similar to the way computers code,” says Adams. “I find learning to code similar to learning a foreign language: both exhilarating and intimidating. Learning the rules, deciphering the syntax, and building my own world through code is one of the most fascinating challenges of my life.” Adams is also pursuing a master’s degree at Duke and the University College of London, focusing on the neurobiology of sleep and looking particularly at how the biochemistry of the brain can affect this critical function. As a complement to this research, she is currently exploring class 9.40 (Introduction to Neural Computation), taught by Michale Fee and Daniel Zysman, which introduces quantitative approaches to understanding brain and cognitive functions and neurons and covers foundational quantitative tools of data analysis in neuroscience. In addition to the courses related more directly to her field, MIT Open Learning also provided Adams an opportunity to explore other academic areas. She delved into philosophy for the first time, taking Paradox and Infinity, taught by Professor Agustín Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and Digital Learning Lab Fellow David Balcarras, which looks at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics. She also was able to explore in more depth immunology, which had always been of great interest to her, through Professor Adam Martin’s lectures on this topic in class 7.016 (Introductory Biology). “I am forever grateful for MIT Open Learning,” says Adams, “for making knowledge accessible and fostering a network of curious minds, all striving to share, expand, and apply this knowledge for the greater good.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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June Odongo
June Odongo
Independent Learner
Kenya
Entrepreneur creates career pathways with MIT OpenCourseWare June Odongo uses free, online MIT courses to train high-quality candidates, making them job-ready. By Sara Feijo | MIT Open Learning When June Odongo interviewed early-career electrical engineer Cynthia Wacheke for a software engineering position at her company, Wacheke lacked knowledge of computer science theory but showed potential in complex problem-solving. Determined to give Wacheke a shot, Odongo turned to MIT OpenCourseWare to create a six-month “bridging course” modeled after the classes she once took as a computer science student. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. “Wacheke had the potential and interest to do the work that needed to be done, so the way to solve this was for me to literally create a path for her to get that work done,” says Odongo, founder and CEO of Senga Technologies. Developers, Odongo says, are not easy to find. The OpenCourseWare educational resources provided a way to close that gap. “We put Wacheke through the course last year, and she is so impressive,” Odongo says. “Right now, she is doing our first machine learning models. It’s insane how good of a team member she is. She has done so much in such a short time.” Making high-quality candidates job-ready Wacheke, who holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nairobi, started her professional career as a hardware engineer. She discovered a passion for software while working on a dashboard design project, and decided to pivot from hardware to software engineering. That’s when she discovered Senga Technologies, a logistics software and services company in Kenya catering to businesses that ship in Africa. Odongo founded Senga with the goal of simplifying and easing the supply chain and logistics experience, from the movement of goods to software tools. Senga’s ultimate goal, Odongo says, is to have most of their services driven by software. That means employees — and candidates — need to be able to think through complex problems using computer science theory. “A lot of people are focused on programming, but we care less about programming and more about problem-solving,” says Odongo, who received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and an MBA from Harvard Business School. “We actually apply the things people learn in computer science programs.” Wacheke started the bridging course in June 2022 and was given six months to complete the curriculum on the MIT OpenCourseWare website. She took nine courses, including: Introduction to Algorithms; Mathematics for Computer Science; Design and Analysis of Algorithms; Elements of Software Construction; Automata, Computability, and Complexity; Database Systems; Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making; Introduction to Machine Learning; and Networks. “The bridging course helped me learn how to think through things,” Wacheke says. “It’s one thing to know how to do something, but it’s another to design that thing from scratch and implement it.” During the bridging course, Wacheke was paired with a software engineer at Senga, who mentored her and answered questions along the way. She learned Ruby on Rails, a server-side web application framework under the MIT License. Wacheke also completed other projects to complement the theory she was learning. She created a new website that included an integration to channel external requests to Slack, a cross-platform team communication tool used by the company’s employees. Continuous learning for team members The bridging course concluded with a presentation to Senga employees, during which Wacheke explained how the company could use graph theory for decision-making. “If you want to get from point A to B, there are algorithms you can use to find the shortest path,” Wacheke says. “Since we’re a logistics company, I thought we could use this when we’re deciding which routes our trucks take.” The presentation, which is the final requirement for the bridging course, is also a professional development opportunity for Senga employees. “This process is helpful for our team members, particularly those who have been out of school for a while,” Odongo says. “The candidates present what they’ve learned in relation to Senga. It’s a way of doing continuous learning for the existing team members.” After successfully completing the bridging course in November 2022, Wacheke transitioned to a full-time software engineer role. She is currently developing a “machine” that can interpret and categorize hundreds of documents, including delivery notes, cash flows, and receipts. “The goal is to enable our customers to simply feed those documents into our machine, and then we can more accurately read and convert them to digital formats to drive automation,” Odongo says. “The machine will also enable someone to ask a document a question, such as ‘What did I deliver to retailer X on date Y?’ or ‘What is the total price of the goods delivered?’” The bridging course, which was initially custom-designed for Wacheke, is now a permanent program at Senga. A second team member completed the course in October 2023 and has joined the software team full time. “Developers are not easy to find, and you also want high-quality developers,” Odongo says. “At least when we do this, we know that the person has gone through what we need.” Read the Original Article This article was republished with permission from the MIT News Office
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Andrea Henshall
Andrea Henshall
Independent Learner
United States
Veteran and PhD student Andrea Henshall has used MIT Open Learning to soar from the Air Force to multiple aeronautics degrees. By Katherine Ouellette | MIT Open Learning Andrea Henshall, a retired major in the U.S. Air Force and current MIT PhD student, has completed seven tours of combat, two years of aerial circus performance, and three higher education degrees (so far). But throughout each step of her journey, all roads seemed to point to MIT. Currently working on her doctoral degree with an MIT master’s already in her toolkit, she is quick to attribute her academic success to MIT’s open educational resources. “I kept coming back to MIT-produced open source learning,” she says. “MIT dominates in educational philanthropy when it comes to free high-quality learning sources.” To this day, Henshall recommends MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and MITx courses to students and her fellow veterans who are transitioning out of the service. A love of flight and a drive to excel Henshall first discovered OCW as she was pursuing her master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. Transitioning from an applied engineering program at the United States Air Force Academy to a more theoretical program proved a challenge for Henshall, and her first semester grades got her put on academic probation. During Independent Activities Period, she took Professor Gilbert Strang’s linear algebra courses on OCW, which included both videos and homework. Henshall found Strang very engaging and easy to learn from and found it helpful to work through the homework when they had the solutions available. She was able to lift her grades the following semester, and by the end of her program, she was getting all A’s. Henshall says, “OpenCourseWare really saved me. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to complete my master’s.” Ever since Henshall learned the term “astronautical engineer” in the fourth grade, she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. That early love of outer space and building things led her to a bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering and the Air Force. There she served as a research and development officer, instructor pilot, and chief financial officer of her squadron. But a non-combat-related injury forced her to medically retire from being a pilot. “I was not doing well physically, and it was impossible for me to get hired to be a pilot outside of the Air Force.” After a brief detour as a part-time aerial circus performer, she decided to go back to school. Watch Andrea Henshall’s story about How MIT OpenCourseWare and MITx helped her soar. Learning how to learn Working outside of academia for eight years proved to be a tough transition. Henshall says, “I had to translate the work I had done in the military into something relevant for an academic application, and the language they were looking for was very different from what I was used to.” She thought acquiring more recent academic work might help improve her application. She attended Auburn University for her second master’s degree (this time in computer science and software engineering) and started a PhD. Again she turned to MIT OCW to supplement her studies. Henshall says, “I remembered vividly how much it had helped me in 2005, so of course that’s where I was going to start. Then I noticed that OCW linked to MITx, which had more interactive quizzes.” The OCW platform had also become more robust since she had first used it. “Back then, it was new, there wasn’t necessarily a standard,” she says. Over 10 years later, she found that most courses had more material, videos, and notes that more closely approximated an MIT course experience. Those additional open education resources gave Henshall an extra edge to complete a 21-month program in 12 months with a 4.0 GPA. Her advisor told her that she had the best thesis defense he had seen in 25 years. In 2019, Henshall’s success helped her get accepted to MIT’s PhD program in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in the Autonomy and Embedded Robotics Accelerated (AERA) lab under the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), with a Lester Durand Gardner Fellowship. Her focus is controls systems with a minor in quantum information. She says, “I’m literally living my dream. I’m at my dream school with my dream advisor.” Working with Professor Sertac Karaman in LIDS, Henshall plans to write her thesis on multi-agent reinforcement learning. But her relationship with online learning is far from over; again she has turned to OCW and MITx resources for the foundation to succeed in subjects such as controls, machine learning, quantum mechanics, and quantum computation. When the pandemic struck the East Coast, Henshall was only nine months into her PhD program at MIT. The pivot to online learning made it difficult to continue building relationships with classmates. But what was a new course experience for many learners during the pandemic felt very familiar to Henshall. “I had a leg up because I already knew how to learn through prerecorded videos on a computer instead of three-dimensional human standing in front of a chalkboard. I had already learned how to learn.” A lifelong commitment to service Henshall plans to return to the Department of Defense or related industries. Currently, she works collaboratively on two major projects related to her PhD thesis and her career path after she completes the program. The first project is an AI accelerator program through the Air Force. Her work with unmanned aerial vehicles (a.k.a. drones) uses a small quadrotor to autonomously and quickly search a building using reinforcement learning. The primary intended use is search and rescue. The second project involves research into multi-agent reinforcement learning and pathfinding. While also intended for search and rescue, they could be used for a variety of non-emergency inspection purposes as well. Henshall is eager to share open education resources. At Auburn she shared OCW materials with her classmates, and now she uses them with the students she tutors. She’s also committed to sharing knowledge and resources with her fellow service members, and is an active member of a number of veterans’ organizations. With the Warrior-Scholar Project, she answers questions from enlisted people going into undergraduate programs, ranging from “What’s parking like?” to “How did you prepare for school?” As a Service to School ambassador, she is assigned to mentor veterans who are transitioning out of the military and looking to apply to graduate school, usually MIT hopefuls or other competitive schools. She’s able to draw from her own application experience to help others identify the core message their application should communicate and finesse the language to sound less like a military brief and more like the “academic speak” they will encounter moving forward. Henshall says, “My trajectory would be so different if MITx and OCW didn’t exist, and I feel that’s true for so many thousands of other students. So many other institutions have copied the model, but MIT was the first and it’s still the best.” Originally published on https://news.mit.edu on March 16, 2022 and reposted from Medium. We hope you’ve been inspired by this story and by OCW’s effort to meet the needs of learners eager to enhance their knowledge, lift up their communities, and change the world for the benefit of everyone. Please consider supporting our work with a donation or if giving isn’t possible right now, we’d love to hear how OCW has made a difference in your life or classroom. We’d appreciate it!
