| Your OpenCourseWare Newsletter | February 2025 |
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| Making Knowledge Accessible and Fostering a Network of Curious Minds |
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| Image from the MIT News article of Bia Adams. (Self-portrait courtesy of Bia Adams.) |
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| Every day, learners around the world make use of MIT OpenCourseWare to transform their lives. One such learner is Bia Adams, a neuropsychologist who made the leap from ballet to neuroscience with the help of MIT’s free, online course materials. From quantum physics and artificial intelligence to computer programming and neural computation, Bia’s exploration helped her better understand the brain, the nervous system, and human behavior. “I still talk to my friends at length about exciting moments in these lectures,” she says, pointing to MIT OpenCourseWare’s video lectures that make challenging topics more approachable. “After the first class, I was hooked.” Hear her voice in this MIT Open Learning YouTube shorts video: |
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| “I am forever grateful for MIT Open Learning for making knowledge accessible and fostering a network of curious minds, all striving to share, expand, and apply this knowledge for the greater good,” Bia says. Get to know her in this MIT News story, and then visit MIT OpenCourseWare’s website and YouTube channel to feed your own curiosity and lifelong learning! |
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| Operating at the Intersections of AI and Open Education |
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| Image by Sarah Schwettmann. |
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| The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) brings new opportunities and challenges to the world of open education, of which MIT OpenCourseWare is a part. To rise to this occasion, MIT Open Learning has launched the AI + Open Education Initiative and recently published several new rapid-response papers that provide actionable insights and unique case studies from a global cohort of voices. From personalized learning journeys to the broad reach of massive open online courses and enhancing accessibility for all, these published papers envision a world where the dual strengths of AI and of open education can enhance and challenge one another. Read about the new open-access papers in this Medium article by MIT Open Learning, and join our expanding community of practice by signing up for updates from the Initiative. |
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| New Courses and Resources |
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| In 6.5630, students learn how to use cryptography to convert powerful proof systems into computationally sound, non-interactive arguments. (Photo of Prof. Yael Tauman Kalai by MIT OpenCourseWare.) |
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2.727J Tissue Engineering and Organ Regeneration
A human can’t simply regrow a missing limb, as a starfish can, but we have more capacity for regeneration of damaged parts than is commonly realized, particularly when steps are taken therapeutically to encourage regrowth. This graduate-level course presents the fundamentals of tissue engineering (TE) and organ regeneration (OR), with an emphasis on clinical applications and the development of workable medical devices. Topics covered include factors that prevent the spontaneous regeneration of tissues/organs in adults, the cellular and molecular mechanisms that can identify the agents to induce regeneration, and examples of clinical successes and failures of regenerative devices.
6.5630 Advanced Topics in Cryptography
This graduate-level course traces the evolution of proofs in the field of computer science, touching on such topics as the power of interactive proofs, multi-prover interactive proofs, and probabilistically checkable proofs, and then proceeding to show how cryptography can be used to convert these powerful proof systems into computationally sound non-interactive arguments (or “SNARGs” for short). The course site is organized in a convenient modular structure, in which each lecture is presented in one or two videos, paired with a list of the lecture’s key topics and bibliographic details for the assigned readings for that session. You can also access the full lecture video list separately.
24.220 Moral Psychology
How do people decide what is the right thing to do? Why do we so often do the wrong thing, acting in ways that we ourselves acknowledge to be wrong? This undergraduate-level course examines philosophical theories of action and motivation, drawing on empirical findings from the fields of social psychology, sociology, and neuroscience. Among the topics covered are belief, desire, and moral motivation; sympathy and empathy; intentions and other committing states; strength of will and weakness of will; free will; addiction and compulsion; guilt, shame, and regret; evil; self-knowledge and self-deception; and virtues and character traits. |
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| Image courtesy of Prof. Steven G. Johnson. |
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18.S096 Matrix Calculus for Machine Learning and Beyond
This undergraduate course on matrix calculus is intended for students who have already taken linear algebra and multivariate calculus. The course site, originally published with lecture videos, readings, and problem sets, has now been enhanced by the addition of a full set of lecture notes courtesy of former MIT student Paige Bright ’24. Those copious notes, which have been reviewed for accuracy and approved by professors Alan Edelman and Steven G. Johnson, will prove an invaluable resource for learners as they follow step by step through the lectures.
RES.16-002 How to CAD Almost Anything
Andy G. Eskenazi is an enthusiastic proponent of computer aided design (CAD) technology. In the Independent Activities Period (IAP) of 2024, he taught a noncredit workshop on CAD and shared a series of instructional videos through MIT OpenCourseWare, demonstrating how to use SolidWorks CAD software in various design projects. He later expanded that online resource to include instructional materials for Onshape and Fusion 360, two other CAD software packages. He has now added yet another set of instructional materials, this time demonstrating the Siemens NX software package. |
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| 24 hours to fuel life-changing education |
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| Credit: MIT Alumni Association |
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Mark your calendars! The MIT 24-Hour Challenge, our annual giving day, returns on Thursday, March 13th. On this special day, MIT alumni, students, parents, and friends from around the world come together to support MIT efforts—like OpenCourseWare—to make a better future.
OpenCourseWare’s free resources reach tens of thousands of people every day, helping them improve their education, livelihoods, and communities. You and your gift during the MIT 24-Hour Challenge will help us reach our goal of 628 people giving to fuel life-changing Open Learning programs like OCW.
You can make an impact that extends well beyond a single day. Please consider supporting OpenCourseWare on March 13th.
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| Newsletter edited by Shira Segal with contributions from Peter Chipman, production assistance from Stephanie Hodges, and resource development by Duyen Nguyen and Yvonne Ng. |
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| We want to hear from you! How can MIT OpenCourseWare help you in your educational endeavors? Write to us at ocw@mit.edu with questions or suggestions. |
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| More free resources from MIT Open Learning are available at: |
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