Training for a clerical military role in France, Gustavo Barboza felt a spark he couldn’t ignore. He remembered his love of learning, which once guided him through two college semesters of mechanical engineering courses in his native Colombia, coupled with supplemental resources from MIT Open Learning’s OpenCourseWare. Now, thousands of miles away, he realized it was time to follow that spark again.
“I wasn’t ready to sit down in the classroom,” says Barboza, remembering his initial foray into higher education. “I left to try and figure out life. I realized I wanted more adventure.”
Joining the military in France in 2017 was his answer. For the first three years of service, he was very military-minded, only focused on his training and deployments. With more seniority, he took on more responsibilities, and eventually was sent to take a four-month training course on military correspondence and software.
“I reminded myself that I like to study,” he says. “I started to go back to OpenCourseWare because I knew in the back of my mind that these very complete courses were out there.”
At that point, Barboza realized that military service was only a chapter in his life, and the next would lead him back to learning. He was still interested in engineering, and knew that MIT OpenCourseWare could help prepare him for what was next.
He dove into OpenCourseWare’s free, online, open educational resources — which cover nearly the entire MIT curriculum — including classical mechanics, intro to electrical engineering, and single variable calculus with David Jerison, which he says was his most-visited resource. These allowed him to brush up on old skills and learn new ones, helping him tremendously in preparing for college entrance exams and his first-year courses.
Now in his third year at Grenoble-Alpes University, Barboza studies electrical engineering, a shift from his initial interest in mechanical engineering.
“There is an OpenCourseWare lecture that explains all the specializations you can get into with electrical engineering,” he says. “They go from very natural things to things like microprocessors. What interests me is that if someone says they are an electrical engineer, there are so many different things they could be doing.”
At this point in his academic career, Barboza is most interested in microelectronics and the study of radio frequencies and electromagnetic waves. But he admits he has more to learn and is open to where his studies may take him.
MIT OpenCourseWare remains a valuable resource, he says. When thinking about his future, he checks out graduate course listings and considers the different paths he might take. When he is having trouble with a certain concept, he looks for a lecture on the subject, undeterred by the differences between French and U.S. conventions.
“Of course, the science doesn't change, but the way you would write an equation or draw a circuit is different at my school in France versus what I see from MIT. So, you have to be careful,” he explains. “But it is still the first place I visit for problem sets, readings, and lecture notes. It’s amazing.”
The thoroughness and openness of MIT Open Learning’s courses and resources — like OpenCourseWare — stand out to Barboza. In the wide world of the internet, he has found resources from other universities, but he says their offerings are not as robust. And in a time of disinformation and questionable sources, he appreciates that MIT values transparency, accessibility, and knowledge.
“Human knowledge has never been more accessible,” he says. “MIT puts coursework online and says, ‘here’s what we do.’ As long as you have an internet connection, you can learn all of it.”
“I just feel like MIT OpenCourseWare is what the internet was originally for,” Barboza continues. “A network for sharing knowledge. I’m a big fan.”
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