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İleri Çalışmalar
İleri Çalışmalar
Students
Turkey
Study group of medical students in Turkey uses free MIT resources to pursue a PhD-level research agenda. By Duyen Nguyen | MIT Open Learning About two years ago, a group of medical students at Ege University Faculty of Medicine in Turkey began meeting to study single variable calculus. None of the students had taken a course in this subject before. But with the guidance of lectures, slides, and other freely available resources on MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), they soon advanced onto multivariable calculus. Then differential equations. Then linear algebra. Today, the students, who call their study group İleri Çalışmalar, or “Advanced Studies,” are paving their own road toward doctoral-level studies — with MIT OCW as their main resource. “Our motivation is to create a theoretical background in order to do research while we’re studying in medical school,” says Yıldırım Adalıoğlu, one of the study group’s co-founders, who explains that MD-PhD programs, which prepare students to become both clinicians and researchers, have only recently become available in Turkey, and are rare. “We didn’t have the chance to do doctoral-level research during medical school. We decided to create that for ourselves.” Using OCW courses to build their own curriculum, the members of İleri Çalışmalar have developed an independent program of study while working toward their medical degrees. The study group devotes about three months — the equivalent of an MIT semester — to each course in their curriculum. While most of their peers are on the clinician path, the group co-founded by Sıla Özkal, Begüm Tahhan, and Çağan Kaplan typically draws six to 10 students per course. Support and collaboration to pursue focused interests Depending on their schedule, Kaplan explains, the students meet weekly to discuss the OCW lectures and to review course materials. At each meeting, one or more members of the group volunteer to recap the lectures and to facilitate discussion. For new courses — like probability, the group’s current focus — the students approach discussion sessions collaboratively. “After nearly two years of medical coursework,” Adalıoğlu says, “we can now teach and adapt the earlier courses for new students as well.” The group also brainstorms potential research projects, some of which they have already carried out, independently and in collaboration with faculty from other departments and labs. For instance, over the summer a few students from the group interned at a biomedicine and genome research center. They drew on the knowledge they gained from classes 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python) and 6.0002 (Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science) to work on a study on analyzing the effects of mutations in a specific protein. The internship called for a background in computational research and data analysis. Thanks to MIT OCW, the İleri Çalışmalar students were well-prepared, says Adalıoğlu. “If we didn’t have the Python course from MIT, then we couldn’t go to the lab and do the internship there.” Combining their medical interests with their OCW coursework, Adalıoğlu and Kaplan also developed a computational model to study the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany. They’re now in the process of trying to publish their findings. “OCW broadens our horizons,” Kaplan says. Adalıoğlu adds, “If we want to do computational research, it’s mainly up to us. There aren’t many people on the medical faculty that work on computational projects. That’s why when we decide to do a computational project, either we solve the problems ourselves or we ask for help from professors from other universities and labs.” For Tahhan, who interned at a government science institute, where she studied hyperlipidemia in pediatric patients, the OCW courses have opened new areas of interest. “I realized I was interested in biochemistry when I took the 5.08J Biological Chemistry II course from OCW, so I applied for the internship,” she says. Özkal, who attends a cancer research internship, also credits the OCW courses that İleri Çalışmalar has covered with advancing her research goals. The tool kits to build their own future Currently in their third and fourth years of medical school, the İleri Çalışmalar founders note that OpenCourseWare has been a useful supplement to their medical studies as well. While studying the human gastrointestinal system, for example, they revisited the biological chemistry course materials to better understand the biochemical pathways that lead to absorption. “When we are confused about any subject, we can always go back to OCW and search for the slides,” says Kaplan. “We all want to do novel research and study the topics that allow people to understand our universe better. That’s why we started medical school, that’s why we want to do a PhD after medical school,” Adalıoğlu says. “We all love medicine and we love pathology, physiology, learning about diseases — we want to solve the problems that come from these diseases, but we need the tool kits to do research. Thanks to MIT OpenCourseWare and our own efforts, I hope we can create some vision — a path for other students after us.” “Enabling advanced studies in Turkey with MIT OpenCourseWare” was originally published in MIT News on January 12, 2023.
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Emmanuel Kasigazi
Emmanuel Kasigazi
Independent Learner
Uganda
“I get the chance to not only watch the future happen, but I can actually be a part of it and create it,” says Ugandan entrepreneur Emmanuel Kasigazi. Duyen Nguyen | MIT Open Learning Like millions of others during the global Covid-19 lockdowns, Emmanuel Kasigazi, an entrepreneur from Uganda, turned to YouTube to pass the time. But he wasn’t following an influencer or watching music videos. A lifelong learner, Kasigazi was scouring the video-sharing platform for educational resources. Since 2013, when he got his first smartphone, Kasigazi has been charting his own learning journey through YouTube, educating himself on subjects as diverse as psychology and artificial intelligence. And it was while searching for the answer to an AI-related question that Kasigazi first discovered MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW). “Here they were, all these courses by one of the best — if not the best — schools in tech in the world, and they were free. For a long time I couldn’t believe it. I told everyone I knew." “The search results showed MIT lectures, and I thought, ‘Which MIT is this?’” recalls Kasigazi, who admits he was initially skeptical as he opened the OCW YouTube channel. To his amazement, he found hundreds of courses there — not only clips, but complete lectures that he could follow alongside the students in MIT classrooms. He searched for more information on OCW and tried the channel on different browsers to triple-check its credibility. “Here they were, all these courses by one of the best — if not the best — schools in tech in the world, and they were free. For a long time I couldn’t believe it. I told everyone I knew,” he remembers. For Kasigazi, the channel became a gateway to other open education resources, including the OpenCourseWare website and MITx courses, both part of MIT Open Learning. “I always had the questions — I grew up on science cartoons like ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ and ‘Pinky and the Brain’ — so I would go on YouTube to try to find answers to these questions, and I found this whole other world,” he says. OCW launched its YouTube channel in 2008, and this August passed 4 million subscribers. While introductory computer science, math, and physics are the most-visited courses on the OCW website, the most popular YouTube videos reflect a more diverse range of interests, including a lecture about piloting a fighter jet aircraft, an introduction to the human brain, and an introduction to financial terms and concepts. Through this extensive collection, Kasigazi explains that he’s been able to explore “the things I love,” while also studying cloud computing, data science, and AI — fields that he plans to pursue in graduate studies. He says, “This is what OpenCourseWare has enabled me to do: I get the chance to not only watch the future happen, but I can actually be a part of it and create it.” Understanding humanity through the liberal arts When Kasigazi was young, a beloved aunt recognized his natural curiosity and steered him toward the best schools. “I owe her everything,” he says, “everything I am is because of her.” Thanks to his excellent grades he received an academic scholarship from the Ugandan government to attend Makerere University, one of the top universities in sub-Saharan Africa, where he earned a degree in information systems. Having pursued IT for its practical applications, Kasigazi admits that he was initially more interested in the science and theory behind computers than “the coding bits of it.” “I love the concept of it — how we are trying to make these machines,” he says, explaining that he’s long been drawn to the social sciences and humanities, particularly psychology and philosophy. “I’m interested in how we work as human beings, because everything we do is for, with, and around human beings,” says Kasigazi, who considers psychology to be foundational to almost every field. “Whatever it is you’re teaching these kids, they’re going to be dealing with people. So first teach them what people think, how they act — that was my drive to love psychology.” Kasigazi has also turned to OCW to brush up on his coding skills, watching 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python) lectures with Professor Ana Bell and reviewing the instructor-paced version with Professor Eric Grimson now on MITx. “I am proud to say MIT OCW has made me fall in love with coding … it makes sense like it never has before,” he says. Nurturing a worldview In 2014 Kasigazi moved to South Sudan, which had only recently emerged from a civil war as an independent nation. Fresh out of university, he was there to teach computer skills and graphic design — some of his students included members of the new country’s government — but his time in South Sudan quickly became a learning experience for him, too. “When you grow up in your community, you have this bubble. We all experience it — it’s a human thing,” he reflects. “For the first time, I realized that everything I knew is not a given. Everything I grew up knowing is not universal.” With his worldview newly broadened, he began to nurture his interest in psychology, philosophy, and the sciences, watching crash courses, explainer videos, and other content on the subject. “It’s entertainment, to me, at the same time that it’s a passion,” he says. Today Kasigazi runs his own company, which he started in 2012 with friends and resumed when he returned to Uganda seven years ago. Since coming across the OCW YouTube channel, Kasigazi has worked through all of the freely available MIT psychology courses. Professor John Gabrieli’s 9.00SC (Introduction to Psychology) have particularly resonated with him, even prompting him to reach out to Gabrieli. “As much as I’d been getting some knowledge on psychology over the years online, it wasn’t as deep and as interesting or captivating as your classes were,” he wrote. “From your teaching style, to the explanations, to the topics, to how you make people understand a topic, to the experiments mentioned and referenced, to how you approach questions and later make one think deeper about them.” “The message from Emmanuel is deeply touching about the joy of learning,” says Gabrieli, who is also an investigator at the McGovern Institute. “I am so grateful to OCW for making this course on psychology open to the world, and to Emmanuel for so delightfully sharing what this course meant to him.” New courses are added regularly to both the OCW website and YouTube channel. Kasigazi, who’s currently enjoying 9.13 (Introduction to the Human Brain) from professor and McGovern Institute investigator Nancy Kanwisher, looks forward to discovering what new worlds of knowledge they’ll open. Reposted from https://news.mit.edu on November 7, 2022. We hope you’ve been inspired by this story and by OCW’s effort to meet the needs of learners eager to enhance their knowledge, lift up their communities, and change the world for the benefit of everyone. Please consider supporting our work with a donation or if giving isn’t possible right now, we’d love to hear how OCW has made a difference in your life or classroom. We’d appreciate it!
