Open CourseWare

For avid knowledge seekers and professionals who want to learn more about their field, you will be glad to know that you can now take high quality classes from top universities for free.

The Open CourseWare Consortium whose mission is to advance education by offering free online courses is achieving that goal by collaborating with over 115 worldwide higher education institutions. The OCW Consortium was formed by MIT and other leading educational institutions. Some of these members include top universities such as MIT and Stanford.

The Open CourseWare concept was developed by MIT to initially provide a forum to disseminate and share knowledge among scholars. Eventually in 2002, it was open to the public to try and advance knowledge and educate students and self-learners. Open CourseWare is a web-based publication of course materials made available to anyone for free.

OK, so it's not a "real" online course

One major drawback from these free online courses is that you DO NOT receive a degree by taking these courses. The benefit is to be able to learn about a subject taught by brilliant professors from top universities. Materials for these courses that are made available to the public may include syllabi, reading assignments, quizzes and sometimes exams with solutions. Some even offer videos.

Another negative aspect of some of these free online courses is that you have to purchase the textbook although it most cases it is usually an older edition so you will probably get a good deal on used textbooks. However, there are some courses online that do not require a textbook since the course itself can only be viewed and instructed online.

To be successful as an independent learner, you have to be disciplined to do the readings and work assigned. Furthermore, should you have any questions, you will not have access to the professor(s). This method of learning may not be for everyone but if you are just interested in reading up on particular subjects, this may be better than purchasing a book.

Here are my top picks of universities that offer free online courses:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

This seems to be the leading university offering free online courses in terms of selections and quality. They offer over 1800 courses and often provide lecture notes, syllabi, reading assignments, quizzes and exams. Although most of the courses do not come with streaming video lectures, the availability of the variety of course materials make up for it.

2. Carnegie Mellon

Carnegie Mellon offers about a dozen free online courses. As opposed to MIT's method of allowing one to download all the course materials, Carnegie Mellon courses are taken online. You will have to register and create an account in order to save your own progress.

3. Tufts University

Similar to MIT, Tufts' Open CourseWare has a fairly good selection of courses but has an online format. Although most courses provide a syllabus, lecture notes, and readings they are not always complete. Note the disclaimer stating that the course materials are not always presented in entirety.

4. Stanford University

Uses iTunes to deliver videos of lectures and interviews. You must have the iTunes application installed to be able to view and download the courses. A good variety of courses are offered and the videos can also be viewed on your iPod or iPhone.

5. University of California, Berkeley

Hundreds of courses are available via webcasts and podcasts at UC Berkeley. However, not all materials are provided for each course.

For a list of other universities that offer free online courses, visit http://education-portal.com/article_directory/Free_Online_Courses_and_Education.html.