The Impact of Open Education

As OCW celebrated our 20th anniversary this past year, we’ve reflected on the incredible life-changing impact that open education has had around the world. From its origins in MIT’s audacious experiment to launch OCW, open education has become a rich and varied ecosystem of content creators, platforms, educators, and learners who share a common goal: more equitable, affordable, and inspiring learning for all. 

OCW has been an invaluable resource for learners in every situation, and especially for those committed to keep learning despite myriad disruptions and barriers they may face. Meanwhile, educators are improving student outcomes by adapting open educational resources like OCW to create more culturally-relevant learning experiences. 

All of this impact takes many people working together. OCW is actively developing collaborations with other organizations and institutions who are leading on inclusive and equitable education for their communities. We are excited by the growing potential of these collaborations, and look forward to sharing more details soon.

All of this impact springs from sustained generosity of 1000s of MIT faculty who’ve shared their teaching materials, the substantial support of the MIT administration, MIT students, and other content contributors, the tireless dedication of the OCW staff, the financial support of so many donors – and of course all the learners and educators who use OCW materials to make a difference in their own lives. We are so grateful for this generosity.

Now more than ever, the world needs freely-flowing trusted information so that everyone can keep learning and build our capacity to act on what matters most. From the foundations of math and science, to vital disciplines like development economics, climate change, and artificial intelligence, OCW will continue to share the latest knowledge with you. 

Please keep sharing OCW in your community…sign up for our monthly newsletter…and never stop learning.

Lifelong learning is not only a must in our times. It is also a great gift. Not everyone has the means to afford lifelong learning.

MIT OCW allows for a broad range of people in this world to come closer to the aim of lifelong learning.

It is an honor to be able to support this with a donation.

Jens, Donor

Switzerland

Inspired Learning
for All

The educational journeys and achievements of our community further motivate our drive to provide a great experience on our website. We’re also grateful to be part of learners’ efforts to improve their knowledge (like Andrea and Michael) and hope you enjoy meeting some of the OCW staff who help produce the life changing MIT materials so many access and use.

The Next Generation of OpenCourseWare is Here!​

We are delighted to introduce you to the next generation of MIT OpenCourseWare.

MIT’s “NextGen OCW” means new and improved experiences for learners – more support for educators – energizing new collaborations with open education colleagues around the world – and a greater capacity to share even more current and vibrant MIT content in the years to come. NextGen OCW means both a new platform and new programs.

Read more about NextGen OCW features

Learning to Fly

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.

Read more about Andrea’s experience.

Reese Jenkins is a content connoisseur. Jenkins is a Digital Publication Specialist and in the last ten years, he’s helped usher in more than 100 OCW courses with subjects ranging from philosophy and political science to women’s and gender studies and history. In addition to course publication, he’s part of the team that answers questions submitted by OCW learners.

Since you began working at OCW, there’ve been more than 33,000 emails from OCW learners that you’ve helped field. What are some of the most commonly asked questions that you’ve answered? Are there any comments or stories that have resonated with you?

I am constantly astounded by just how far OCW reaches. As a member of the Feedback team, daily I read messages from people all over the world who are so genuinely thankful that we are sharing some of MIT’s courses with them. 

Some ask can they get credit or can they put it on their resume. Many can’t believe that this knowledge is being shared with no cost. Others will offer their own solutions to our problem sets. Quite a few will let us know that they disagree with the solutions in our problem sets. But most just wish to share how truly appreciative they are that OCW and MIT are sharing this information. They write detailed comments on where they are located, what they are doing, and how OCW has touched their lives. It is nice to work in an organization that inspires such positive feelings.

 

You’ve worked with a number of esteemed MIT faculty in various departments. Can you talk about any course that particularly moved you or changed your way of thinking about a topic? 

I have worked on so many interesting courses over the past ten years that it is really hard to choose just one. One of my favorites is “Conversations You Can’t Have on Campus: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Identity.” It focused on a variety of topics that can inspire sometimes difficult yet needed discussions.  Everything from affirmative action to standards of beauty was touched upon. Students taking the class came from MIT as well as Wellesley College. We were able to get permission to include reflection papers where the students shared their thoughts on the course topics. It was very interesting to read the various viewpoints.