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Juan Guerrero
Juan Guerrero
Independent Learner
United States
After a 33-year career in biotechnology, Juan Guerrero uses MIT Open Learning’s online resources to continue improving his skills and understanding. Katherine Ouellette | MIT Open Learning Over Juan Guerrero’s 33-year biotechnology career, he has watched gene editing evolve from theory to reality. But Guerrero still recognizes the importance of continuing his education despite having a front-row seat to the genome industry since its inception. Guerrero received a degree in biology from University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in 1992, and joined the workforce of thousands of sequencers mapping DNA. However, six years after leaving his job as a sequencing associate at Incyte, a lecturer at UC Berkeley informed Guerrero that the technology used to sequence the human genome had already become obsolete. “This stark contrast highlights the rapid pace of technological evolution in this field,” says Guerrero. “Motivated by this insight, I decided to return to school, starting with a course in genetics.” That’s when Guerrero enrolled as a part-time student at Pasadena City College in Los Angeles in 2016. Since then, he continues to deepen his knowledge with MIT Open Learning educational resources. “I decided to update my skills in the sciences because they change rapidly,” says Guerrero. Strengthening understanding Guerrero credits MIT Open Learning’s online resources with making a significant difference in his academic journey over the last decade. While searching for extra study materials to practice key concepts from his Pasadena City College courses, Guerrero was thrilled to find that MIT OpenCourseWare, part of Open Learning, offers a comprehensive collection of educational materials from thousands of MIT courses all in one place. “Due to the excellent array of available biology courses, I selectively explore topics from various OpenCourseWare course materials according to the particular concepts I wish to comprehend,” he says. Guerrero appreciates that OpenCourseWare dives deep into specific topics through an assortment of quizzes, exams, lecture notes, and videos. “It does challenge you to learn the concept, while at the same time, retaining it much better,” says Guerrero. MIT’s approach is different from how he first learned these concepts as an undergraduate — which he describes as “brute force memorization.” In one OpenCourseWare biology course lecture, for example, Guerrero studied a diagram of a cell that traced the path from nucleus to DNA. During a later assignment about protein production, he made the connection, “Oh, it goes by path. It’s organized,” he says. This holistic approach to learning helped strengthen his understanding of the concept. Guerrero also appreciates the platform’s flexibility, allowing him to learn on his own schedule. “What truly sets OpenCourseWare apart is its commitment to accessibility,” Guerrero says. “Not every student needs to be enrolled in a program and OpenCourseWare has made that possible. You can access what you want and it’s free.” Additionally, OpenCourseWare’s Creative Commons license allows anyone to modify, remix, and reuse its resources. This is particularly important for community colleges, like Pasadena City College, participating in California’s Zero Textbook Cost Program. The strength of OpenCourseWare for educators and students, Guerrero says, is that “people know it’s coming from a reliable, verified source — coming from MIT.” Researching medical applications After three decades in the biotech industry with roles ranging from research and development, to production, to quality assurance, Guerrero aspires to return to DNA research. He hopes to use advanced technologies that weren’t available during his previous time in the field — such as Next Generation Sequencing and CRISPR — to develop new medical applications. He aims to transform theoretical concepts into practical treatments for curing diseases and other conditions. “I’ve always thought about that aspect of helping someone with the technology made available,” he says. “However, I would prefer to remain in an academic environment until I have developed a comprehensive understanding of these technologies, as well as a solid foundation in genetics, which I believe is essential for effectively employing these advancements.” He says that OpenCourseWare has offered him a wealth of resources for his studies in genetics and other biological and chemical sciences. “The internet sped up the dissemination of all kinds of information,” Guerrero says. “There’s always so much more out there. You need updated knowledge.”
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OpenCourseWare Stories

Stories from the OpenCourseWare community reflect the profound impact of sharing knowledge and the transformative power of open education.

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Freesia Gaul
Freesia Gaul
Independent Learner
Australia
Nineteen-year-old Freesia Gaul built a VR prototype thanks to MIT OpenCourseWare classes that provided “a solid foundation of knowledge and problem-solving abilities.” Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning When Freesia Gaul discovered MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare at just 14 years old, it opened up a world of learning far beyond what her classrooms could offer. Her parents had started a skiing company, and the seasonal work meant that Gaul had to change schools every six months. Growing up in small towns in Australia and Canada, she relied on the internet to fuel her curiosity. “I went to 13 different schools, which was hard because you’re in a different educational system every single time,” says Gaul. “That’s one of the reasons I gravitated toward online learning and teaching myself. Knowledge is something that exists beyond a curriculum.” The small towns she lived in often didn’t have a lot of resources, she says, so a computer served as a main tool for learning. She enjoyed engaging with Wikipedia, ultimately researching topics and writing and editing content for pages. In 2018, she discovered MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, and took her first course. OpenCouseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. “I really got started with the OpenCourseWare introductory electrical engineering classes, because I couldn’t find anything else quite like it online,” says Gaul, who was initially drawn to courses on circuits and electronics, such as 6.002 (Circuits and Electronics) and 6.01SC (Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science). “It really helped me in terms of understanding how electrical engineering worked in a practical sense, and I just started modding things.” In true MIT “mens et manus” (“mind and hand”) fashion, Gaul spent much of her childhood building and inventing, especially when she was able to access a 3D printer. She says that a highlight was when she built a life-sized, working version of a Mario Kart, constructed out of materials she had printed. Gaul calls herself a “serial learner,” and has taken many OpenCourseWare courses. In addition to classes on circuits and electronics, she also took courses in linear algebra, calculus, and quantum physics — in which she took a particular interest. When she was 15, she participated in Qubit by Qubit. Hosted by The Coding School, in collaboration with universities (including MIT) and tech companies, this two-semester course introduces high schoolers to quantum computing and quantum physics. During that time she started a blog called On Zero, representing the “zero state” of a qubit. “The ‘zero state’ in a quantum computer is the representation of creativity from nothing, infinite possibilities,” says Gaul. For the blog, she found different topics and researched them in depth. She would think of a topic or question, such as “What is color?” and then explore it in great detail. What she learned eventually led her to start asking questions such as “What is a hamiltonian?” and teaching quantum physics alongside PhDs. Building on these interests, Gaul chose to study quantum engineering at the University of New South Wales. She notes that on her first day of university, she participated in iQuHack, the MIT Quantum Hackathon. Her team worked to find a new way to approximate the value of a hyperbolic function using quantum logic, and received an honorable mention for “exceptional creativity.” Gaul’s passion for making things continued during her college days, especially in terms of innovating to solve a problem. When she found herself on a train, wanting to code a personal website on a computer with a dying battery, she wondered if there might be a way to make a glove that can act as a type of Bluetooth keyboard — essentially creating a way to type in the air. In her spare time, she started working on such a device, ultimately finding a less expensive way to build a lightweight, haptic, gesture-tracking glove with applications for virtual reality (VR) and robotics. Gaul says she has always had an interest in VR, using it to create her own worlds, reconstruct an old childhood house, and play Dungeons and Dragons with friends. She discovered a way to put into a glove some small linear resonant actuators, which can be found in a smartphone or gaming controller, and map to any object in VR so that the user can feel it. An early prototype that Gaul put together in her dorm room received a lot of attention on YouTube. She went on to win the People’s Choice award for it at the SxSW Sydney 2025 Tech and Innovation Festival. This design also sparked her co-founding of the tech startup On Zero, named after her childhood blog dedicated to the love of creation from nothing. Gaul sees the device, in general, as a way of “paying it forward,” making improved human-computer interaction available to many — from young students to professional technologists. She hopes to enable creative freedom in as many as she can. “The mind is just such a fun thing. I want to empower others to have the freedom to follow their curiosity, even if it’s pointless on paper. “I’ve benefited from people going far beyond what they needed to do to help me,” says Gaul. “I see OpenCourseWare as a part of that. The free courses gave me a solid foundation of knowledge and problem-solving abilities. Without these, it wouldn’t be possible to do what I’m doing now.” This story was originally published on MIT News.
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Hinata Yamahara
Hinata Yamahara
High School Student
United States
High schooler Hinata Yamahara’s interest in urban planning was nurtured by free MIT resources, including OpenCourseWare. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Hinata Yamahara was 10 years old, on a family trip to Osaka, Japan, when he started riding the train alone. Those train rides sparked an interest in something he didn’t have words for at the time — how cities are built, and how people navigate them. Now at 17 and applying to colleges, Yamahara has made the connection that investigating cities and how they work is a foundation for urban planning. MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, helped him develop knowledge and deepen his passion for walkable, community-oriented urban spaces. At the time of his first, fateful Osaka train ride, Yamahara lived in Atlanta, after having spent most of his elementary school years in rural Tennessee. Before that, he and his family had lived in Los Angeles. In all those places, he says, it was difficult for kids to get around. In fact, getting around without a car could be a challenge for anyone. Whenever he visited family in Japan, he was in awe of the efficiency of the train system and the ease of learning how to navigate it, in addition to the mixed-use buildings that combined commercial and residential spaces. As a 10-year-old, he simply thought they “were really cool” and quite different from what he saw at home. Now, he reflects on the efficient use of space in a country that is much smaller than the expansive United States. Back at home, Yamahara continued to reimagine the spaces around him, often printing out satellite imagery and drawing new possibilities over what existed. “Maybe instead of a giant parking lot, I’d draw a subway station and connect it to another part of the map,” he says. “But it was all imaginary. I didn’t know what was possible in terms of regulations or looking at past examples. So, I started to do research and kept coming across OpenCourseWare.” He remembers a moment of confusion, followed by one of excitement: “What is OpenCourseWare?” and, “Wait, everything is free!?” OpenCourseWare, an open publication of course materials from across the MIT curriculum, allows users to browse content at their own pace. Learners can watch video lectures, read course notes, and hear from faculty experts, with no enrollment fees or start dates. Yamahara dove into the content, starting with 11.001J (Introduction to Urban Design and Development). He has since accessed a variety of courses and counts 11.948 (Power of Place: Media Technology, Youth, and City Design and Development) and 11.304J (Site and Infrastructure Systems Planning) among the most memorable. Exploring OpenCourseWare resources gave him a strong foundation to take his interest in urban planning and redesign into the real world. In summer 2025, Yamahara completed an internship with an Atlanta-area real estate firm working on a redesign project with a city agency. “Right now, this city has a downtown area with a lot of parking lots and empty retail spaces. I’m getting to learn firsthand how to develop it into something else,” he explains. “I’m part of meetings where we brainstorm how to create a community feeling, how to make a space creative and walkable, and how to make it somewhere people really want to be.” According to Yamahara, the experience draws on his appreciation for Japanese efficiency, as well as American inclusivity and his deep knowledge of zoning regulations, community-centered design, and transit equity — all gained through OpenCourseWare materials and resources. As Yamahara looks toward college and his future, he says he sees two paths influenced by MIT’s free educational resources. On one path, he studies urban planning, as OpenCourseWare materials have only reaffirmed his passion for the field and given him knowledge and confidence. On another path, he imagines using his time as an undergraduate to explore other interests, including aviation and real estate. On that path, OpenCourseWare would allow him to continue his urban planning education independently. He’s grateful that he could take advantage of OpenCourseWare resources without submitting an application and considering tuition and financial aid. All he needed was an interest and a determination to learn, and he had both. “OpenCourseWare has helped me grow from a kid with questions into a student designing solutions,” Yamahara says. “I still ride the train in the U.S. and Japan, but now, I bring a vision with me, too.” To explore additional lifelong learning offerings from MIT, visit MIT Learn. This story was originally published on MIT News.
