NextLab I: Designing Mobile Technologies for the Next Billion Users
MIT's year-long, project-based course pairs engineering students with NGOs and field practitioners to design mobile and internet technologies for underserved communities in developing countries. Working in multidisciplinary teams, students identify real needs in areas like health, microfinance, education, and civic activism, then build and test prototypes against those needs. The course emphasizes hands-on development over lecture: teams iterate on working technology, get feedback from local partners, and in some cases receive funding to travel and deploy their prototypes in the field. Materials on MIT OpenCourseWare include the syllabus, project assignments, and team deliverables from past cohorts, offered through the Edgerton Center and the Media Arts and Sciences and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science departments. It suits students who want direct experience turning a technical idea into something usable by people outside the classroom, rather than a survey of theory.