Free Online Courses from Top Universities

I see less and less reasons to return to my university to finish masters right now. I realized this yesterday, after spotting like... 9 awesome-looking courses from Stanford planned for January, which is quite enough for full-time studying...

It turns out, at least for me, that the courses themselves have been widely available in various formats (such as through MIT OpenCourseWare), so that by itself isn't new. The main difference that I've seen is that I think Stanford not only has the content, but is also chose to the right approach to providing an online experience that is amendable to actually learning the material.

As I said, having the videos themselves is not a sufficient motivator. Either I start out with full enthusiasm and quickly burn out, or I procrastinate and never start the video series in the first place. Or I see a question, answer it, and have no idea if it's even in the right ballpark. By adding some form of scheduled assessment, even if it isn't "real" (let's face it, the actual grade in these courses is meaningless), I think they've hit a sweet spot -- and these are the types of courses that I'd like to see more of, particularly in CS, where automated assessment (submission of programming assignments for evaluation) is more easily feasible.

Everyone should check out the The Teaching Company, they have LOTS of good stuff in audio format. Not free though.

Anyone else here a passionate autodidact (that's "self-learner" for you less pretentious folk)? Interested in starting a startup in e-learning? Contact me.

It's difficult to get a sense of quality with lists like this. Nonetheless, I think it's great resource. Heading over to check out the Heideggerian Philosophy "courses" right now!

If anyone is interested in learning a bit more deeply some of the underpinnings of OWS and the fallout of the financial crisis (most/all of which has not been appreciably cleaned up yet), check out Yale Professor Robert Shiller's course on Financial Markets, particularly session 2 on Risk Management and session 7 on Behavioral Finance. (Yes, he wrote _Irrational Exuberance)

I've been a developer for a bit and decided to brush up on some of the basics. Started watching the CS50 class (yes - I'm starting at the beginning!) with David Malan. And wow, it's really fantastic to see such a knowledgeable individual with so much passion on the subject speak. Made that hour and 13 minutes fly right by. Highly recommended.

Do we have anyone interested in teaching their skill online? I'm building classfrog.com and would love to let few of you in early. Email me rian@classfrog.com.

getting spoiled with the choices...what to say