Insights from COVID-19, how culture works, and OCW's impact in the world

In John's September Newsletter

Chalk Radio: Social Impact at Scale, One Project at a Time
with Dr. Anjali Sastry

On the left, Chalk Radio host Sarah Hansen looks to the right and smiles at Dr. Anjali Sastry on the right of the photo.

In a recent episode of the Chalk Radio podcast, Dr. Anjali Sastry describes how she redesigned a traditional independent study to encourage MBA fellows to find social impact solutions that scale (image by MIT OpenCourseWare).

MIT has traditionally encouraged its Sloan MBA fellows to engage in international projects with partners around the globe.

Our guest, Dr. Anjali Sastry, has led over 100 groups of MBA fellows in these projects. But she recently changed the structure of the class so that instead of signing on to projects developed by instructors, students are now able to develop their own projects based on their own interests. All the new projects in this course called 15.960 New Executive Thinking Social-Impact Projects involve applying technology in new ways to find solutions to common problems worldwide.

>Read the complete article

Recently on the "Community" tab of our YouTube page, every Friday we've been highlighting an OCW video. Here are a few favorites.

Check out this new, self-paced course for anyone preparing to take
a college-level introductory biology class.

"Everyone should know how to enjoy the movies," explains MIT Professor David Thorburn in episode five of season one of OCW's Chalk Radio podcast.

A photo of Dr. Anthony Fauci from the shoulders up.

Anthony Fauci, MD shared "Insights from the
COVID-19 pandemic" on Tuesday, 9/22.
A link to the livestream can be found here.

A photo of the crosswalk in front of the Student Center with overlay text reading "2020 OCW Impact Report."

“As we head into a new academic year, we wanted to look back and share some of the high points as well as a snapshot of where OCW is headed.”

-Krishna Rajagopal, Dean for Digital Learning and Curt Newton, Director, MIT OpenCourseWare

>Read the complete report

Frank Boaz, a founder of anthropology, is seen from the shoulders up in a black-and-white photo.

Franz Boas, one of the founders of American anthropology, posing for a museum diorama, circa 1895. (Negative MNH 8301, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see here.)

21A.01 How Culture Works

This course introduces diverse meanings and uses of the concept of culture with historical and contemporary examples from scholarship and popular media around the globe. It includes first-hand observations, synthesized histories and ethnographies, quantitative representations, and visual and fictionalized accounts of human experiences. Students conduct empirical research on cultural differences through the systematic observation of human interaction, employ methods of interpretative analysis, and practice convincing others of the accuracy of their findings.

Rooftops in historic villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama, Japan.

Historic villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama where farmhouses were built with a design of steep roofs, resembling two hands joined in prayer, to withstand and shed the region's heavy snowfall in the winter (Image courtesy of 663highland on Wikimedia. License: CC BY).

21G.503 Japanese III

Students further develop their skills in Japanese speaking, listening, reading, and writing in this intermediate language course. This course involves continued vocabulary and kanji building.

A view of Venice, Italy from water level.

Venice and other coastal cities have experienced more frequent and severe floods in recent years, a trend attributable to human-induced climate change. (Photo courtesy of Roberto Trombetta on Flickr. License CC BY-NC.)

RES.ENV-003 EarthDNA's Climate 101

The Climate 101 presentation was developed by Brandon Leshchinskiy in collaboration with Professor Dava Newman, MIT Portugal, and EarthDNA in an effort to mobilize young people as educators on the issue of climate change.

The presentation addresses not only the science but also the economics and civics of climate change, incorporating a negotiation activity that brings key concepts to life. This resource includes the slides and instructions for the presentation, along with an introductory video from Prof. Newman, a video of Leshchinskiy actually delivering the presentation to a classroom full of students, and extensive supporting materials that will help users to become climate ambassadors and deliver the Climate 101 presentation themselves.

You can help us make an impact

Dear John,

OCW would not be possible without the learners who use and share our site, who tell us their stories, and who generously donate to financially sustain our work. The 2020 OCW Impact Report brings together these stories from the community and the impact OCW has had in the last year.

We invite you to read more, and if you're able, to consider a gift to help us make an impact this year.

Thank you!

Views from OCW Supporters

A group of people, seen only from their shadows, stand on a beach at sunset.

Photo by Mario Purisic on Unsplash

"OpenCourseWare for me is hope for a more open future-- a more open world where the words 'me' and 'you' will be replaced by 'we.'"

-Serdar, Turkey

>We'd love to hear from you. Tell us your OCW Story.

For free resources for high school teachers and students, check out:

More free resources from MIT are available at:

OCW is grateful for the support of:

OCW is part of MIT Open Learning's efforts to transform teaching and learning at MIT and beyond.

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