If
you're looking for more or more varied course material, here are some resources
to help you find great, university-level online classes that you can take from
the comfort of your desk, at any time of day.
edX
is a collection of free courses from leading Universities like the University of California,
Berkeley, MIT,
and Harvard. There aren't many, but the ones offered are free, open to the
public, and they rotate often.
Coursera has a broad selection
of courses in-session or beginning shortly that you can take for academic
credit (if you're enrolled) or just a certificate of completion that shows
you've learned a new skill. Topics range from science and technology to social
science and humanities, and they're all free. In addition to opening courses to
the entire world, Coursera’s platform could allow professors to build a better
face-to-face experience by “flipping”
their classrooms. Under this model, interactive classroom instruction replaces
the traditional lecture, which is presented in other formats for students to
absorb outside of class. More
on Flipped Classroom here.
Udacity offers a slimmer
selection of courses, but the ones offered are not only often for-credit, but
they're instructor led and geared towards specific goals, with skilled and
talented instructors walking you through everything from building a startup to
programming a robotic car.
Udemy te free online-learning marketplace made a splash with its
announcement of the Faculty Project,
which enlisted 13 professors from institutions like Northwestern University,
Dartmouth College, and Duke University to teach a group of 13 courses on
subjects like ancient Greek religion and business strategy. But Udemy offers
more than just courses from high-profile professors, like music classes,
programming tutorials, and poker lessons presented through a mix of video,
audio, and other media. The Faculty Project courses and most of the others on
the site are free, though a few charge rates from $5 to $250.
The Khan Academy offers free YouTube-based video classes in math, science,
technology, the humanities, and test preparation and study skills. If you're
looking to augment your education or just take a couple video classes in your
spare time, it's a great place to start and has a lot of interesting topics to
offer.
Academic Earth curates an amazing list of video seminars and classes from
some of the world's smartest minds, innovators, and leaders on a variety of
topics including science, mathematics, politics, public policy, art, history,
and more.
TED
talks are well known for being thought provoking, interesting, intelligent, and
in many cases, inspiring and informative. We've featured TED talks at
Lifehacker before, and if you're looking for seminars on the web worth
watching, TED is worth perusing.
GoodSemester
allows anyone—students, nonstudents, and
professors alike—to create courses on any subject. Mr. Rappaport calls it “the
quintessential how-to site” that features interactive lectures, as well as
productivity tools that let students take notes and complete their assignments
without needing other software. It features courses on subjects like Web
development, accounting, and game design.
Education-Portal.com
has a list of universities offering free and for-credit online classes to
students and the public at large.
Open Culture's
list of free online courses is broken down by subject matter and includes
classes available on YouTube, iTunes U, and direct from the University or
School's website.
The Open Courseware Consortium is a collection of colleges and universities that have all
agreed to use a similar platform to offer seminars and full classes—complete
with notes, memos, examinations, and other documentation free on the web. They
also maintain a great list of member schools
around the world, so you can visit universities anywhere in the world and take
the online classes they make available.
The University of Reddit is a crowd-built set of classes and seminars by Reddit
users who have expertise to share. Topics range from computer science and
programming to paleontology, narrative poetry, and Latin. Individuals
interested in teaching classes regularly post to the University of
Reddit subthread to gauge interest in future couses and announce when new
modules are available.
The Lifehacker Night School is our own set of tutorials and classes that help you out
with deep and intricate subjects like becoming
a better photographer, building
your own computer, or getting
to know your network, among others.
No comments:
Post a Comment