Wondering what college Math is about? Want to take a Chomsky's lecture on linguistics or politics? Interested in learning Chinese by listening to world news in slow Chinese? Need a crash course in computer programming? Or perhaps curious about finding murderers through text messages?
You can do all that, online, for free; simultaneously, if you wish.
More and more U.S. universities are offering Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) - online courses that are, as the name says, open to everyone for free. You don't have to be enrolled in a university, pay for studying, or even leave your home to participate in the online courses offered by dozens (if not hundreds) of U.S. universities.
The open education movement aims at removing access barriers to education by sharing academic work online - a major breakthrough in academic communication, which has not been used to the fullest, yet. On the one hand, thanks to the MOOCs, people have access to all kinds of different courses (and the topics are Versatile, indeed); on the other hand, universities get good publicity and help their future students better prepare for university. And both sides can, potentially, find good opportunities for networking.
Just like the regular university courses, most MOOCs last for a semester and require continuous participation, including homework. Most of the courses don't offer certificates; however, there are quite a number of exceptions, depending on the university and the specific course. All of them should leave you with an invaluable experience and lots of new knowledge, though.
Not yet enrolled? Check out these websites, maybe you will find something that interests you (and chances are that you will):
- Open Culture - links to 650+ courses
- Coursera - 210+ courses by 33 universities
- Saylor.org - 270+ courses by the Saylor Foundation
- edX - Harvard University & MIT initiated online course enterprise
- Udacity - outgrowth of the Stanford University free online computer science classes
- CK-12 - primary and secondary education courses
- Khan Academy - 3800+ 10min long primary and secondary education videos
- Open Tapestry - browse, share, tag online courses and other educational resources
What online courses have you taken? Or would like to take? Share your experiences!
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