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Salim Al-Hassanieh
Salim Al-Hassanieh
Educator
Syria
Retired professor Salim Al-Hassanieh has turned to MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare resources for decades, enriching his research and teaching. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Salim Al-Hassanieh has moved a lot over the course of his education and career. Born in Syria, he received his PhD from Université de Rennes in France and taught management sciences, organizational development, and information systems at University of Damascus and institutions in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. These days, he’s retired and divides his time between Syria and Germany. But Al-Hassanieh knows that with MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, you don’t need to move at all to experience American higher education. “I frequently recommended OpenCourseWare to my students and colleagues, particularly those with international aspirations,” he says. “I often told them, ‘If you want to study in America without leaving your home, go to MIT OpenCourseWare.’” Al-Hassanieh first remembers becoming aware of MIT and the Sloan School of Management in 1997, when he was researching a book project. Years later, when he was working on another book, “Managing by Creativity,” he revisited MIT and discovered OpenCourseWare. “When I found OpenCourseWare, I was immediately drawn to the quality, openness, and academic rigor of the platform,” he recalls. “I continue to consult OpenCourseWare regularly and receive its newsletter to this day, at the age of 80 years old.” He views open education resources as a beacon, saying that they can be a “vital gateway” for learners who may not otherwise have access to educational materials or the ability to travel. Courses on project management, leadership, organizational behavior, creativity, entrepreneurship, and generative AI have aided Al-Hassanieh in his research and teaching over the years. He stresses that it is not just the course content that is so impactful, but also the practical, forward-looking style of instruction. Some lectures, particularly those which emphasize systems thinking, inspired Al-Hassanieh’s own curriculum design and left a lasting impression. The clear structure and self-paced nature of OpenCourseWare courses helped Al-Hassanieh improve his academic English, which in turn created new publishing opportunities for him and his students. In 2012, he wrote a cultural book in English, “Illuminations on Arab-Islamic Public Administration Contributions,” and, in 2024, wrote an English-Arabic encyclopedic dictionary called “Your Comprehensive Guide to Success in Knowledge Management,” published by the Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO). “My research and my students’ learning journeys benefited from my English language learning,” he says. “I often encouraged my students to use OpenCourseWare not only to deepen their subject knowledge, but also to strengthen their English in an academic context.” Al-Hassanieh continues to learn from OpenCourseWare — even in retirement. He is actively conducting research, examining ideas relevant to political transitions, especially in the context of Syria. He explores lectures on generative AI and just this year wrote the Arabic-language book “Unlocking the Potential of GAI,” also published by ARADO. In his retirement, Al-Hassanieh prioritizes hope and peace alongside learning. He spends six months of the year in Berlin to be close to his adult children, who are surgeons there. He follows the news of changing politics in Syria and the world and says, “I hope that resources like OpenCourseWare can continue to showcase a narrative of knowledge sharing and educational empowerment.”
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Mostafa Fawzy
Mostafa Fawzy
Educator
Egypt
For physicist Mostafa Fawzy, MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare was a steadfast companion through countless study sessions. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Mostafa Fawzy became interested in physics in high school. It was the “elegance and paradox” of quantum theory that got his attention and led to his studies at the undergraduate and graduate level. But even with a solid foundation of coursework and supportive mentors, Fawzy wanted more. MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare was just the thing he was looking for. Now a doctoral candidate in atomic physics at Alexandria University and an assistant lecturer of physics at Alamein International University in Egypt, Fawzy reflects on how MIT OpenCourseWare bolstered his learning early in his graduate studies in 2019. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Fawzy was looking for advanced resources to supplement his research in quantum mechanics and theoretical physics, and he was immediately struck by the quality, accessibility, and breadth of MIT’s resources. “OpenCourseWare was transformative in deepening my understanding of advanced physics,” Fawzy says. “I found the structured lectures and assignments in quantum physics particularly valuable. They enhanced both my theoretical insight and practical problem-solving skills — skills I later applied in research on atomic systems influenced by magnetic fields and plasma environments.” He completed educational resources including Quantum Physics I and Quantum Physics II, calling them “dense and mathematically sophisticated.” He met the challenge by engaging with the content in different ways: first, by simply listening to lectures, then by taking detailed notes, and finally by working though problem sets. Although initially he struggled to keep up, this methodical approach paid off, he says. Fawzy is now in the final stages of his doctoral research on high-precision atomic calculations under extreme conditions. While in graduate school, he has published eight peer-reviewed international research papers, making him one of the most prolific doctoral researchers in physics working in Egypt currently. He served as an ambassador for the United Nations International Youth Conference (IYC), and he was nominated for both the African Presidential Leadership Program and the Davisson–Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics, a prestigious annual prize offered by the American Physical Society. He is grateful to his undergraduate mentors, professors M. Sakr and T. Bahy of Alexandria University, as well as to MIT OpenCourseWare, calling it a “steadfast companion through countless solitary nights of study, a beacon in times when formal resources were scarce, and a living testament to the nobility of open, unbounded learning.” Recognizing the power of mentorship and teaching, Fawzy serves as an academic mentor with the African Academy of Sciences, supporting early-career researchers across the continent in theoretical and atomic physics. “Many of these mentees lack access to advanced academic resources,” he explains. “I regularly incorporate OpenCourseWare into our mentorship sessions, using it as a foundational teaching and reference tool. It’s an equalizer, providing the same high-caliber content to students regardless of geographical or institutional limitations.” As he looks toward the future, Fawzy has big plans, influenced by MIT. “I aspire to establish a regional center for excellence in atomic and plasma physics, blending cutting-edge research with open-access education in the Global South,” he says. As he continues his research and teaching, he also hopes to influence science policy and contribute to international partnerships that shine the spotlight on research and science in emerging nations. Along the way, he says, “OpenCourseWare remains a cornerstone resource that I will return to again and again.” Fawzy says he’s also interested in MIT Open Learning resources in computational physics and energy and sustainability. He’s following MIT’s Energy Initiative, calling it increasingly relevant to his current work and future plans. Fawzy is a proponent of open learning and a testament to its power. “The intellectual seeds sown by Open Learning resources such as MIT OpenCourseWare have flourished within me, shaping my identity as a physicist and affirming my deep belief in the transformative power of knowledge shared freely, without barriers,” he says.
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Martina Solano Soto
Martina Solano Soto
High School Student
Spain
The 17-year-old student from Spain uses MIT resources to deepen her understanding of math and physics. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Martina Solano Soto is on a mission to pursue her passion for physics and, ultimately, to solve big problems. Since she was a kid, she has had a lot of questions: Why do animals exist? What are we doing here? Why don’t we know more about the Big Bang? And she has been determined to find answers. “That’s why I found MIT OpenCourseWare,” says Solano, of Girona, Spain. “When I was 14, I started to browse and wanted to find information that was reliable, dynamic, and updated. I found MIT resources by chance, and it’s one of the biggest things that has happened to me.” In addition to OpenCourseWare, which offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum, Solano also took advantage of the MIT Open Learning Library. Part of MIT Open Learning, the library offers free courses and invites people to learn at their own pace while receiving immediate feedback through interactive content and exercises. Solano, who is now 17, has studied quantum physics via OpenCourseWare — also part of MIT Open Learning — and she has taken Open Learning Library courses on electricity and magnetism, calculus, quantum computation, and kinematics. She even created her own syllabus, complete with homework, to ensure she stayed on track and kept her goals in mind. Those goals include studying math and physics as an undergraduate. She also hopes to study general relativity and quantum mechanics at the doctoral level. “I really want to unify them to find a theory of quantum gravity,” she says. “I want to spend all my life studying and learning.” Solano was particularly motivated by Barton Zwiebach, professor of physics, whose courses Quantum Physics I and Quantum Physics II are available on MIT OpenCourseWare. She took advantage of all of the resources that were provided: video lectures, assignments, lecture notes, and exams. “I was fascinated by the way he explained. I just understood everything, and it was amazing,” she says. “Then, I learned about his book, ‘A First Course in String Theory,’ and it was because of him that I learned about black holes and gravity. I’m extremely grateful.” While Solano gives much credit to the variety and quality of Open Learning resources, she also stresses the importance of being organized. As a high school student, she has things other than string theory on her mind: her school, extracurriculars, friends, and family. For anyone in a similar position, she recommends “figuring out what you’re most interested in and how you can take advantage of the flexibility of Open Learning resources. Is there a half-hour before bed to watch a video, or some time on the weekend to read lecture notes? If you figure out how to make it work for you, it is definitely worth the effort.” “If you do that, you are going to grow academically and personally,” Solano says. “When you go to school, you will feel more confident.” And Solano is not slowing down. She plans to continue using Open Learning resources, this time turning her attention to graduate-level courses, all in service of her curiosity and drive for knowledge. “When I was younger, I read the book ‘The God Equation,’ by Michio Kaku, which explains quantum gravity theory. Something inside me awoke,” she recalls. “I really want to know what happens at the center of a black hole, and how we unify quantum mechanics, black holes, and general relativity. I decided that I want to invest my life in this.” She is well on her way. Last summer, Solano applied for and received a scholarship to study particle physics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. This summer, she’s applying for opportunities to study the cosmos. All of this, she says, is only possible thanks to what she has learned with MIT Open Learning resources. “The applications ask you to explain what you like about physics, and thanks to MIT, I’m able to express that,” Solano says. “I’m able to go for these scholarships and really fight for what I dream.” Read the Original Article published on MIT News
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Sangat Tiwari
Sangat Tiwari
High School Student
Canada
High school student Sangat Tiwari found MIT OpenCourseWare at Open Learning in 8th grade and hasn’t looked back. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare resources have been part of Sangat Tiwari’s life since he was in 8th grade. Sometimes, he came across the resources by chance, like when he was looking for ways to improve his public speaking skills and found Patrick Winston’s How to Speak on the OpenCourseWare YouTube channel. Other times, his teachers recommended courses to deepen his knowledge, or he sought out specific courses to supplement what he was learning in class. Now in 11th grade, he uses the resources to complement his biology and chemistry courses and has become an OpenCourseWare advocate to his friends, family, and teachers. “Professor Winston’s lecture on public speaking is super popular, and I stumbled upon it when I wanted to get ahead of a school presentation. Since then, MIT has been in my life,” Tiwari says. “My 9th grade teachers recommended OpenCourseWare even though they said it might be a bit advanced, which I thought was pretty cool. And in 10th grade, I used the resources in my biology course.” Through his school, Tiwari takes classes that are part of the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program. Students who earn an IB diploma are qualified to enter higher education anywhere in the world — something appealing to Tiwari, who moved to Canada as a Bhutanese refugee from Nepal with his family when he was three years old. IB requires students to write extended essays, or year-long reports. He is working on essays for his chemistry and biology courses. MIT OpenCourseWare’s resources on solid state chemistry are proving useful as Tiwari prepares his essay on the structures and properties of molecules. “I’m also taking biology at the moment, so I have been looking at Professor Kanwisher’s course on the human brain,” says Tiwari. “I know all that is going to come up in my course. She has these amazing anecdotes related to what she’s explaining, and it really supplements my learning.” Although he says that math is not his strong suit, Tiwari has also been drawn into Gilbert Strang’s materials on MIT OpenCourseWare, particularly the class on different approaches to linear algebra. His own algebra class was just starting to study linear equations and matrices, so some of Strang’s material was difficult for Tiwari to understand. But it intrigued him enough to share the content with his teacher. “I told my teacher about the videos and that I learned that we could use matrices to find the intersection of linear equations way quicker than using substitution or elimination,” Tiwari explains. “He told me we would get to that eventually, so I kept watching. I’m not the best at math, but Professor Strang’s passion got to me.” As for Tiwari’s passion, it lies in biology and chemistry, specifically neurology and how diseases affect the human brain. He is particularly interested in Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which he notes is becoming more prevalent in the United States, and how it impacts brain function. But another passion is spreading the word about MIT OpenCourseWare. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses spanning MIT’s undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Tiwari shares OpenCourseWare materials with members of his school’s peer tutoring club. He says the materials supplement the tutoring pedagogy promoted by his school guidance office and are helpful in demonstrating effective teaching and sharing ideas tutors can incorporate into their own sessions. “Tutors are expected to have a high degree of course understanding since they are tutoring others, so OpenCourseWare is a ‘two birds, one stone’ situation, where tutors themselves further their own understanding,” Tiwari says. “Overall, OpenCourseWare has been a profound resource to develop tutors’ skills and act as a great guide.” Tiwari plans to keep using MIT OpenCourseWare as he finishes high school and beyond. “OpenCourseWare has taught me that I can learn anything if I want to — and anyone can,” he says. “If you’re starting out or even if you’re at the top of your class or field, there is so much great content from world-class professors! I think it’s invaluable.”
