Short Bio
Brandon Muramatsu builds connections at the intersection of learning, technology, innovation and scale. His work focuses on online and digital learning to improve teaching and learning with a focus on open education. He has been involved in the development of learning technologies and education technologies, curriculum and course development, open education / open educational resources and educational digital libraries over the last 25+ years. His work has a focus on engineering and STEM education, both nationally and internationally, and at all education levels.
Brandon Muramatsu leads the design and implementation of local, national and international strategic education initiatives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for MIT Open Learning. He manages a portfolio of multi-million dollar education technology and curriculum development projects, from university-wide initiatives and programs to building and transforming high schools. He has managed the design and development of web applications and software tools for educators and learners to develop/author, use, reuse and share digital learning resources. And he has worked with faculty to implement learning technologies in their classes and with their students. Also, he organizes conferences and symposia to convene educators in open education / opencourseware, and in learning technologies.
Brandon Muramatsu earned his B.S. (1993) and M.S. (1995) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Extended Bio
Prior to joining MIT, Brandon Muramatsu helped co-found the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning at Utah State University where he worked on tools and services to promote open content and open education. At COSL, he played a leadership role in nurturing the then nascent international Open Educational / OpenCourseWare / Open Educational Resources community, and served as general chair for the Open Education Conference.
Before that, he worked at the University of California, Berkeley led the development of two educational digital libraries (NEEDS and smete.org) and the formation of the SMETE Open Federation, a collaborative of 30+ organizations focused on supporting digital learning in STEM. His work in educational digital libraries was instrumental in the development of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s National Science Digital Library program. At Berkeley he also developed and managed a national award competition for outstanding engineering education courseware. While at Berkeley, he also worked with MERLOT, through the California State University Office of the Chancellor, to develop national and international alliances and partnerships.
He contributed to the development of two international learning technology standards with the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee and specifications with the IMS Global Learning Consortium.
Personal Interests
I am fortunate to be able to travel quite a bit through my work and have gotten to visit a wide range of places. While traveling I dabble in photography and use my photos on my annual holiday cards. When I get the chance (who am I kidding?), I also enjoy outdoor activities including cycling, hiking, rock-climbing and skiing. (I’m not nearly as good, dedicated, nor crazy as some of my friends are at these activities!) However, most of the time you can find me playing World of Warcraft or Diablo III. I’m still undergoing withdrawals from game night with the crazy guys from COSL.