- November 15, 2021
Global Teaching Labs bring MIT students to Moscow and the Siberian city of Tomsk during IAP 2015
Global Teaching Labs
During IAP 2015, the MIT-Russia program participated for the first time in MISTI’s Global Teaching Labs. Seven MIT students, grouped in two teams, visited National University of Science and Technology MISiS and Tomsk State University to work alongside their peers on robotics and entrepreneurship projects. The participants on the MIT side ranged from sophomores to graduate students majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Biology, Management, Mechanical Engineering, Health Sciences and other disciplines.
Robotics and Entrepreneurship
For the robotics workshop, the MIT students tasked their peers from Moscow with building an autonomous robotic vehicle. Through a combination of lectures about robotics systems and hands-on projects with robotic sets, both the MIT and Russian students learned how to work in multicultural environments and complete technical projects as one team. As a result of the three-week collaboration, the MIT students organized a live tournament to test the robotic vehicles built and determine which one can complete a specified route within the shortest time.
The entrepreneurship group was challenged with holding two intensive seven-day workshops: one in Moscow, and the other in Tomsk. Each workshop was designed to lead students through ideation, creation of a minimum viable product, and presenting it to an audience. Jorge Rosario, an MIT senior in Biology, reflecting on his experience in Russia says, “It was very rewarding to teach a workshop in a foreign country, as it allowed me to better realize the needs that local students face in their lives.” He continues, “I realized how much of a difference I can make by facilitation of workshops such as this and now I want to develop a similar course for students back home in Puerto Rico.”
Beyond MISTI
By providing MIT students with an opportunity to teach abroad, the Global Teaching Labs enhance understanding of different cultures and share MIT’s hands-on approach to teaching the sciences with global audiences.