Favorite ice cream/food/snack:   Ice cream: Hershey’s Moose Tracks or Häagen-Dazs Rocky Road. Food: Either Mexican (Taco Bell rules!) or Italian.

 

Favorite book: Blackbird by Larry Duplechan.

 

Favorite movie:  “Imitation of Life.” The 1959 version starring Lana Turner and Juanita Moore. 

If you aren’t moved when Mahalia Jackson sings “Trouble of the World” during the closing scene, you have ice in your veins. 🙂

One of the most influential people in your life:  My mother.

Favorite quote:  “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” – Dr. Maya Angelou

Investing in a new future with Open Learning

Michael Pilgreen used MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) to help him make a career change during the Covid-19 pandemic. Credits: Courtesy of Michael Pilgreen

Mosaic at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, a project Pilgreen worked on before the Covid-19 pandemic brought his creative career to a halt. Credits: Courtesy of Michael Pilgreen

By Duyen Nguyen

Even before joining a financial technology startup, Michael Pilgreen believed in taking risks and investing long-term — especially when it came to his education and career.

For six years, Pilgreen worked in creative production management, specializing in painting, metalworking, and installations. He’d established himself in the art world with large collaborative projects like a mosaic made entirely of sequins for the Chili’s Care Center at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, and never imagined himself working in a STEM field.

But in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic brought his creative projects to a halt, Pilgreen found himself

“unemployed, distraught, and confused, searching for a sense of purpose and direction.”

That search led Pilgreen, a self-described “math nerd,” to financial technology — and to MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW).

“I knew a lot of top universities in the world had started posting their courses and materials online to encourage global collaboration and learning,” Pilgreen recalls. “So, once I knew I wanted to learn finance and computers, I focused on the birthplace of financial engineering — MIT — and tried every way possible to consume information from MIT.”

Read more about Michael’s journey.

Chalk Radio: an OCW podcast

Chalk Radio, OCW’s podcast, wrapped up season three with nine fantastic episodes. From how a professor makes calculus feel less abstract to humanity in the future of artificial intelligence and machine learning education, the podcast featured luminary MIT faculty and educators.

Read episode summaries and highlights

Subscribe and listen to all of the episodes

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Elizabeth DeRienzo brings out the best in learners around the globe. DeRienzo, an MIT Bringing Out the Best awardee, has worked at OCW since almost its inception. She’s also published some of the most visited courses on OCW, which include topics from the math and physics  departments. DeRienzo also has extensive experience in video production and book editing.

 

You’ve seen OCW grow and expand since its early days. Can you give us a sense of what OCW was like early on? What were some of the most memorable successes and challenges?

I came to OCW after years of producing and publishing educational media that was sold to corporate and government organizations.  The idea of creating content that would be shared with the world for free really appealed to me.

Those first few years were both exciting and hectic.  Many MIT faculty were fully on board, but others were skeptical about how it would impact their time and their teaching. We had to prove that it would work.  The people around the world who used what we published were so incredibly grateful for access to the content made the hectic times feel entirely worthwhile.  It still does.

Professor Gil Strang has really embraced OCW in its mission and his courses on linear algebra and math resources tend to be accessed by many millions of people. What’s it like working with him? 

I’ve had the great pleasure of working with Gil for the past 20 years.  He is just as kind and humble in person as he appears to be in his many videos on OCW.

Often, entirely out of the blue, Gil will contact me saying he has an idea for a new project. For example, he recently decided that his classic 18.06 Linear Algebra course needed updating.  So he created A 2020 Vision of Linear Algebra, with new videos, including one added a year later in 2021.  He is an inspiration!

Favorite ice cream/food/snack:  

I love a good chicken pot pie (with vegetables, of course!).  A great comfort food.  

Favorite book:

 Any book I can’t put down!

Favorite movie: 

The Princess Bride.  More recently, Summer of Soul.

One of the most influential people in your life: 

So many people have influenced me personally and professionally, particularly those who are both curious and kind.

