College 'classes' on YouTube

[Oniya]

So, recently, the little Oni asked me some questions about things that I really hadn't studied.  In the process of looking up information that she would be able to digest, I stumbled across the fact that some universities have uploaded videos of actual lectures.  Both the University of Michigan and Stanford University have their own YouTube channels:

Stanford University:  http://www.youtube.com/user/StanfordUniversity?feature=watch  (I've been 'stalking' Dr. Susskind for the past few days)
University of Michigan: http://www.youtube.com/user/um?feature=watch  (Saturday Morning Physics is specifically geared to the lay-person)

Obviously, these aren't for any sort of credit, but for those so inclined, free education!

[Moraline]

Kahn Academy has 3600+ youtube videos. He's been around for awhile and I found his courses to be fantastic! He explains everything in easy step by step lessons and for things like math, he often explains things from several different perspectives. His math courses are by far the best.

http://www.khanacademy.org/ 


*edit* I should have mentioned that his stuff is geared for entry level first learners (children), up to advanced college level.

[Oniya]

I may poke the little Oni in the direction of his math vids.  She got up to multiplying polynomials over the summer, and the rest of her class is still converting fractions to decimals and percents.

[Moraline]

It's great. I walk my nephew through a lot of the stuff. He's only 11 so it's all basic stuff for him.

Kahn covers entry level biology, chemistry... all sorts of subjects. It's great for grade school students.

[xyloph]

yale's also added several of their courses to the internet at http://oyc.yale.edu/


of course, watching lectures or instructional videos isn't the same as actually being in a class, learning happens when you do things yourself, not when other people tell you about them, so if you're trying to do this stuff it's really important to track down some of the actual assignments and exercises and really get hands-on.

[Lilias]

yale's also added several of their courses to the internet at http://oyc.yale.edu/

I've just tucked away 21 of them. Now to find time to go through the transcripts...

[Caeli]

I may poke the little Oni in the direction of his math vids.  She got up to multiplying polynomials over the summer, and the rest of her class is still converting fractions to decimals and percents.

Khan is really great for the foundational stuff for math. I had to go through all 381+ proficiencies as a challenge for work... though I will admit that I found it fun. >.>

I love Vi Hart's videos. They are so entertaining, but at the same time extraordinarily educational and interesting.

[HockeyGod]

Education should be free and attainable for all.

I would only question the reliability of obtaining information from sources that are not accurately cited as such.

In my courses I don't allow non-peer review publications to be utilized as sources of fact, but I encourage people to search sites like Wikipedia or Youtube or other blogs to get ideas and read about discourse around certain subjects. If they do use information, it needs to be cited even if from a non-"scholarly" source.

[Oniya]

Education should be free and attainable for all.

I would only question the reliability of obtaining information from sources that are not accurately cited as such.

In my courses I don't allow non-peer review publications to be utilized as sources of fact, but I encourage people to search sites like Wikipedia or Youtube or other blogs to get ideas and read about discourse around certain subjects. If they do use information, it needs to be cited even if from a non-"scholarly" source.

*nodnods*  That's why I was specifically targeting the ones that are put up by actual universities.  I may not get a sheepskin saying I've got a B.S. in Physics, but I know it's an actual Stanford professor in front of the white-board.

[Caeli]

UCTV (University of California Television) doesn't have class-style lecture series, but more seminar-style/guest-speaker lectures that are related in topic, but are not necessarily directly linked to each other. There's a very wide variety of topics covered in the videos, many of them covering contemporary politics, science, and humanitarian issues.

http://www.uctv.tv/
http://seminars.uctv.tv/

I actually stream some of these seminars/talks from my Roku box. :-)

edit: Actually, I take that back. There do seem to be at least one course here (Origin of Man). The stuff I usually watch (Foreign Policy & International Politics) doesn't follow a class-type lecture format, though.

[Valthazar]

I highly recommend MIT's Open Courseware:

I unfortunately can't post a link since I'm not approved, but a simple Google search should bring up the website.  Of course, the classes are not for credit, but you are able to view lectures and read the lecture notes of actual courses at MIT.  They even offer a forum if you have any questions related to the course material as you progress at your own pace.  I tried one of these in the past for Microeconomics, and I found it to be very useful.  I particularly like this one because it offers a bit more structure than isolated video lectures like Khan's.

