Coordination of the Educational Course Translation Project
Oksana engaged 400 volunteers to translate 1,300 educational videos while working at MagneticOne. Despite the challenges, the project became a successful educational resource for Ukrainian students.
From a Commercial Company to a Charity Foundation
The “Online Course Translation” project became one of the most significant for me because it helped me realize that I want to work on projects that positively impact people, especially children.
I was selected for a position as a junior marketing specialist (writing articles and texts) at the commercial company MagneticOne, founded by Ruslan Savchyshyn in Ternopil. However, the company’s vice president, Serhiy Kutuzov, suggested that I move to the company’s foundation after reviewing my resume more closely. I’m very grateful for this opportunity because it led to nine incredible months of development and rewarding results.
At the MagneticOne.org foundation, I joined a team led by Olha Hordiienko. In 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and occupied Donbas, the foundation implemented several projects to support Ukraine’s defenders. I was entrusted with the educational initiative to translate online courses from English into Ukrainian.
An Educational Project with Remote Volunteers
This was an interesting experience with many challenges, demonstrating that I could perform various tasks under stress and with a limited budget. For example, we had no funds to pay translators, so we decided to find volunteers. Initially, I was skeptical and thought few people would agree to help. However, the foundation’s director posted an announcement with a questionnaire on the Hromadskyi Prostir website. The next day, we received so many applications that I couldn’t process them all.
I created all the necessary instructions, managed spreadsheets with tasks and assigned volunteers, communicated with them, reviewed translations, and found the Amara subtitling platform, which helped with timing adjustments. I even overcame my fear of public speaking, recording personal video messages on YouTube and presenting the project to students.
Working with volunteers brought many emotional stories. For instance, one of the translators was a woman from Horlivka (Donetsk region), which was occupied by Russia. One day, she was late with her translation, and I wrote to ask how she was doing. She apologized and explained that due to shelling, she had to hide in a basement but promised to catch up on the work. I remember how we all cried when we read her message.
Over a Thousand Videos Received Ukrainian Subtitles
The main focus was on translating videos from the Khan Academy website — these were excellent explanatory videos for children on various topics: from mathematics and physics to history and art. These videos not only helped students learn their subjects but also improved their English skills, as the original audio remained intact.
Throughout the project, volunteers translated over 1,300 videos ranging from 2 to 20 minutes in length. More than 400 individuals were involved, all working remotely — something that was novel and akin to terra incognita at the time. Additionally, I managed to secure funding for a website template for our foundation from Crowdin and independently set it up on WordPress.
This work brought many challenges and tasks that initially seemed insurmountable, but with the support of colleagues and inner motivation, I was able to create and develop an engaging educational project from scratch.
Project channel: https://www.youtube.com/@--MagneticOneorg