A Legacy of Lifelong Learning

Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., SECS 1995年和1998年，她是韦德体育app官网工程与计算机科学学院(SECS)工业与系统工程系的杰出教授，自称为“教育家”, writer and engineer” on her professional website. But to her family, friends, and the OU community, 以及全世界的同事和学生, she’s also a wife, mother, innovator, 她以终身致力于教育事业而闻名于世.

Oakley's OU journey began in the 1990s, when she and her husband, Philip, moved to the Detroit area, 在他们的孩子还小的时候，她就以兼职学生的身份进入了公开大学. “I chose OU because it’s a really great place, it was relatively close to home, and I had great teachers who were very encouraging,” Oakley says. “我上的课越多，我就越着迷.”

在获得电气与计算机工程理学硕士学位和博士学位的同时.D. in systems engineering, 奥克利的工作非常出色，以至于她在1998年完成博士学位后被公开大学聘为教职员工.

Changing her Brain

Before moving to the Midwest, 奥克利在小学不及格后获得了华盛顿大学斯拉夫语言和文学学士学位, middle and high school math and science.” Then, as a signal corps officer in the Army, 亲眼看到她的工程师同事们对自己工作的理解，让她重新思考自己是否应该学习数学和科学. 通过研究和她称之为“改变她的大脑”的试错过程,奥克利在华盛顿大学获得电气工程学士学位. 分享了她如何“从讨厌数学的人变成数学爱好者”——详细介绍了她的课程, 畅销书和演讲活动使她成为世界上在学习科学和实践方面领先的专家之一.

奥克利运用神经科学的见解来简化困难的概念, often using metaphors, so that the material resonates with students. 当她遇到神经科学家Terrence Sejnowski并与之合作时，她有机会在公开大学的课堂之外进一步分享这种方法, Ph.D., to develop Learning How to Learn它是世界上最受欢迎的免费大型在线开放课程(MOOCs)之一，拥有超过3门课程.6 million registered learners.

她的同事将这门课程的受欢迎归因于奥克利作为教育者和沟通者的有效性. “Barb在深入挖掘一个话题并找到关键的金块方面非常出色——那是其他一切的基础信息,” says Christopher J. Kobus, Ph.D., director of outreach, 招聘和保留，并在开放大学的SECS机械工程副教授. 然后，她非常擅长用任何人都能理解的方式解释它.”

Committed to Learning

奥克利将mooc比作一种通过视频进行的全球指导，超越了传统的一对一关系. “People feel like they get to know you when they’re watching a video; you become a friend, or mentor, in their learning,” Oakley says. “这就像你看了一会儿电视节目，了解了明星. 你有种不可思议的感觉，觉得他们是你的朋友. There’s already a sense of trust.” That familiarity, coupled with the course’s popularity, has led to Oakley being recognized in public, 在法国戴高乐机场(Charles de Gaulle Airport)的候机楼或波哥大(Bogota)的电梯里，与学习者自发对话, Colombia.

回到家乡，奥克利对学习的承诺延伸到了她的家人. All four of Oakley’s adult children, as well as her son-in-law, graduated from Oakland with at least one degree. “OU is a great university, 所以我们甚至没有讨论过(我们的孩子)应该去哪里上学,” says Oakley. “It was as natural as water flowing downhill. 菲利普和我希望他们有足够的资金能够自立, and they all did really well at OU.”

Appreciative of her impact, 成千上万的学生感谢她，说她改变了他们的生活, 奥克利的影响力也体现在她无数的荣誉中. 最近，她被任命为著名的哈罗德W. McGraw, Jr. 教育最新类别终身学习奖. 奥克利说，她对获得这个奖项感到“难以置信”, known colloquially as the Nobel Prize in education, 让各行各业数以百万计的人更容易学习,” as noted in her award bio.

Not one to rest on her laurels, 奥克利目前正在创建一个专注于人工智能(AI)时代批判性思维的MOOC专业系列。, 她欣然接受这个扩大受众的机会. “At OU, we have a great president and a great provost, 所以我对他们所做的一切感到非常高兴，他们为教授们创造了一个美好的环境，让他们可以做他们应该做的事情,” Oakley says. “我试图在世界范围内传播关于开放大学的消息，因为我很幸运能够在我旅行和全球互动的情况下. 我更喜欢打开大门，让人们了解我们优秀而独特的大学.”