Online Lectures Make Learning Free and Fun

August 26th, 2009

Who says you have to shell out top dollar or leave your home state in order to receive an Ivy-League caliber education? Thanks to the power of the Internet, dozens of colleges and universities from across the country have made it possible for students to download and view lectures from some of their top professors and courses.

The best thing about these online lecture sites? They’re free! Check out a few below:

Who? Academic Earth
Where? www.academicearth.org
What? Features video lectures from the following universities: UC Berkely, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA, Yale.
Sample subjects? Physics III: Vibrations and Waves, Computational Science and Engineering I, and Aircraft Systems Engineering.

Who? Open Culture
Where? www.openculture.com
What? MP3s and videos of lecture from such schools as Columbia University, CUNY, UC Berkely, MIT, and Oxford University.
Sample subjects? Existentialism in Literature & Film, Astrobiology and Space Exploration, and Information, Law and Policy.

Who? WGBH Forum Network
Where? http://forum.wgbh.org/
What? Speeches and video lectures from professors and other movers, shakers, and top minds from around the nation.
Sample subjects? Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces with Prof. Frank Wilczek, Poetry and Perception with Susan Stewart, and Cultural Humanist with Joss Whedon.

And if you need to pump up on your math and science skills for upcoming SATs, make sure to check out the Khan Academy, which we first covered back last December. The founder, Salman Khan, is a Harvard MBA and has taped dozens upon dozens of YouTube videos detailing everything from the basics of algebra to the nitty-gritty of physics.

– Genevieve M. Blaber

>> Thanks to CollegeCandy for their recent coverage of Academic Earth and Open Culture.

Entry Filed under: College Trends, School Tools, Test Prep