Online College Courses

[Misty Zephyrs]

On NPR (National Public Radio) recently, they were discussing Coursera which offers classes online from major universities for free.  Of course, I was skeptical, but had to check it out.  Believe me, it's worth the time to take to check it out.  I am already signed up for a class starting in June July taught by a professor from the University of Michigan. The class is "Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World."

[Xandria]

Several major universities offer select courses for free through various venues, including iTunes-U.  They're available via video and/or pod casts taken from previous semesters, some quite recent.  I've taken advantage of several in the past both as an extra study tool for my regular coursework, and even just for pleasure.  In general, I've found them to be excellent and wouldn't hesitate to recommend.   

Coursera may be a step up from this because they have a community and a Q&A forum, but you might also want to check out the Open Courseware Consortium.  They too have a community, but offer thousands of courses from universities all over the world, and many are available in several languages.

Enjoy the class on Fantasy and Science Fiction, it sounds very interesting.  :-)   

[Parker]

Not exactly full-on courses... MIT makes almost all of it's course material available online. Get an overview here:

http://ocw.mit.edu/help/get-started-with-ocw/




Udactiy ( a play on the word "audacity", of couse ) gives free tech courses in some serious subjects:


http://www.udacity.com/




A good article about Udacity, and the free education movement and how it bangs against established school biz models here:


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/education/moocs-large-courses-open-to-all-topple-campus-walls.html?pagewanted=all


;D

[rou]

I've heard about Coursera myself and find it absolutely intriguing. I would have registered for a course just for fun, save that I've got a full-time schedule ahead of me already coming this fall.

Maybe it can't really be considered online college courses, but I love few websites as much as I love Khan Academy (google it). I'm using it right now to review for my Calculus class. It's absolutely brilliant.

[Spero]

Sounds interesting but I already have a full schedule for Fall.

[Chaosfox]

Misty thank you for this site this will give me some things to do while I Take the semester off this fall you are a life saver