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Sujood Eldouma
Sujood Eldouma
Student
Sudan
Turning adversity into opportunity How a love for math and access to MIT Open Learning’s online learning resources helped a Sudanese learner pursue a career in data science. Carolyn Tiernan | MIT Open Learning Sujood Eldouma always knew she loved math; she just didn’t know how to use it for good in the world. But after a personal and educational journey that took her from Sudan to Cairo to London, all while leveraging MIT Open Learning’s online educational resources, she finally knows the answer: data science. An early love of data Eldouma grew up in Omdurman, Sudan, with her parents and siblings. She always had an affinity for STEM subjects, and at the University of Khartoum she majored in electrical and electronic engineering with a focus in control and instrumentation engineering. In her second year at university, Eldouma struggled with her first coding courses in C++ and C#, which are general-purpose programming languages. When a teaching assistant introduced Eldouma and her classmates to MIT OpenCourseWare for additional support, she promptly worked through OpenCourseWare’s C++ and C courses in tandem with her in-person classes. This began Eldouma’s ongoing connection with the open educational resources available through MIT Open Learning. OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, offers a free collection of materials from thousands of MIT courses, spanning the entire curriculum. To date, Eldouma has explored over 20 OpenCourseWare courses, and she says it is a resource she returns to regularly. Sujood from Sudan: An Open Learner’s Story Video: MIT OpenCourseWare. Listen to the interview here. “We started watching the videos and reading the materials, and it made our lives easier,” says Eldouma. “I took many OpenCourseWare courses in parallel with my classes throughout my undergrad, because we still did the same material. OpenCourseWare courses are structured differently and have different resources and textbooks, but at the end of the day it’s the same content.” For her graduation thesis, Eldouma did a project on disaster response and management in complex contexts, because at the time, Sudan was suffering from heavy floods and the country had limited resources to respond. “That’s when I realized I really love data, and I wanted to explore that more,” she says. While Eldouma loves math, she always wanted to find ways to use it for good. Through the early exposure to data science and statistical methods at her university, she saw how data science leverages math for real-world impact. After graduation, she took a job at the DAL Group, the largest Sudanese conglomerate, where she helped to incorporate data science and new technologies to automate processes within the company. When civil war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, life as Eldouma knew it was turned upside down, and her family was forced to make the difficult choice to relocate to Egypt. Purpose in adversity Soon after relocating to Egypt, Eldouma lost her job and found herself struggling to find purpose in the life circumstances she had been handed. Due to visa restrictions, challenges getting right-to-work permits, and a complicated employment market in Egypt, she was also unable to find a new job. “I was sort of in a depressive episode, because of all that was happening,” she reflects. “It just hit me that I lost everything that I know, everything that I love. I’m in a new country. I need to start from scratch.” Around this time, a friend who knew Eldouma was curious about data science sent her the link to apply to the MIT Emerging Talent Certificate in Data and Computer Science. With less than 24 hours before the application deadline, Eldouma hit “Submit.” Finding community and joy through learning Part of MIT Open Learning, MIT Emerging Talent at the MIT Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) develops global education programs that target the needs of talented individuals from challenging economic and social circumstances by equipping them with the knowledge and tools to advance their education and careers. The Certificate in Computer and Data Science is a year-long online learning program that follows an agile continuous education model. It incorporates computer science and data analysis coursework from MITx, professional skill building, experiential learning, apprenticeship options, and opportunities for networking with MIT’s global community. The program is targeted toward refugees, migrants, and first-generation low-income students from historically marginalized backgrounds and underserved communities worldwide. Although Eldouma had used data science in her role at the DAL Group, she was happy to have a proper introduction to the field and to find joy in learning again. She also found community, support, and inspiration from her classmates who were connected to each other not just by their academic pursuits, but by their shared life challenges. The cohort of 100 students stayed in close contact through the program, both for casual conversation and for group work. “In the final step of the Emerging Talent program, learners apply their computer and data knowledge in an experiential learning opportunity,” says Megan Mitchell, associate director for Pathways for Talent and acting director of J-WEL. “The experiential learning opportunity takes the form of an internship, apprenticeship, or an independent or collaborative project, and allows students to apply their knowledge in real-world settings and build practical skills.” Determined to apply her newly acquired knowledge in a meaningful way, Eldouma and fellow displaced Sudanese classmates designed a project to help solve a problem in their home country. The group identified access to education as a major problem facing Sudanese people, with schooling disrupted due to the conflict. Focusing on the higher education audience, the group partnered with community platform Nas Al Sudan to create a centralized database where students can search for scholarships and other opportunities to continue their education. Eldouma completed the MIT Emerging Talent program in June 2024 with a clear vision to pursue a career in data science, and the confidence to achieve that goal. In fact, she had already taken the steps to get there: halfway through the certificate program, she applied and was accepted to the MITx MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science at Open Learning and the London School of Economics (LSE) Masters of Science in Data Science. In January 2024, Eldouma started the MicroMasters program with 12 of her Emerging Talent peers. While the MIT Emerging Talent program is focused on undergraduate-level, introductory computer and data science material, the MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science is graduate-level learning. MicroMasters programs are a series of courses that provide deep learning in a specific career field, and learners that successfully earn the credential may receive academic credit to universities around the world. This makes the credential a pathway to over 50 master’s degree programs and other advanced degrees, including at MIT. Eldouma believes that her experience in the MicroMasters courses prepared her well for the expectations of the LSE program. After finishing the MicroMasters and LSE programs, Eldouma aspires to a career using data science to better understand what is happening on the African continent from an economic and social point of view. She hopes to contribute to solutions to conflicts across the region. And, someday, she hopes to move back to Sudan. “My family’s roots are there. I have memories there,” she says. “I miss walking in the street and the background noise is the same language that I am thinking in. I don’t think I will ever find that in any place like Sudan.”
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Sofiia Lipkevych
Sofiia Lipkevych
College Student
Ukraine
Ukrainian students and collaborators provide high-quality translations of MIT OpenCourseWare educational resources. Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning With war continuing to disrupt education for millions of Ukrainian high school and college students, many are turning to online resources, including MIT OpenCourseWare, a part of MIT Open Learning offering educational materials from more than 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. For Ukrainian high school senior Sofiia Lipkevych and other students, MIT OpenCourseWare has provided valuable opportunities to take courses in key subject areas. However, while multiple Ukrainian students study English, many do not yet have sufficient command of the language to be able to fully understand and use the often very technical and complex OpenCourseWare content and materials. “At my school, I saw firsthand how language barriers prevented many Ukrainian students from accessing world-class education,” says Lipkevych. She was able to address this challenge as a participant in the Ukrainian Leadership and Technology Academy (ULTA), established by Ukrainian MIT students Dima Yanovsky and Andrii Zahorodnii. During summer 2024 at ULTA, Lipkevych worked on a browser extension that translated YouTube videos in real-time. Since MIT OpenCourseWare was a main source of learning materials for students participating in ULTA, she was inspired to translate OpenCourseWare lectures directly and to have this translation widely available on the OpenCourseWare website and YouTube channel. She reached out to Professor Elizabeth Wood, founding director of the MIT Ukraine Program, who connected her with MIT OpenCourseWare Director Curt Newton. Although there had been some translations of MIT OpenCourseWare’s educational resources available beginning in 2004, these initial translations were conducted manually by several global partners, without the efficiencies of the latest artificial intelligence tools, and over time the programs couldn’t be sustained, and shut down. “We were thrilled to have this contact with ULTA,” says Newton. “We’ve been missing having a vibrant translation community, and we are excited to have a ‘phase 2’ of translations emerge.” The ULTA team selected courses to translate based on demand among Ukrainian students, focusing on foundational subjects that are prerequisites for advanced learning — particularly those for which high-quality, Ukrainian-language materials are scarce. Starting with caption translations on videos of lectures, the team has translated the following courses so far: 18.06 (Linear Algebra), 2.003SC (Engineering Dynamics), 5.60 (Thermodynamics & Kinetics), 6.006 (Introduction to Algorithms), and 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python). They also worked directly with Andy Eskenazi, a PhD student in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, to translate 16.002 (How to CAD Almost Anything - Siemens NX Edition). Introduction to the Human Brain Video: MIT OpenCourseWare The ULTA team developed multiple tools to help break language barriers. For MIT OpenCourseWare’s PDF content available through the ULTA program, they created a specialized tool that uses optical character recognition to recognize LaTeX in documents — such as problem sets and other materials — and then used a few large language models to translate them, all while maintaining technical accuracy. The team built a glossary of technical terms used in the courses and their corresponding Ukrainian translations, to help make sure that the wording was correct and consistent. Each translation also undergoes human review to further ensure accuracy and high quality. For video content, the team initially created a browser extension that can translate YouTube video captions in real-time. They ultimately collaborated with ElevenLabs, implementing their advanced AI dubbing editor that preserves the original speaker’s tone, pace, and emotional delivery. The lectures are translated in the ElevenLabs dubbing editor, and then the audio is uploaded to the MIT OpenCourseWare YouTube channel. The team is currently finalizing the translation of the audio for class 9.13 (The Human Brain), taught by MIT Professor Nancy Kanwisher, which Lipkevych says they selected for its interdisciplinary nature and appeal to a wide variety of learners. This Ukrainian translation project highlights the transformative potential of the latest translation technologies, building upon a 2023 MIT OpenCourseWare experiment using the Google Aloud AI dubbing prototype on a few courses, including MIT Professor Patrick Winston’s How to Speak. The advanced capabilities of the dubbing editor used in this project are opening up possibilities for a much greater variety of language offerings throughout MIT OpenCourseWare materials. “I expect that in a few years we’ll look back and see that this was the moment when things shifted for OpenCourseWare to be truly usable for the whole world,” says Newton. Community-led language translations of MIT OpenCourseWare materials serve as a high-impact example of the power of OpenCourseWare’s Creative Commons licensing, which grants everyone the right to revise materials to suit their particular needs and redistribute those revisions to the world. While there isn’t currently a way for users of the MIT OpenCourseWare platform to quickly identify which videos are available in which languages, MIT OpenCourseWare is working toward building this capability into its website, as well as expanding its number of offerings in different languages. “This project represents more than just translation,” says Lipkevych. “We’re enabling thousands of Ukrainians to build skills that will be essential for the country’s eventual reconstruction. We’re also hoping this model of collaboration can be extended to other languages and institutions, creating a template for making high-quality education accessible worldwide.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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Bernardo Picão
Bernardo Picão
Student
Portugal
