What is the World Saying?
MIT OpenCourse Ware
"Through OCW, I am part of a movement
to help make education free and
available to the world."
In between studying for
classes and working at the
MIT Computing Help Desk, MIT
senior Clinton Blackburn
volunteers as an ambassador
for OCW during his travels to
Africa.
MIT student Clinton Blackburn
introduced students to OCW during
his travels in Africa.
(Photo courtesy of Rana Banerjee.)
"I found lecture notes, handouts and
slides from presentations, and some
problem sets. It helped me a lot."
A fifth-year civil engineering
student at Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki in Greece, Maria
Karamitsou spent the summer of
2005 working at an institute of
seismology, studying
earthquake-resistant
construction techniques. As she
began work on the project,
Karamitsou realized that she
needed outside sources to
bolster her research, and
recalled that she had once heard
that academic and research
information was available on an
MIT web site
Maria Karamitsou, a civil
engineering student in Greece, used
OCW as she researched hydraulics.
"It's an important way to ensure the
quality of my courses."
Shirley Harrell, an assistant
professor in the School of
Management at Cambridge
College in Cambridge, MA,
speaks with pride of the
educational environment of her
institution. As an openenrollment school, she explains,
Cambridge has "a gate at the
end, not the beginning," and
welcomes students from a wide
range of backgrounds,
experiences, and abilities.
Shirley Harrell, an assistant
professor at Cambridge College,
motivates her students by exposing
them to MIT's academic standards.
(Photo courtesy of Rana Banerjee.)
"OCW opens up knowledge across the
world and allows universities to
benchmark teaching."
As director of Viruly Consulting
– a leading South African real
estate analysis firm – property
economist François Viruly has
acquired extensive experience
in the South African commercial
real estate market over the past
decade. One of Viruly's regular
courses is a property investment
module for graduate students at
the University of the
Witwatersrand
When François Viruly began to plan
a course using a graduate-level real
estate text, he was excited to
discover a course on OCW by the
author.
"MIT OpenCourseWare was different
because it explained things step by
step."
Entrepreneurs Jean-Ronel Noel
and Alex Georges are working
to bring renewable energy to
communities throughout Haiti.
Through their company, Enersa
(enersahaiti.com) they planned
to create solar panels to serve
the needs of their country, but in
their research and development
process, they required guidance
in electrical engineering. Noel
found the materials he needed
on MIT OpenCourseWare. “I
was able to use the
OpenCourseWare to learn the
principles of integrated circuits.
Enersa employs 18 full-time solar
technicians drawn from the
communities they serve, and
Enersa’s products affect the daily
lives of thousands of Haitians.
"Without question, OCW courses have
helped me in my professional life."
As an expert in community
development in South Carolina,
Harry Crissy does much of his
job on his feet. By combining his
shoe-leather commitment to
improving underserved areas
with OCW courses in systems
analysis, Crissy has helped
entrepreneurs get projects off
the ground and collaborated to
transform a vacant building into
a facility for a minority-based
technical school's culinary
program.
OCW user Harry Crissy