Learn for Free
Today I've asked my friend Rhonda Oglesby, a computer geek and gamer girl, to share from her wealth of knowledge about online learning. Yes, she designed the chart below herself. I should add that Dallas Seminary's course on Suffering, Disability, and Death is available for free at dts.edu/iTunesU.
Say what you will about the path the internet has takensince its inception, you can’t deny that it has made learning almost anythingaccessible to the masses. You can find expert information on everything from fixing a parking brake(yes, I did this) to how tofix the buttons on a game controller; from brewing coffee witha French press to makingvampire cupcakes.
One of the more exciting developments in online learning isaccess to instruction by professors and professionals from prestigiousuniversities and a variety of industries from all over the world.
And they’re free.
Coursera and iTunes U offer the mostclasses in the widest range of subjects. W3and O’Reilly offer themost specialized courses, mostly in programming and information technology. GCFLearnFree covers the fundamentals inmath, reading, finances, jobs, and Microsoft products.
Most of my experience has been with Coursera. I’m signed upfor nine Coursera classes throughout 2013. I recently finished “The Language ofHollywood,” taught by Penn State professor Scott Higgins, about how the technologicaladvancements of sound and color from the 1920s to 1950s changed movie making.
Currently I’m taking “Gamification”(University of Pennsylvania), on how game elements can be used in problemsolving. Later this year is “History of Rock” Part 1 and 2 (University ofRochester), “Introduction to Art:Concepts and Techniques” (Penn State), “Online Games: Literature,New Media, and Narrative” (Vanderbilt University), “Design: Creation of Artifacts inSociety” (University of Pennsylvania), and “Live! A History of Artfor Artists, Animators, and Gamers” (California Institute of the Arts).
If these are too light-weight you can also take “Medical Neuroscience”(Duke), “Cryptography”(Stanford), “EnvironmentalLaw and Policy” (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), and much,much more.
Here are the online learning sites I’ve heard of or used. Ifyou know of any not listed here, please share them with us in the comments.
Coursera https://www.coursera.org/courses
GCFLearnFree http://www.gcflearnfree.org/
Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/
MIT Open Courseware http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
Stanford http://online.stanford.edu/courses
Udacity https://www.udacity.com
W3 Schools http://www.w3schools.com