Favorite quote: 

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

Connecting Globally

Raising awareness of OCW helps learners and educators add a powerful resource to their learning toolbox. Sharing our resources on social media platforms is one way to amplify our offerings. We’re especially thrilled at having reached 4 million subscribers to our YouTube channel which contains just about all of our videos and podcast episodes of Chalk Radio. We’ll keep sharing OCW and hope you will too.

OCW Reaching Out to The World

OCW team members discuss OCW’s efforts to raise awareness and support a terrific community of learners around the world (like you!).

To offer your suggestions on how we can improve our efforts, please visit: https://ocw.mit.edu/about/contactus/

Watch the recording

OCW gives us a clear message that if you want you can do it, no matter where you come from or the money you have.

Angie, Independent Learner

Colombia

Photo by Sophia Wadler.

Cheryl Siegel is an OCW champion. As a Publication Manager and Social Media Coordinator, Siegel and her team collaborate with MIT faculty, students, and staff to curate courses from some of the most highly sought after MIT subjects from departments like electrical engineering, aeronautics and astronautics, arts, and social sciences. 

Siegel also raises awareness of OCW’s efforts through OCW social channels that include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Through your work on OCW social media, you engage with lots of people from all over the world. What kinds of posts do people seem to respond to most? What kinds of comments or feedback do you enjoy receiving?

Our fans seem to have good senses of humor. We get a lot of positive responses and engagement, when I post nerdy math and science jokes or memes. For instance, one very popular post juxtaposed the hair of a character on the Netflix show Stranger Things with the Golden Ratio. I also like to share holiday-themed posts, such as an equation for Thanksgiving, that when solved, reads “I overate.” 

I love hearing stories from our fans about how they are using OCW materials, or how OCW has helped them in some way. Getting this kind of feedback is a huge boost to the team, knowing the work we do is impacting others positively. So if you have a story about how you have used OCW, please contact us. We want to hear from you.

 

You’ve worked at OCW for almost 15 years in various roles. What are some lessons you have learned in publishing open educational resources?

During the time I have worked at OCW, I have seen a tremendous shift in the landscape of OER. When I started back in 2008, there really weren’t many other organizations doing this kind of work. And now, the fields of educational technology and OER have exploded. We now have organizations like edX, Khan Academy, Coursera, Creative Commons, etc with similar missions. Despite the work we have all done, the demand and need for OER continues to grow, especially during the last several years during the pandemic. I think OCW and other similar groups can really help reach underserved populations in need of quality educational materials, and have a big role to play in the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement.

Favorite ice cream/food:  

Chocolate/vanilla soft serve ice cream 

Favorite book:

 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I read it as a young teenager, and it was the first book that took my breath away. 

Favorite show: 

I can’t seem to stop watching The Great British Baking Show.

One of the most influential people in your life: 

My mother, who passed away over 20 years ago. She was a champion for the arts and for the public schools in my hometown. She dedicated her life to it. My mother was charismatic, organized, and passionate. 

Favorite quote: 

“Some people are so poor, all they have is money.” 

Favorite math/academic pun: 

Not a pun per se, but I’m quite partial to Pi Day. 

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4 Million YouTube Subscribers
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Your Questions Answered

Index card with your questions answered

At our Celebrating 20 Years of MIT OCW event, we received lots of great questions from our audience, but we ran out of time to answer them all. (Big thanks to the more than 1,300 people who tuned in!) Here, we’ve gathered some of those audience questions and our answers.

Have there ever been instances where you had to choose between one course and another? How do you decide which one should go live? – Aflah

Aflah, we are making these choices all the time. Over 3,000 courses are taught at MIT every year, but we only have the capacity currently to publish a small fraction of this enormous volume of content so it’s quite a balancing act!

Read all the questions and answers

Open Education, Cultural Collection, and Curation: Focus on HBCUs

Moderated by our own Curt Newton, this Open Learning Talks featured members of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). We learned about their journey to opening up and creating a more inclusive canon of OER for HBCUs and the world.

Watch the recording

OCW BY THE NUMBERS

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