Knowledge is power and its free too!

A compilation of best free online courses, classes, lectures, podcasts and more

Knowledge is power, but we need not spend much to get knowledge. There are lot of universities and websites that make their courses/lectures available for everyone to use for free. These top ranked universities and websites bring together amazing professors, thought provoking topics, tons of useful information and an opportunity to expand your mind without even leaving your home. I have provided the links to these free online courses, classes & resources along with a brief description (mostly quoted from that site itself). Let me know if I have missed something. I found these resources very useful, hope you will too!

I have categorized the links as follows:

1. University specific links – variety of subjects : This is a list of universities that make most of the subjects taught at that university (graduate and undergraduate level material) available online, free of charge. These materials include lecture videos, handouts, homework and even exams.
2. University specific links – specialized or limited content : This is a collection of universities that offer not traditional course materials, but invited speeches and articles. There might be some traditional courses offered too but these have restricted access.
3. Open Course Ware Consortium : This is a collection of all the universities or institutions in the world that have joined together to provide their lectures/courses online. To be a member of this consortium, the universities should have at least 10 courses available online. I have provided a partial list of universities in the USA that are members of this consortium. There is a link to the entire list as well.
4. General Collections: These are not universities, but websites that provide a wealth of information on various subjects.

1. University specific links – Variety of subjects

• MIT OpenCourseWare
  • MIT OpenCourseWare is a free web based publication of MIT course materials that reflects almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.
• Stanford Engineering Everywhere (SEE)
  • Stanford Engineering Everywhere offers: Anytime and anywhere access to complete lecture videos via streaming or downloaded media, full course materials including syllabi, handouts, homework, & exams, online social networking with fellow SEE students and support for PCs, Macs and mobile computing devices.
• webcast.berkeley – University of California, Berkeley
  • Every semester, UC Berkeley webcasts select courses and events for on-demand viewing via the Internet. webcast.berkeley courses and events can be viewed from anywhere around the globe. webcast.berkeley also makes much of its courses and events catalog available through UC Berkeley on iTunes U and UC Berkeley on YouTube.
• Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative
  • Using intelligent tutoring systems, virtual laboratories, simulations, and frequent opportunities for assessment and feedback, the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) builds courses that are intended to enact instruction – or, more precisely, to enact the kind of dynamic, flexible, and responsive instruction that fosters learning.
• Open Yale
  • Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University.
• Columbia Interactive
  • Columbia Interactive is a gateway to selected electronic learning resources developed at Columbia University. Browse their database of digital resources, including faculty interviews, learning tools, semester-length e-courses and more than 100 shorter e-seminars.
• NPTEL Indian Institute of Technology (YouTube channel)
  • This channel provides technical lectures from all seven Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

2. University specific links – Limited or specialized content

• Princeton Web Media
  • Web Media offers live and archived streams in several different formats of lectures, conferences, special events and news channels.
• University of San Diego Podcasts
  • Podcast.ucsd.edu offers free audio recordings of UC San Diego class lectures for download onto your music player or computer (Note: These podcasts are available only during the quarter the courses are offered. If you want to enjoy the podcasts later or after the end of the quarter you might want to subscribe and download the lectures.)
• University of Los Angeles BruinCast
  • This is similar to UCSD podcasts but not all the podcasts are available to public, only a few.
• Harvard@Home
  • These are not courses or lectures on traditional subjects, but a collection of good public addresses making news at Harvard University.
• Knowledge@Wharton
  • Collection of articles that provide analysis and research-based insights from Wharton faculty and other business sources.

3. Open Course Ware Consortium

An OpenCourseWare is a free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses. The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 200 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model. The mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is to advance education and empower people worldwide through opencourseware.

A list of institutions and organizations currently participating in OpenCourseWare Consortium from all over the world can be found here.

Some of the OpenCourseWare offered by universities in the United States –

• eduCommons – Utah State University’s OpenCourseWare
  • Utah State OpenCourseWare is a collection of educational material used in their formal campus courses, and seeks to provide people around the world with an opportunity to access high quality learning opportunities.
• Tufts OpenCourseWare
  • Tufts OpenCourseWare (OCW) seeks to capitalize on the potential of the internet to eliminate borders and geographic distance as obstacles to the instantaneous exchange of knowledge and new ideas.
• Notre Dame OpenCourseWare
  • Notre Dame OCW is a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners throughout the world.
• University of California, Irvine OpenCourseWare
  • The University of California, Irvine’s OCW is a web-based repository of various UC Irvine courses and video lectures from UC Irvine faculty, seminar participants, and instructional staff.
• NJIT OpenCourseWare
  • NJIT’s OpenCourseWare (OCW) site offers free and open digital publication of high-quality educational materials, organized as courses. Some courses can be viewed in video, while others are only in audio. Course lecture notes and presentations are also posted for some courses.

4. General Collections - free online courses & classes on broad range of topics

• Open Learn – The open University UK
  • The OpenLearn website gives free access to Open University course materials. This is the LearningSpace, where you’ll find hundreds of free study units, each with a discussion forum. Study independently at your own pace or join a group and use the free learning tools to work with others.
• FSI Foreign Service Institute– Learn a new language!
  • The home for language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute. It is an independent, non-profit effort to foster the learning of worldwide languages. Courses here are made available through the private efforts of individuals who are donating their time and resources to provide quality materials for language learning.
• Khan Academy (YouTube Channel)
  • A not-for-profit organization with the mission of giving access to knowledge to anyone, anywhere.
• YouTube EDU
  • Collection of educational videos from variety of universities including (but not limited to) Cambridge University, Penn State University, University of Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt University.
• arXiv e-Print archive
  • Open access to e-prints submitted daily from all over the world in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance and Statistics
• Manager Tools Podcasts
  • Manager Tools is a weekly podcast focused on helping you become a more effective manager and leader. Each week they talk about new tools and easy techniques you can use to help achieve your management and career objectives.
• Damodaran Online
  • This site has a lot of background, webcasts, seminars, books and lectures on MBA level corporate finance, investment and valuation.
• iTunes U
  • A powerful distribution system for everything from lectures to language lessons, films to labs, audio books to tours.
• Purdue Online Writing Lab
  • The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and provides these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue.
• National Program on Technology Enhanced Education
  • An initiative by seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for creating course contents in engineering and science. There are a lot of free online courses, classes and videos on different areas of engineering.
• Youtube for any DIY stuff
• This is not from any major university but if you want to learn to do anything from coloring your hair to changing oil in the car, help is always there in the form of a DIY video tutorial in Youtube.

A high quality education doesn’t have to come at a high cost. In fact, it’s possible to take classes from big names like Yale, MIT, and Tufts without ever submitting an application or paying a cent in tuition.

I am down with the flu, this is one of my articles from my first few months of blogging when I had only a couple of visitors. I have updated and reposting it in the hope that it will benefit more people now. I will be back with the “Financial price stay at home moms pay” on Wednesday.

Tagged as: best online courses, free courses, language, open course ware