The Rise of the Online Autodidact and Free Education

One of the greatest accomplishments to have arisen from the “Internet Age” is the universal availability of freely-available, yet high-quality, educational materials that can range from simple tutorials available on YouTube all the way to post-graduate level lectures from many of the world's most respected universities. Unfortunately, many computer users are unaware of the many educational opportunities awaiting them on the Internet. This post will review,and suggest, several such sites

* iTunes University 

iTunesUniversity, or “iTunesU,” is the standard against which any other educational site can be tested. This site has, literally, thousands of online courses at levels that can be anywhere between community college and postgraduate seminars at some of the world's finest universities. Topics range from high school math to a six-course sequence in modern theoretical physics at Stanford University The diversity of materials on this site is best appreciated by visiting it at the YRL listed above.

iTunes University is a part of Apple's wildly popular iTunes and comes pre-installed with Mac OS X version 6.0 or later. For Windows and Linux users, you need only visit the iTunes web site to download the version optimized for your particular operating system. One installed, just find the “iTunesU” tab on the menu bar, click it, and then enjoy!

* Khan Academy

If there's one thing you can safely say about Salman Khan, it would  have to be “This guy loves to teach!” In fact, he loves teaching so much that his web site lists some 3,000 short tutorial on topics as diverse as basic algebra, world history, and integral calculus. Rather than attempt to describe the diversity of lessons on his site, you would be better off to simply visit it and just browse around. Pick a subject, and Khan probably has it covered.

* W3Schools

It seems appropriate that one of the best ways to learn web technology is via the W3Schools web site. This site can take you from the very basics of HTML to pretty much anywhere you want to go. It's main attraction is that it's interactive, meaning that you can try out your newly-acquired skills as a web programmer without having to leave their site and without  installing additional software. As far as being user friendly, you will have a hard time finding a simpler site to use.

* edX

edX is more of a concept than an actual learning site. As a joint venture between Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it hopes to provide “Certificates of Completion” attesting that a student has completed a sequence of online courses in a number of academic areas such as computer science or engineering. Although the organization plans to charge a “small administrative fee” to cover necessary expenses, and all the “bugs” have yet to be worked out, this site promises to be of great interest to those wishing to document their newly-acquired knowledge.

Although it would be easy to go on and on about free online education, it will suffice to say that all you need to participate in these opportunities is a computer, a web browser,and a decent Internet connection. Sine you are reading this, it's safe to assume that you have all three.  Now, what's stopping you from learning enough to be a contestant on “Jeopardy?”

Author Bio :
This article was written by Karl Stockton for the team at tutoring services.