Reflection by Arthur, an 18-year-old Brazilian student, after taking MITx's 6.002x in the spring.

(The blog entry first appeared in the edX blog at edx.org.  EdX is a not-for-profit enterprise of its founding partners Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that features learning designed specifically for interactive study via the web. Edx has recently announced 7 new courses in computer science and other disciplines from MITx, HarvardX and BerkeleyX and is taking enrollments now).

"A course with certification from MIT? Sounds like a challenge!"

That's how it all began.

My name is Arthur Amaral and I am an 18-year-old student in Brazil. Recently I finished high school and graduated as an electronics technician from a public institute of technology.

I took 6.002x along with a long-term friend of mine, Ricardo, who shares the same background. With little knowledge of calculus and physics, we knew that we were kind of going in blind.

I took a look at the main page before signing up; it estimated that we would end up spending around 10 hours per week with 6.002x. With a tough schedule, I wondered, "Is it worth it?" Fortunately, I did not turn this opportunity down. Instead, Ricardo and I dove head-first into this experience.

From the start, I could see how much effort was put in building 6.002x. I could see that there was a well-structured staff that was chosen to design a platform that could connect students all over the planet. Navigation was simple, and both written and video tutorials by Lyla Fischer about the system were great.

Then I began watching the lectures. At first sight, it looked like stuff that I already knew, but I then later realized that it went way beyond that. I was seeing everything from a new perspective. Professor Agarwal had a lot of contagious enthusiasm. Piotr Mitros and Gerry Sussman's tutorials were a great extension to the class, providing useful examples and developing a more practical understanding of topics. Finally, the staff's videos on problem-solving gave me extra confidence and helped me think more outside of the box.

But then again, we had deadlines to deal with, and we felt a sample of MIT's standards. Homeworks and labs weren't simple and demanded a deep understanding of the subject. It was not always fun: it was frustrating as the challenges demanded the application of the lecture concepts to things way more complicated. But when the green tick finally appeared, the amount of satisfaction was unmatched.

It was also not easy to manage our time. Our jobs were very demanding and we had little time to spare. Not only that, but I had to balance my job with pre-university studies, and taking one more course would mean extra deadlines to deal with. I learned to cut out some time-wasting habits (unnecessarily checking social networking websites, for example) and concentrate on my own education. Those are practices that I intend to carry on with for as long as I can!

One of the best things about 6.002x was the community built by the students themselves. The atmosphere was great: people shared their enthusiasm and knowledge, and lended a hand to those like me who didn't have the basics for the course. All of this was done in a very friendly environment. This was something that really helped me keep moving forward in 6.002x.

But it's even better when you can study with a friend!

6.002x required some intense studying from us, but thankfully, we were given the right directions. We had never had to actually solve differential equations before, for example, but Khan Academy, along with insights given by other students, formed the mathematical bridge that we needed to be successful.

Although we studied together, the Honor Code was really a matter of honor for us. When doing homework, labs and exams, we wanted to see how far we could without helping each other; without surrendering. It was never a competition, but we did our best to get a grasp of what an MIT student goes through.

The exams were pretty hard, as anyone would expect from such university. However, it was a direct application of what we learned so far combined with the difficulties of the everyday engineering. Like Professor Agarwal says, we are given a set of tools to analyze, create and fix all those circuits, but it's up to us how we are going to use them.

All of the fun obstacles and study groups formed within the forums made me rethink my own career. It was like seeing a new horizon: I realized that there is so much excitement that can come from learning. This course not only boosted my confidence in my technician degree, but also changed the way I see my own future.

Currently, as a monitor of electronics, I feel inspired once more to pursue my dream to become researcher and educator. I would like to help other people as much as I can to feel this same joy I felt here, and provide guidance for those who seek to know more about the world. Thank you, 6.002x for reigniting my aspirations and so positively changing my life. I hope many more students will be able to feel the same.

On a final note, I would like to bring up this quote by Professor Agarwal and the edX team: "Our goal is to educate one billion people around the world."

This might be a dream, but rest assured that you aren't the only dreamers! Please never give up from this goal.