Free Online College Courses
"What's the deal with online college courses... how can they be offered for free? Is there some catch involved, and will I get actual college credit if I take free online college classes?" |
Take College Courses Online
Everyone knows that college is not cheap. But did you know that some college courses are free, online? Some of the most prestigious universities in the world offer thousands of courses free of charge to qualifying students, or to anyone with a Web browser.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - offers more than 1,800 courses through its OpenCourseWare project. These courses are offered in text, video, and audio formats and are even translated into a number of languages. Students from all over the world use OpenCourseWare and 96 per cent of them say they would recommend it.
- Open University is based in the United Kingdom. Through its OpenLearn program it provides undergraduate and graduate level courses to everyone free of charge. Topics include the arts, history, business, education, IT and computing, mathematics and statistics, science, health and technology.
- Carnegie Mellon University has its Open Learning Initiative providing informal instruction to college-ready students at no cost. Subjects you can study here include but are not limited to statistics, biology, chemistry, economics, French, and physics.
- Tufts University, like MIT, uses the OpenCourseWare online learning platform. Free courses, including lectures, homework assignments, and reference materials, are offered by the schools of Arts and Sciences, Medicine, and others.
- Stanford University, always striving to be the coolest school for geeks, has teamed up with iTunes U to offer access to Stanford courses, lectures, and interviews with professors. You don't have to use Apple's iTunes application to download materials to your iPod, Mac, or PC. You can even burn the materials to CD.
- University of California at Berkeley, one of the top schools in the United States, has been offering online lectures and interactive Webcast courses since 2001. Hundreds of current and archived courses can be downloaded or viewed and heard at your leisure. Subjects include astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer programming, engineering, psychology, legal studies and philosophy.
- Utah State University offers only text-format materials, but you can view them online or download them as compressed files. Topics range from anthropology to theatre arts to physics and more.
- Kutztown University's Small Business Development Center offers the largest collection of free business courses available on the Web. Covering accounting, finance, government, business law, marketing and sales, materials are in text, interactive case studies, slideshows, graphics, and streaming audio.
- The University of Southern Queensland, in Australia, offers yet another OpenCourseWare initiative. Topics include communication, science, career planning, technology, teaching and multimedia creation.
- The University of California at Irvine just recently joined the OCW Consortium. UC Irvine's offerings are relatively small but growing. Current courses cover topics like financial planning, human resources, capital markets and e-marketing. Course materials include syllabi, lecture notes, assignments and exams.
The real value of learning is in the learning itself and what you do with knowledge, not in its contribution to a piece of paper called a diploma. But still you should read the fine print of online college courses' Web sites carefully. You may or may not get college credit for them. For more information on accreditation, see my related article Are Online Colleges Accredited?
Have you taken online college courses? Tell me about your experience, or post your comment or question below...
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Posted by Bob Rankin on 15 Dec 2009
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Free Online College Courses (Posted: 15 Dec 2009)
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Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
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Most recent comments on "Free Online College Courses"
(See all 23 comments for this article.)Posted by:
Pauline
08 Jul 2010
I noticed a comment about the open university being free, its not. I am doing a degree course, its costing me about 700 pounds for 60 credits you need 360 credits for a course. You can apply for financial help if you are on low income or benefits.
Paulin
Posted by:
Kevin Fox
01 Sep 2010
Excellent article. Universities offering subjects through OpenCourseWare also provide links to other institutions participating in OCW worldwide.
With regard to the Open University; Pauline is right in that it is not possible to study for a BA. or BSc. free online. However; “The OpenLearn website gives free access to Open University course materials.” www.openlearn.open.ac.uk.
alison.com provides free online courses in partnership with the British Council “which will help you attain further qualification on well-known global English language qualifications such as FCE, ESL, ESOL, IELTS and TOEFL.” www.alison.com. Some of their other courses include:
Health literacy HIV/AIDS: Awareness & Prevention. Microsoft Digital Literacy. Schools Curriculum.
Accreditation becomes more of an issue when parting with money, think about the end... and start there.
Posted by:
amit saini
03 Sep 2010
how can we resize c:to other drive with f/s fat32
please give me tips if there r requirment softwere for merger so pls send or tell me today
Posted by:
Dominique
22 Oct 2010
You forgot University of the People who offers free for Credit Courses.
Posted by:
bob
10 Nov 2010
One course you left out is
http://www.khanacademy.org/
bob
Posted by:
Paula
11 Nov 2010
Another great place to find college-level material is the Research Channel. Currently they are revising the original site but can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/ResearchChannel. There are videos of college-level lectures, professional development and presentations from around the world usually for free.
Posted by:
femtobeam
05 May 2011
Thank you for posting this, Bob! As inflation soars and jobs disappear, free quality education will be so valuable to people. Now... if only we had a free and secure, broadband internet...
Posted by:
Ben
22 Oct 2011
Open Course Ware may be great to an extent. In my humble opinion, it gives one knowledge. Knowledge is free and abundant. Hurray, we can all be knowledgeable!
One still needs wisdom to guide the application of knowledge. Large industry, business, government interests hamstring one here. One needs qualified instructors providing a 'rubber stamp' to attain a degree, even with OCW.
These instructors justifiably do not take on people for exams without a fee. If the instructors do not charge, the institutions where they practice do. So, yes it is great having the knowledge, save for when you need vouched for by credible sources for employers.
Imagine telling a manager you are freely educated and have no proof of credentials at an interview. You would be laughed out of any opportunity right away. The more I consider everything, the more inclined thinking is The Venus Project sounds quite an improvement.
Posted by:
Ernest
23 Oct 2011
FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is now offering free cyber security training. They have ten courses in three different tracks; Non-Technical End Users, Technical for IT Professionals, and a third for Managers and Business Professionals. Even if you don’t need them, these courses may be just the ticket for friends, family, or customers and they are FREE. The training site is located at http://www.teexwmdcampus.com/user_defined_content.k2?contentID=6
Posted by:
Georjina
04 Dec 2011
Great post and resource list Bob. Especially to upgrade skills and skip the classroom towards your degree. Independent learners like myself have used these to test out of the first 2-3 years of a 4 year degree.
Now that many of these are online, completing a self-designed Master's is great. But it's not for everyone. It takes a lot of self discipline and being organized.