[Hades]

I highly recommend MIT's Open Courseware:

I unfortunately can't post a link since I'm not approved, but a simple Google search should bring up the website.  Of course, the classes are not for credit, but you are able to view lectures and read the lecture notes of actual courses at MIT.  They even offer a forum if you have any questions related to the course material as you progress at your own pace.  I tried one of these in the past for Microeconomics, and I found it to be very useful.  I particularly like this one because it offers a bit more structure than isolated video lectures like Khan's.

I was thinking about MIT's offering as I was reading through the thread, so I guess that means great minds think alike Valthazar. :D   

MIT Open CourseWare

[SkyeGal]

Also, check out Coursera at www.coursera.com

Amazing classes by a number of top rate universities and collleges, completely free, and many will give you a letter acknowledging participation in the course.

Skye

[Valthazar]

All these free resources are fantastic.

Sometimes it makes you wonder if our current higher education system is truly sustainable long-term.  Hypothetically, if a competing private educational company can offer reputable college-level courses at a fraction of the tuition cost, the free-market will naturally cause tuition to decline.  Given the fact that these free resources exist, it's almost as if ~$1000 per credit is simply going towards a piece of paper.

It's interesting to me how tuition became so inflated.

[Oniya]

Well, some of the money goes to paying the teachers for their time (preparing the lectures, grading the papers, and hopefully ensuring that the students actually learn what's in the course), their own continuing education (to keep them current on evolving research), and basic living.  The money that goes into textbooks is horribly inflated, which somebody went into on another thread - apparently textbook authors don't get continuing royalties on their work, and so that's why they release new editions every year.  Something about that should change, in my opinion.  A lot of the 'brick and mortar' expenses could be done away with by using classes accessible from someone's home, though.

[Rhapsody]

No one's mentioned iTunesU yet? That's a surprise.

I've been doing the material in the Anthropology and History sections of MIT OCW for the last couple of years, by supplementing with video lectures from Open Yale, Harvard, Berkeley and iTunesU.

[MHaji]

I teach science classes at the college level, and I find these Internet courses extremely promising. Not only do they offer help to people who might not get it otherwise, they also put pressure on faculty who waste lecture time, teach for themselves and not for the students, and insist on rote memorization and mass-graded tests of regurgitation. In light of these new resources, the only way that colleges and universities can justify enormous tuition costs is by providing fast and thoughtful expert feedback, a supportive environment filled with motivated peers, solid lab instruction, available research and job opportunities, and honest, trustworthy grading that can't be bought or compromised.

Now, I've heard that formal education "can't be replaced" with the canned summaries of Salman Khan and his like, and that's true to a point. But these criticisms ignore something important: Khan teaches with joy, making his points clearly and concisely. Does this give students all the depth they need? No, but neither does a time-wasting lecture by a tenured prof who just wants to get back to the lab and be done with it. Let's reward universities that serve the public by putting classes online and training their faculty to teach in an engaging way.

Some teachers consider these methods impersonal. There's truth in that. And I'd bet that centuries ago, scribes felt threatened by the printing press, and thought that mass-produced books were impersonal. But as personal and gorgeous as illuminated manuscripts could be, cheaper books and widespread literacy are the greatest developments civilization has ever produced, right up there with antibiotics.

[yasarra]

You can also try Edx.  Khan Academy is mostly math focused, but still terrific.  For the programmer in you, try code academy.

edx.org
https://www.khanacademy.org/
http://www.codecademy.com

[Oniya]

Now, I've heard that formal education "can't be replaced" with the canned summaries of Salman Khan and his like, and that's true to a point. But these criticisms ignore something important: Khan teaches with joy, making his points clearly and concisely. Does this give students all the depth they need? No, but neither does a time-wasting lecture by a tenured prof who just wants to get back to the lab and be done with it. Let's reward universities that serve the public by putting classes online and training their faculty to teach in an engaging way.

While Dr. Susskind could never be accused of being 'concise', I have to say that I love his analogies.  The little Oni has gotten a lot out of something called 'Minute Physics', and while I doubt it's anything close to replacing a formal class, it's going to give her a head start when she actually gets to a formal class.

[Caeli]

I love Vi Hart's videos for the same reason. She really makes the complexities and mysteries of math and math-in-the-world very accessible and fun and relatable in her videos.

[Cecilia]

Here's a link to Vi Hart's Kahn videos...just because everyone should watch them.

http://www.khanacademy.org/math/vi-hart

[Formless]

That is a great gesture.

I hope it'll be an incentive for other universities to follow in this direction.

Who knows, maybe there will be a time when some lectures will be lively streamed for the public online.