MIT OpenCourseWare “changed how I think about teaching and what a university is” Bernardo Picão, a graduate student in physics, has turned to MIT Open Learning’s resources throughout his educational journey. By Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning Bernardo Picão has been interested in online learning since the early days of YouTube, when his father showed him a TED Talk. But it was with MIT Open Learning that he realized just how transformational digital resources can be. “YouTube was my first introduction to the idea that you can actually learn stuff via the internet,” Picão says. “So, when I became interested in mathematics and physics when I was 15 or 16, I turned to the internet and stumbled upon some playlists from MIT OpenCourseWare and went from there.” OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, offers free online educational resources from over 2,500 MIT undergraduate and graduate courses. Since discovering it, Picão has explored linear algebra with Gilbert Strang, professor emeritus of mathematics — whom Picão calls “a legend” — and courses on metaphysics, functional analysis, quantum field theory, and English. He has returned to OpenCourseWare throughout his educational journey, which includes undergraduate studies in France and Portugal. Some courses provided different perspectives on material he was learning in his classes, while others filled gaps in his knowledge or satisfied his curiosity. Overall, Picão says that MIT resources made him a more robust scientist. He is currently completing a master’s degree in physics at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, where he researches prominent lattice quantum chromodynamics, an approach to the study of quarks that uses precise computer simulations. After completing his master’s degree, Picão says he will continue to a doctoral program in the field. At a recent symposium in Lisbon, Picão attended a lecture given by someone he had first seen in an OpenCourseWare video — Krishna Rajagopal, the William A. M. Burden Professor of Physics and former dean for digital learning at MIT Open Learning. There, he took the opportunity to thank Rajagopal for his support of OpenCourseWare, which Picão says is an important part of MIT’s mission as a leader in education. In addition to the range of subjects covered by OpenCourseWare, Picão praises the variety of instructors. All the courses are well-constructed, he says, but sometimes learners will connect with certain instructors or benefit from a particular presentation style. Since OpenCourseWare and other Open Learning programs offer such a wide range of free educational resources from MIT, learners can explore similar courses from different instructors to get new perspectives and round out their knowledge. While he enjoys his research, Picão’s passion is teaching. OpenCourseWare has helped him with that too, by providing models for how to teach math and science and how to connect with learners of different abilities and backgrounds. “I’m a very philosophical person,” he says. “I used to think that knowledge was intrinsically secluded in the large bindings of books, beyond the classroom walls, or inside the idiosyncratic minds of professors. OpenCourseWare changed how I think about teaching and what a university is — the point is not to keep knowledge inside of it, but to spread it.” Picão, now a teaching assistant at his institution, has been teaching since his days as a high school student tutoring his classmates or talking with members of his family. “I spent my youth sharing my knowledge with my grandmother and my extended family, including people who weren’t able to attend school past the fourth grade,” he says. “Seeing them get excited about knowledge is the coolest thing. Open Learning scales that up to the rest of the world and that can have an incredible impact.” The ability to learn from MIT experts has benefited Picão, deepening his understanding of the complex subjects that interest him. But, he acknowledges, he is a person who has access to high-quality instruction even without Open Learning. For learners who do not have that access, Open Learning is invaluable. “It’s hard to overstate the importance of such a project. MIT’s OpenCourseware and Open Learning profoundly shift how students all over the world can perceive their relationship with education: Besides an internet connection, the only requirement is the curiosity to explore the hundreds of expertly crafted courses and worksheets, perfect for self-studying,” says Picão. He continues, “People may find OpenCourseWare and think it is too good to be true. Why would such a prestigious institution break down the barriers to scientific education and commit to open-access, free resources? I want people to know: There is no catch. Sharing is the point.” “MIT OpenCourseWare ‘changed how I think about teaching and what a university is’” was originally published in MIT News on July 15, 2024.
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Ana Trišović
Ana Trišović
Researcher
USA
Ana Trišović, who studies the democratization of AI, reflects on a career path that she began as a student downloading free MIT resources in Serbia. Lauren Rebecca Thacker | MIT Open Learning As a college student in Serbia with a passion for math and physics, Ana Trišović found herself drawn to computer science and its practical, problem-solving approaches. It was then that she discovered MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, and decided to study a course on Data Analytics with Python in 2012 — something her school didn’t offer. That experience was transformative, says Trišović, who is now a research scientist at the FutureTech lab within MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. “That course changed my life,” she says. “Throughout my career, I have considered myself a Python coder, and MIT OpenCourseWare made it possible. I was in my hometown on another continent, learning from MIT world-class resources. When I reflect on my path, it’s incredible.” Over time, Trišović’s path led her to explore a range of OpenCourseWare resources. She recalls that, as a non-native English speaker, some of the materials were challenging. But thanks to the variety of courses and learning opportunities available on OpenCourseWare, she was always able to find ones that suited her. She encourages anyone facing that same challenge to be persistent. “If the first course doesn’t work for you, try another,” she says. “Being persistent and investing in yourself is the best thing a young person can do.” In her home country of Serbia, Trišović earned undergraduate degrees in computer science and mechanical engineering before going on to Cambridge University and CERN, where she contributed to work on the Large Hadron Collider and completed her PhD in computer science in 2018. She has also done research at the University of Chicago and Harvard University. “I like that computer science allows me to make an impact in a range of fields, but physics remains close to my heart, and I’m constantly inspired by it,” she says. MIT FutureTech, an interdisciplinary research group, draws on computer science, economics, and management to identify computing trends that create risk and opportunities for sustainable economic growth. There, Trišović studies the democratization of AI, including the implications of open-source AI and how that will impact science. Her work at MIT is a chance to build on research she has been pursuing since she was in graduate school. “My work focuses on computational social science. For many years, I’ve been looking at what’s known as ’the science of science’ — investigating issues like research reproducibility," Trišović explains. “Now, as AI becomes increasingly prevalent and introduces new challenges, I’m interested in examining a range of topics — from AI democratization to its effects on the scientific method and the broader landscape of science.” Trišović is grateful that, way back in 2012, she made the decision to try something new and learn with an OpenCourseWare course. “I instantly fell in love with Python the moment I took that course. I have such a soft spot for OpenCourseWare — it shaped my career,” she says. “Every day at MIT is inspiring. I work with people who are excited to talk about AI and other fascinating topics.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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Bia Adams
Bia Adams
Independent Learner
United Kingdom
Psychologist Bia Adams discovered a passion for computational neuroscience thanks to open-access MIT educational resources. Stefanie Koperniak | MIT Open Learning Bia Adams, a London-based neuropsychologist, former professional ballet dancer, and MIT Open Learning learner, has built her career across decades of diverse, interconnected experiences and an emphasis on lifelong learning. She earned her bachelor’s degree in clinical and behavioral psychology, and then worked as a psychologist and therapist for several years before taking a sabbatical in her late 20s to study at the London Contemporary Dance School and The Royal Ballet — fulfilling a long-time dream. “In hindsight, I think what drew me most to ballet was not so much the form itself,” says Adams, “but more of a subconscious desire to make sense of my body moving through space and time, my emotions and motivations — all within a discipline that is rigorous, meticulous, and routine-based. It’s an endeavor to make sense of the world and myself.” After acquiring some dance-related injuries, Adams returned to psychology. She completed an online certificate program specializing in medical neuroscience via Duke University, focusing on how pathology arises out of the way the brain computes information and generates behavior. In addition to her clinical practice, she has also worked at a data science and AI consultancy for neural network research. In 2022, in search of new things to learn and apply to both her work and personal life, Adams discovered MIT OpenCourseWare within MIT Open Learning. She was drawn to class 8.04 (Quantum Physics I), which specifically focuses on quantum mechanics, as she was hoping to finally gain some understanding of complex topics that she had tried to teach herself in the past with limited success. She credits the course’s lectures, taught by Allan Adams (physicist and principal investigator of the MIT Future Ocean Lab), with finally making these challenging topics approachable. “I still talk to my friends at length about exciting moments in these lectures,” says Adams. “After the first class, I was hooked.” Adams’s journey through MIT Open Learning’s educational resources quickly led to a deeper interest in computational neuroscience. She learned how to use tools from mathematics and computer science to better understand the brain, nervous system, and behavior. She says she gained many new insights from class 6.034 (Artificial Intelligence), particularly in watching the late Professor Patrick Winston’s lectures. She appreciated learning more about the cognitive psychology aspect of AI, including how pioneers in the field looked at how the brain processes information and aimed to build programs that could solve problems. She further enhanced her understanding of AI with the Minds and Machines course on MITx Online, part of Open Learning. Adams is now in the process of completing Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python, taught by John Guttag; Eric Grimson, former interim vice president for Open Learning; and Ana Bell. “I am multilingual, and I think the way my brain processes code is similar to the way computers code,” says Adams. “I find learning to code similar to learning a foreign language: both exhilarating and intimidating. Learning the rules, deciphering the syntax, and building my own world through code is one of the most fascinating challenges of my life.” Adams is also pursuing a master’s degree at Duke and the University College of London, focusing on the neurobiology of sleep and looking particularly at how the biochemistry of the brain can affect this critical function. As a complement to this research, she is currently exploring class 9.40 (Introduction to Neural Computation), taught by Michale Fee and Daniel Zysman, which introduces quantitative approaches to understanding brain and cognitive functions and neurons and covers foundational quantitative tools of data analysis in neuroscience. In addition to the courses related more directly to her field, MIT Open Learning also provided Adams an opportunity to explore other academic areas. She delved into philosophy for the first time, taking Paradox and Infinity, taught by Professor Agustín Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and Digital Learning Lab Fellow David Balcarras, which looks at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics. She also was able to explore in more depth immunology, which had always been of great interest to her, through Professor Adam Martin’s lectures on this topic in class 7.016 (Introductory Biology). “I am forever grateful for MIT Open Learning,” says Adams, “for making knowledge accessible and fostering a network of curious minds, all striving to share, expand, and apply this knowledge for the greater good.” Read the Original Article on MIT News
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June Odongo
June Odongo
Independent Learner
Kenya
Entrepreneur creates career pathways with MIT OpenCourseWare June Odongo uses free, online MIT courses to train high-quality candidates, making them job-ready. By Sara Feijo | MIT Open Learning When June Odongo interviewed early-career electrical engineer Cynthia Wacheke for a software engineering position at her company, Wacheke lacked knowledge of computer science theory but showed potential in complex problem-solving. Determined to give Wacheke a shot, Odongo turned to MIT OpenCourseWare to create a six-month “bridging course” modeled after the classes she once took as a computer science student. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. “Wacheke had the potential and interest to do the work that needed to be done, so the way to solve this was for me to literally create a path for her to get that work done,” says Odongo, founder and CEO of Senga Technologies. Developers, Odongo says, are not easy to find. The OpenCourseWare educational resources provided a way to close that gap. “We put Wacheke through the course last year, and she is so impressive,” Odongo says. “Right now, she is doing our first machine learning models. It’s insane how good of a team member she is. She has done so much in such a short time.” Making high-quality candidates job-ready Wacheke, who holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nairobi, started her professional career as a hardware engineer. She discovered a passion for software while working on a dashboard design project, and decided to pivot from hardware to software engineering. That’s when she discovered Senga Technologies, a logistics software and services company in Kenya catering to businesses that ship in Africa. Odongo founded Senga with the goal of simplifying and easing the supply chain and logistics experience, from the movement of goods to software tools. Senga’s ultimate goal, Odongo says, is to have most of their services driven by software. That means employees — and candidates — need to be able to think through complex problems using computer science theory. “A lot of people are focused on programming, but we care less about programming and more about problem-solving,” says Odongo, who received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and an MBA from Harvard Business School. “We actually apply the things people learn in computer science programs.” Wacheke started the bridging course in June 2022 and was given six months to complete the curriculum on the MIT OpenCourseWare website. She took nine courses, including: Introduction to Algorithms; Mathematics for Computer Science; Design and Analysis of Algorithms; Elements of Software Construction; Automata, Computability, and Complexity; Database Systems; Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making; Introduction to Machine Learning; and Networks. “The bridging course helped me learn how to think through things,” Wacheke says. “It’s one thing to know how to do something, but it’s another to design that thing from scratch and implement it.” During the bridging course, Wacheke was paired with a software engineer at Senga, who mentored her and answered questions along the way. She learned Ruby on Rails, a server-side web application framework under the MIT License. Wacheke also completed other projects to complement the theory she was learning. She created a new website that included an integration to channel external requests to Slack, a cross-platform team communication tool used by the company’s employees. Continuous learning for team members The bridging course concluded with a presentation to Senga employees, during which Wacheke explained how the company could use graph theory for decision-making. “If you want to get from point A to B, there are algorithms you can use to find the shortest path,” Wacheke says. “Since we’re a logistics company, I thought we could use this when we’re deciding which routes our trucks take.” The presentation, which is the final requirement for the bridging course, is also a professional development opportunity for Senga employees. “This process is helpful for our team members, particularly those who have been out of school for a while,” Odongo says. “The candidates present what they’ve learned in relation to Senga. It’s a way of doing continuous learning for the existing team members.” After successfully completing the bridging course in November 2022, Wacheke transitioned to a full-time software engineer role. She is currently developing a “machine” that can interpret and categorize hundreds of documents, including delivery notes, cash flows, and receipts. “The goal is to enable our customers to simply feed those documents into our machine, and then we can more accurately read and convert them to digital formats to drive automation,” Odongo says. “The machine will also enable someone to ask a document a question, such as ‘What did I deliver to retailer X on date Y?’ or ‘What is the total price of the goods delivered?’” The bridging course, which was initially custom-designed for Wacheke, is now a permanent program at Senga. A second team member completed the course in October 2023 and has joined the software team full time. “Developers are not easy to find, and you also want high-quality developers,” Odongo says. “At least when we do this, we know that the person has gone through what we need.” Read the Original Article This article was republished with permission from the MIT News Office
