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Yang Ming dropped out of school at age 14. Bedridden and almost blind, he felt his life was wasting away until the advent of MOOC.
The young man with serious rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disorder that results in swollen and painful joints, heard two years ago that Tsinghua University in Beijing had launched Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) providing free lessons to learners worldwide.
Yang, who lives in Chengde in northern China's Hebei Province, immediately signed up and became one of the early users of the MOOC platform.
"I was bored at that time. I had been wasting time and life in bed," Yang said. He had never imagined taking classes with instructors from prestigious universities like Tsinghua. After all, he could barely see or move.
"I hate to be a useless person," said Yang. The 29-year-old was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at three years old and lost most of his sight in 2000 as a result of an overdose during emergency treatment.
The Tsinghua MOOC program set him on a journey that would change his life.
Although he can only see characters printed in the largest font size from the corner of his eyes, Yang has persisted for two years. He mainly listens to tutorial videos and makes screen shots of the assignments and test pages so he can enlarge the images and see the characters.
The course that inspired him most was "Financial Statement Analysis and Decision-making" taught by Xiao Xing, a Tsinghua professor with the Department of Accounting. He said he has a strong interest in the stock market and economy.
Although Yang had only received a middle school education, he said he didn't have too much trouble understanding Professor Xiao's lessons.
"Stock investment demands constant learning, but in reality, buying stocks is not as simple as gaining knowledge," said Yang. "Knowledge is your weapon for the actual battle. It is necessary. But even equipped with this weapon, how can you ensure you can triumph over rivals?" he added.
Yang has applied what he has learned in MOOCs successfully to his stock portfolio. He received 5,000 yuan (less than 800 U.S. dollars) from his relatives as principal about five years ago.
Business was not good at first, and he even had to invest more money to save the principal.
"It's like a gambling house, or maybe I was just useless," said Yang. After trial and error, Yang Ming's investments turned around starting in December 2014, more than a year after taking MOOC classes in economics.
He has become more confident and has already earned a little more than 23,000 yuan.
Although today he still experiences ups and downs in the stock market, Yang acknowledges that his trading skills have significantly improved thanks to the economics courses he has taken online.
MOOCs are a trend in higher education worldwide. Since 2012, many top universities have offered online platforms and free online courses. Coursera, Udacity, and edX are the three main MOOC platforms.
According to Chen Jining, former president of Tsinghua University, MOOCs provide a new avenue for passing on knowledge and learning. It will bring profound changes to the education system, teaching methods and human resources.
At present, Tsinghua has put 504 courses online, attracting 1.29 million people from 126 countries and regions, according to media reports.
"Unlike other online teaching videos, MOOCs offer a systematic and complete teaching mode. What's more, they provide certificates to prove your learning ability," said Yang Ming.
Yang has already earned 11 learning certificates from different MOOC platforms, including two courses offered by National Taiwan University on Coursera and nine courses offered by Tsinghua MOOC.
The lectures he has listened to cover a wide range of subjects, such as psychology, medical science and business.
"I want to apply what I learn online to practice, so I choose what will help me in the future," said Yang. "I am learning medical science due to my health concerns, economics is my practical weapon, and starting a business is my dream."
Thanks to the convenience of online courses, Yang is able to schedule his studying time freely. But like a real face-to-face class, Yang listens to the lectures carefully and jots down every key point. He has even made a "notebook of errors," compiling all the mistakes he has made on every exam.
All of Yang's MOOC certificates are electronic certificates. However, Professor Xiao has offered to sign the printed certificates for MOOC learners who take her class. Yang Ming was desperate to go to Beijing to collect Xiao's signature, but his poor health condition made him hesitate.
Yang can only move about a hundred meters by himself, and when he wants to go anywhere, his father or brother has to carry him on their backs. Although he only weighs 25 kilograms, it is still inconvenient for him to go to Beijing, more than 250 kilometers away from his hometown of Chengde.
Yang told his story to other MOOC students who were coordinating to have their certificates signed in Beijing. Several days later, Yang received a mailed certificate signed by Professor Xiao. Along with the certificate was a book written by the professor. Xiao had written the following words for Yang Ming on the book: "Knowledge lends wings for dreams."
Yang Ming finally did go to Tsinghua to attend an offline activity for the MOOC program following an invitation from Professor Xiao's teaching assistant.
That was his first time at Tsinghua. More than three months have passed,and Yang still remembers that day very clearly.
At 4 a.m. on June 29, Yang's uncle, a taxi driver, took him to Tsinghua. Accompanied by his parents and younger brother, Yang finally got the chance to see his "dream school."
He recalls Tsinghua's tall trees and chirping birds. "It would be so poetic to study on such a park-like campus," Yang said to himself when touring Tsinghua in his wheelchair.
But Yang has accomplished his college dream in a different way.
"Learning may not really change my destiny, but without learning, my destiny definitely won't change," said Yang in a speech at the campus.