1. MIT OpenCourse Ware What is the World Saying?

2. MIT student Clinton Blackburn introduced students to OCW during his travels in Africa. "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. (Photo courtesy of Rana Banerjee.) Rana BanerjeeRana Banerjee

3. Maria Karamitsou, a civil engineering student in Greece, used OCW as she researched hydraulics. "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

4. Shirley Harrell, an assistant professor at Cambridge College, motivates her students by exposing them to MIT's academic standards. "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 open-enrollment 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. (Photo courtesy of Rana Banerjee.) Rana BanerjeeRana Banerjee

5. 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. "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

6. 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. "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. enersahaiti.com

7. OCW user Harry Crissy "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.