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Andrea Henshall
Andrea Henshall
Independent Learner
United States
Veteran and PhD student Andrea Henshall has used MIT Open Learning to soar from the Air Force to multiple aeronautics degrees. By Katherine Ouellette | MIT Open Learning Andrea Henshall, a retired major in the U.S. Air Force and current MIT PhD student, has completed seven tours of combat, two years of aerial circus performance, and three higher education degrees (so far). But throughout each step of her journey, all roads seemed to point to MIT. Currently working on her doctoral degree with an MIT master’s already in her toolkit, she is quick to attribute her academic success to MIT’s open educational resources. “I kept coming back to MIT-produced open source learning,” she says. “MIT dominates in educational philanthropy when it comes to free high-quality learning sources.” To this day, Henshall recommends MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and MITx courses to students and her fellow veterans who are transitioning out of the service. A love of flight and a drive to excel Henshall first discovered OCW as she was pursuing her master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. Transitioning from an applied engineering program at the United States Air Force Academy to a more theoretical program proved a challenge for Henshall, and her first semester grades got her put on academic probation. During Independent Activities Period, she took Professor Gilbert Strang’s linear algebra courses on OCW, which included both videos and homework. Henshall found Strang very engaging and easy to learn from and found it helpful to work through the homework when they had the solutions available. She was able to lift her grades the following semester, and by the end of her program, she was getting all A’s. Henshall says, “OpenCourseWare really saved me. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to complete my master’s.” Ever since Henshall learned the term “astronautical engineer” in the fourth grade, she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. That early love of outer space and building things led her to a bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering and the Air Force. There she served as a research and development officer, instructor pilot, and chief financial officer of her squadron. But a non-combat-related injury forced her to medically retire from being a pilot. “I was not doing well physically, and it was impossible for me to get hired to be a pilot outside of the Air Force.” After a brief detour as a part-time aerial circus performer, she decided to go back to school. Watch Andrea Henshall’s story about How MIT OpenCourseWare and MITx helped her soar. Learning how to learn Working outside of academia for eight years proved to be a tough transition. Henshall says, “I had to translate the work I had done in the military into something relevant for an academic application, and the language they were looking for was very different from what I was used to.” She thought acquiring more recent academic work might help improve her application. She attended Auburn University for her second master’s degree (this time in computer science and software engineering) and started a PhD. Again she turned to MIT OCW to supplement her studies. Henshall says, “I remembered vividly how much it had helped me in 2005, so of course that’s where I was going to start. Then I noticed that OCW linked to MITx, which had more interactive quizzes.” The OCW platform had also become more robust since she had first used it. “Back then, it was new, there wasn’t necessarily a standard,” she says. Over 10 years later, she found that most courses had more material, videos, and notes that more closely approximated an MIT course experience. Those additional open education resources gave Henshall an extra edge to complete a 21-month program in 12 months with a 4.0 GPA. Her advisor told her that she had the best thesis defense he had seen in 25 years. In 2019, Henshall’s success helped her get accepted to MIT’s PhD program in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in the Autonomy and Embedded Robotics Accelerated (AERA) lab under the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), with a Lester Durand Gardner Fellowship. Her focus is controls systems with a minor in quantum information. She says, “I’m literally living my dream. I’m at my dream school with my dream advisor.” Working with Professor Sertac Karaman in LIDS, Henshall plans to write her thesis on multi-agent reinforcement learning. But her relationship with online learning is far from over; again she has turned to OCW and MITx resources for the foundation to succeed in subjects such as controls, machine learning, quantum mechanics, and quantum computation. When the pandemic struck the East Coast, Henshall was only nine months into her PhD program at MIT. The pivot to online learning made it difficult to continue building relationships with classmates. But what was a new course experience for many learners during the pandemic felt very familiar to Henshall. “I had a leg up because I already knew how to learn through prerecorded videos on a computer instead of three-dimensional human standing in front of a chalkboard. I had already learned how to learn.” A lifelong commitment to service Henshall plans to return to the Department of Defense or related industries. Currently, she works collaboratively on two major projects related to her PhD thesis and her career path after she completes the program. The first project is an AI accelerator program through the Air Force. Her work with unmanned aerial vehicles (a.k.a. drones) uses a small quadrotor to autonomously and quickly search a building using reinforcement learning. The primary intended use is search and rescue. The second project involves research into multi-agent reinforcement learning and pathfinding. While also intended for search and rescue, they could be used for a variety of non-emergency inspection purposes as well. Henshall is eager to share open education resources. At Auburn she shared OCW materials with her classmates, and now she uses them with the students she tutors. She’s also committed to sharing knowledge and resources with her fellow service members, and is an active member of a number of veterans’ organizations. With the Warrior-Scholar Project, she answers questions from enlisted people going into undergraduate programs, ranging from “What’s parking like?” to “How did you prepare for school?” As a Service to School ambassador, she is assigned to mentor veterans who are transitioning out of the military and looking to apply to graduate school, usually MIT hopefuls or other competitive schools. She’s able to draw from her own application experience to help others identify the core message their application should communicate and finesse the language to sound less like a military brief and more like the “academic speak” they will encounter moving forward. Henshall says, “My trajectory would be so different if MITx and OCW didn’t exist, and I feel that’s true for so many thousands of other students. So many other institutions have copied the model, but MIT was the first and it’s still the best.” Originally published on https://news.mit.edu on March 16, 2022 and reposted from Medium. We hope you’ve been inspired by this story and by OCW’s effort to meet the needs of learners eager to enhance their knowledge, lift up their communities, and change the world for the benefit of everyone. Please consider supporting our work with a donation or if giving isn’t possible right now, we’d love to hear how OCW has made a difference in your life or classroom. We’d appreciate it!
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İleri Çalışmalar
İleri Çalışmalar
Students
Turkey
Study group of medical students in Turkey uses free MIT resources to pursue a PhD-level research agenda. By Duyen Nguyen | MIT Open Learning About two years ago, a group of medical students at Ege University Faculty of Medicine in Turkey began meeting to study single variable calculus. None of the students had taken a course in this subject before. But with the guidance of lectures, slides, and other freely available resources on MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), they soon advanced onto multivariable calculus. Then differential equations. Then linear algebra. Today, the students, who call their study group İleri Çalışmalar, or “Advanced Studies,” are paving their own road toward doctoral-level studies — with MIT OCW as their main resource. “Our motivation is to create a theoretical background in order to do research while we’re studying in medical school,” says Yıldırım Adalıoğlu, one of the study group’s co-founders, who explains that MD-PhD programs, which prepare students to become both clinicians and researchers, have only recently become available in Turkey, and are rare. “We didn’t have the chance to do doctoral-level research during medical school. We decided to create that for ourselves.” Using OCW courses to build their own curriculum, the members of İleri Çalışmalar have developed an independent program of study while working toward their medical degrees. The study group devotes about three months — the equivalent of an MIT semester — to each course in their curriculum. While most of their peers are on the clinician path, the group co-founded by Sıla Özkal, Begüm Tahhan, and Çağan Kaplan typically draws six to 10 students per course. Support and collaboration to pursue focused interests Depending on their schedule, Kaplan explains, the students meet weekly to discuss the OCW lectures and to review course materials. At each meeting, one or more members of the group volunteer to recap the lectures and to facilitate discussion. For new courses — like probability, the group’s current focus — the students approach discussion sessions collaboratively. “After nearly two years of medical coursework,” Adalıoğlu says, “we can now teach and adapt the earlier courses for new students as well.” The group also brainstorms potential research projects, some of which they have already carried out, independently and in collaboration with faculty from other departments and labs. For instance, over the summer a few students from the group interned at a biomedicine and genome research center. They drew on the knowledge they gained from classes 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python) and 6.0002 (Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science) to work on a study on analyzing the effects of mutations in a specific protein. The internship called for a background in computational research and data analysis. Thanks to MIT OCW, the İleri Çalışmalar students were well-prepared, says Adalıoğlu. “If we didn’t have the Python course from MIT, then we couldn’t go to the lab and do the internship there.” Combining their medical interests with their OCW coursework, Adalıoğlu and Kaplan also developed a computational model to study the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany. They’re now in the process of trying to publish their findings. “OCW broadens our horizons,” Kaplan says. Adalıoğlu adds, “If we want to do computational research, it’s mainly up to us. There aren’t many people on the medical faculty that work on computational projects. That’s why when we decide to do a computational project, either we solve the problems ourselves or we ask for help from professors from other universities and labs.” For Tahhan, who interned at a government science institute, where she studied hyperlipidemia in pediatric patients, the OCW courses have opened new areas of interest. “I realized I was interested in biochemistry when I took the 5.08J Biological Chemistry II course from OCW, so I applied for the internship,” she says. Özkal, who attends a cancer research internship, also credits the OCW courses that İleri Çalışmalar has covered with advancing her research goals. The tool kits to build their own future Currently in their third and fourth years of medical school, the İleri Çalışmalar founders note that OpenCourseWare has been a useful supplement to their medical studies as well. While studying the human gastrointestinal system, for example, they revisited the biological chemistry course materials to better understand the biochemical pathways that lead to absorption. “When we are confused about any subject, we can always go back to OCW and search for the slides,” says Kaplan. “We all want to do novel research and study the topics that allow people to understand our universe better. That’s why we started medical school, that’s why we want to do a PhD after medical school,” Adalıoğlu says. “We all love medicine and we love pathology, physiology, learning about diseases — we want to solve the problems that come from these diseases, but we need the tool kits to do research. Thanks to MIT OpenCourseWare and our own efforts, I hope we can create some vision — a path for other students after us.” “Enabling advanced studies in Turkey with MIT OpenCourseWare” was originally published in MIT News on January 12, 2023.
