Ronak has all the time been a voracious learner, however the one factor he gained’t select to be taught is how to surrender. Regardless of being legally blind, Ronak has not—and won’t—let something stand in the way in which of his penchant for training.

“Information is one thing that by no means dies,” he says. “It’s all the time evolving. There could also be proper and improper, however there’s additionally quite a bit in between. I’m enthusiastic about understanding each aspect to a narrative.”

That could be as a result of Ronak can not bodily see all the pieces in entrance of himself, which requires him to discover the unknown typically whereas closely counting on assistive applied sciences.

“My middle imaginative and prescient is absolute zero, so I can solely see up or down,” he explains. “There’s no recognized trigger, however fortunately, the restricted sight I do have isn’t anticipated to deteriorate any additional. I exploit display screen readers on my computer systems simply as a blind individual would, however since I’ve partial sight, I can even use display screen magnifiers to zoom in on content material and see it close-up.”

Since his early life rising up in India, these two deep-rooted features of Ronak’s life have motivated him to pursue a profession in know-how. “Partly as a result of I’ve personally skilled how know-how could be so impactful and transformational for my very own wants,” he says. “I simply began being a disrupter of limitations and dealing towards that aim.”

With such a transparent picture of his future, Ronak started exploring edX in ninth grade, auditing as many IT-related programs as he might eat, beginning with Harvard College’s CS50x: Introduction to Laptop Science. 

“It was the course that obtained me hooked on on-line studying as a result of it was versatile and accessible to my wants on the time,” he says. “With edX, content material from the very best universities worldwide is on the tip of my fingers—and never only for me, however for anybody and everybody. At this time, I’ve taken numerous programs on edX, and people experiences mixed with my very own incapacity have led me down a profession path designed round learning the influence of the digitization of studying and dealing in society.”

A Win-Win Instructing and Studying Alternative

Following highschool, Ronak continued his training at St. Xavier’s Faculty in Mumbai, the place he was the primary visually impaired learner to earn his BS in Data Expertise. It was this “first” that caught the eye of Dr. Sonal Patel, a volunteer mentor on the time whose work includes mentoring visually impaired college students in laptop programming by means of Imaginative and prescient-Help, a nonprofit group close to edX’s workplace in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Impressed with Ronak’s enthusiasm for studying and know-how, Dr. Patel invited Ronak to be a distant instructing assistant for Imaginative and prescient-Help’s junior blind college students from India, understanding that his distinctive background and talents can be an incredible profit to their training. 

“Ronak’s creativity in instructing the visually impaired, ardour for supporting accessibility initiatives, and pleasure for studying past limits are unparalleled,” says Dr. Patel. “He’s really a mannequin learner, trainer, and supporter of on-line studying alternatives for the visually impaired.”

As a part of his work with Imaginative and prescient-Help, Ronak is tasked with taking edX programming programs prematurely of the scholars, in order that he can familiarize himself with the content material earlier than conducting peer-to-peer studying with them to ensure they’re greedy the fabric utilizing their display screen readers. Ronak additionally suggests enhancements for a way edX could make components of every course much more accessible for visually impaired learners, which he and Dr. Patel then submit for consideration by means of the edX studying portal. In alternate for his efforts, Imaginative and prescient-Help covers the nominal value for Ronak to earn a verified certificates for the programs he opinions. 

“Now and again, I’ll spot a arithmetic method or a code string in an train—like in a PDF or a presentation slide—that, when spoken by a display screen reader, could not translate 100% precisely for a totally blind learner,” he explains. “It nearly all the time means only a fast replace to the code. Different occasions, I make ideas for the place in a course it will assist visually impaired learners to have additional time for finishing an train or examination as a result of utilizing our accessibility instruments generally means it takes longer for us to work by means of the questions. edX all the time responds very positively to our ideas and helps their accomplice universities care for the updates.”

Given his insatiable urge for food for studying, the Imaginative and prescient-Help alternative was—and stays—a dream come true for Ronak.

“I joined Imaginative and prescient-Help as a TA, however immediately, I’m extra of a pupil myself,” he says. “Dr. Patel and the opposite mentors there have already afforded me a lifetime of expertise. Once I assist legally blind learners work by means of an edX course extra successfully, there are a whole lot of Imaginative and prescient-Help college students ready to realize these advantages. Hundreds of different folks all over the world profit from my ideas, too.” 

It’s a win-win state of affairs for Ronak, who not solely feels personally fulfilled together with his work supporting others like him, but in addition has the chance to soak up the content material he audits for his personal skilled profit. “Having the ability to get licensed in all of those expertise is now giving me extra credibility—not simply with these college students but in addition for future employers and my long-term targets,” he says. 

From MicroMasters Program to Ph.D. to the World

Just lately, Imaginative and prescient-Help’s curiosity in leveraging edX to show and encourage college students has expanded past particular person programs to satisfy the calls for of scholars who’re graduating highschool and persevering with into undergraduate diploma applications and past. So final 12 months, Dr. Patel requested Ronak to decide on a MicroMasters program he can be enthusiastic about reviewing for the group, and he chosen the MIT MicroMasters program in Statistics and Knowledge Science. Ronak was additionally a recipient of the Macquarie Group Scholarship by means of edX, which he used to assist cowl the price of his research within the MicroMasters program. Having accomplished a grasp’s diploma in media and communication from a college in Berlin, Ronak sees this five-course sequence aligning completely together with his profession targets.

“I wish to equip myself with an arsenal of expertise in knowledge science on my technique to pursuing a Ph.D. in digital enterprise and innovation,” Ronak explains. “Knowledge is essentially the most central consider analysis, so I need to have the ability to work with it throughout as many alternative dimensions as potential in an effort to perceive the mathematical reasoning behind all of it. With this interdisciplinary focus I’ve created for myself protecting the very best of three worlds—enterprise, innovation, and know-how—MIT’s MicroMasters program will higher put together me to enter the Ph.D. program of my alternative.”

In the end, Ronak hopes to enter the world of instructing and analysis on the college stage. He’s keen to use his ardour to giving again to society and sharing his experience to assist clear up complicated enterprise issues as a advisor. Regardless of the place his training takes him, he sees lifelong studying because the driving drive to beat any problem that lies forward.

“The dynamics of labor are altering so quick that expertise studying is actually the one technique to sustain,” Ronak says. “Lifelong studying, particularly on-line, opens up a complete ecosystem of marvel. That’s why I’d prefer to personally current my gratitude to the entire folks working at edX to make the democratization of training potential for the world, particularly for learners like me. It helps you adapt to the uncertainty of life. I might additionally prefer to thank my household, with out whom not one of the progress I’ve made in serving to others—and myself—would have been potential.”