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Emmanuel Kasigazi
Emmanuel Kasigazi
Independent Learner
Uganda
“I get the chance to not only watch the future happen, but I can actually be a part of it and create it,” says Ugandan entrepreneur Emmanuel Kasigazi. Duyen Nguyen | MIT Open Learning Like millions of others during the global Covid-19 lockdowns, Emmanuel Kasigazi, an entrepreneur from Uganda, turned to YouTube to pass the time. But he wasn’t following an influencer or watching music videos. A lifelong learner, Kasigazi was scouring the video-sharing platform for educational resources. Since 2013, when he got his first smartphone, Kasigazi has been charting his own learning journey through YouTube, educating himself on subjects as diverse as psychology and artificial intelligence. And it was while searching for the answer to an AI-related question that Kasigazi first discovered MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW). “Here they were, all these courses by one of the best — if not the best — schools in tech in the world, and they were free. For a long time I couldn’t believe it. I told everyone I knew." “The search results showed MIT lectures, and I thought, ‘Which MIT is this?’” recalls Kasigazi, who admits he was initially skeptical as he opened the OCW YouTube channel. To his amazement, he found hundreds of courses there — not only clips, but complete lectures that he could follow alongside the students in MIT classrooms. He searched for more information on OCW and tried the channel on different browsers to triple-check its credibility. “Here they were, all these courses by one of the best — if not the best — schools in tech in the world, and they were free. For a long time I couldn’t believe it. I told everyone I knew,” he remembers. For Kasigazi, the channel became a gateway to other open education resources, including the OpenCourseWare website and MITx courses, both part of MIT Open Learning. “I always had the questions — I grew up on science cartoons like ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ and ‘Pinky and the Brain’ — so I would go on YouTube to try to find answers to these questions, and I found this whole other world,” he says. OCW launched its YouTube channel in 2008, and this August passed 4 million subscribers. While introductory computer science, math, and physics are the most-visited courses on the OCW website, the most popular YouTube videos reflect a more diverse range of interests, including a lecture about piloting a fighter jet aircraft, an introduction to the human brain, and an introduction to financial terms and concepts. Through this extensive collection, Kasigazi explains that he’s been able to explore “the things I love,” while also studying cloud computing, data science, and AI — fields that he plans to pursue in graduate studies. He says, “This is what OpenCourseWare has enabled me to do: I get the chance to not only watch the future happen, but I can actually be a part of it and create it.” Understanding humanity through the liberal arts When Kasigazi was young, a beloved aunt recognized his natural curiosity and steered him toward the best schools. “I owe her everything,” he says, “everything I am is because of her.” Thanks to his excellent grades he received an academic scholarship from the Ugandan government to attend Makerere University, one of the top universities in sub-Saharan Africa, where he earned a degree in information systems. Having pursued IT for its practical applications, Kasigazi admits that he was initially more interested in the science and theory behind computers than “the coding bits of it.” “I love the concept of it — how we are trying to make these machines,” he says, explaining that he’s long been drawn to the social sciences and humanities, particularly psychology and philosophy. “I’m interested in how we work as human beings, because everything we do is for, with, and around human beings,” says Kasigazi, who considers psychology to be foundational to almost every field. “Whatever it is you’re teaching these kids, they’re going to be dealing with people. So first teach them what people think, how they act — that was my drive to love psychology.” Kasigazi has also turned to OCW to brush up on his coding skills, watching 6.0001 (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python) lectures with Professor Ana Bell and reviewing the instructor-paced version with Professor Eric Grimson now on MITx. “I am proud to say MIT OCW has made me fall in love with coding … it makes sense like it never has before,” he says. Nurturing a worldview In 2014 Kasigazi moved to South Sudan, which had only recently emerged from a civil war as an independent nation. Fresh out of university, he was there to teach computer skills and graphic design — some of his students included members of the new country’s government — but his time in South Sudan quickly became a learning experience for him, too. “When you grow up in your community, you have this bubble. We all experience it — it’s a human thing,” he reflects. “For the first time, I realized that everything I knew is not a given. Everything I grew up knowing is not universal.” With his worldview newly broadened, he began to nurture his interest in psychology, philosophy, and the sciences, watching crash courses, explainer videos, and other content on the subject. “It’s entertainment, to me, at the same time that it’s a passion,” he says. Today Kasigazi runs his own company, which he started in 2012 with friends and resumed when he returned to Uganda seven years ago. Since coming across the OCW YouTube channel, Kasigazi has worked through all of the freely available MIT psychology courses. Professor John Gabrieli’s 9.00SC (Introduction to Psychology) have particularly resonated with him, even prompting him to reach out to Gabrieli. “As much as I’d been getting some knowledge on psychology over the years online, it wasn’t as deep and as interesting or captivating as your classes were,” he wrote. “From your teaching style, to the explanations, to the topics, to how you make people understand a topic, to the experiments mentioned and referenced, to how you approach questions and later make one think deeper about them.” “The message from Emmanuel is deeply touching about the joy of learning,” says Gabrieli, who is also an investigator at the McGovern Institute. “I am so grateful to OCW for making this course on psychology open to the world, and to Emmanuel for so delightfully sharing what this course meant to him.” New courses are added regularly to both the OCW website and YouTube channel. Kasigazi, who’s currently enjoying 9.13 (Introduction to the Human Brain) from professor and McGovern Institute investigator Nancy Kanwisher, looks forward to discovering what new worlds of knowledge they’ll open. Reposted from https://news.mit.edu on November 7, 2022. We hope you’ve been inspired by this story and by OCW’s effort to meet the needs of learners eager to enhance their knowledge, lift up their communities, and change the world for the benefit of everyone. Please consider supporting our work with a donation or if giving isn’t possible right now, we’d love to hear how OCW has made a difference in your life or classroom. We’d appreciate it!
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Juan Guerrero
Juan Guerrero
Independent Learner
United States
After a 33-year career in biotechnology, Juan Guerrero uses MIT Open Learning’s online resources to continue improving his skills and understanding. Katherine Ouellette | MIT Open Learning Over Juan Guerrero’s 33-year biotechnology career, he has watched gene editing evolve from theory to reality. But Guerrero still recognizes the importance of continuing his education despite having a front-row seat to the genome industry since its inception. Guerrero received a degree in biology from University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in 1992, and joined the workforce of thousands of sequencers mapping DNA. However, six years after leaving his job as a sequencing associate at Incyte, a lecturer at UC Berkeley informed Guerrero that the technology used to sequence the human genome had already become obsolete. “This stark contrast highlights the rapid pace of technological evolution in this field,” says Guerrero. “Motivated by this insight, I decided to return to school, starting with a course in genetics.” That’s when Guerrero enrolled as a part-time student at Pasadena City College in Los Angeles in 2016. Since then, he continues to deepen his knowledge with MIT Open Learning educational resources. “I decided to update my skills in the sciences because they change rapidly,” says Guerrero. Strengthening understanding Guerrero credits MIT Open Learning’s online resources with making a significant difference in his academic journey over the last decade. While searching for extra study materials to practice key concepts from his Pasadena City College courses, Guerrero was thrilled to find that MIT OpenCourseWare, part of Open Learning, offers a comprehensive collection of educational materials from thousands of MIT courses all in one place. “Due to the excellent array of available biology courses, I selectively explore topics from various OpenCourseWare course materials according to the particular concepts I wish to comprehend,” he says. Guerrero appreciates that OpenCourseWare dives deep into specific topics through an assortment of quizzes, exams, lecture notes, and videos. “It does challenge you to learn the concept, while at the same time, retaining it much better,” says Guerrero. MIT’s approach is different from how he first learned these concepts as an undergraduate — which he describes as “brute force memorization.” In one OpenCourseWare biology course lecture, for example, Guerrero studied a diagram of a cell that traced the path from nucleus to DNA. During a later assignment about protein production, he made the connection, “Oh, it goes by path. It’s organized,” he says. This holistic approach to learning helped strengthen his understanding of the concept. Guerrero also appreciates the platform’s flexibility, allowing him to learn on his own schedule. “What truly sets OpenCourseWare apart is its commitment to accessibility,” Guerrero says. “Not every student needs to be enrolled in a program and OpenCourseWare has made that possible. You can access what you want and it’s free.” Additionally, OpenCourseWare’s Creative Commons license allows anyone to modify, remix, and reuse its resources. This is particularly important for community colleges, like Pasadena City College, participating in California’s Zero Textbook Cost Program. The strength of OpenCourseWare for educators and students, Guerrero says, is that “people know it’s coming from a reliable, verified source — coming from MIT.” Researching medical applications After three decades in the biotech industry with roles ranging from research and development, to production, to quality assurance, Guerrero aspires to return to DNA research. He hopes to use advanced technologies that weren’t available during his previous time in the field — such as Next Generation Sequencing and CRISPR — to develop new medical applications. He aims to transform theoretical concepts into practical treatments for curing diseases and other conditions. “I’ve always thought about that aspect of helping someone with the technology made available,” he says. “However, I would prefer to remain in an academic environment until I have developed a comprehensive understanding of these technologies, as well as a solid foundation in genetics, which I believe is essential for effectively employing these advancements.” He says that OpenCourseWare has offered him a wealth of resources for his studies in genetics and other biological and chemical sciences. “The internet sped up the dissemination of all kinds of information,” Guerrero says. “There’s always so much more out there. You need updated knowledge.”
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