Yep, that’s right… FREE HARVARD CLASSES.
There are free Harvard classes available on your very own computer.
There’s even a free Harvard class online for the aspiring programmer! Best of all, it assumes you have no previous programming experience, so it really works with you from the ground up. I’m taking it myself because it teaches the basics of several languages, some of which I have no experience with. The whole thing just positively blows my mind in the best possible way. It gives me more hope for humanity.
It’s part of a “new wave” in higher education – the MOOC. It stands for Massive Open Online Course. There’s a number of excellent universities offering some courses for free over the internet. If you pay a fee, they’ll even certify you in it. Most of the time, there’s no option for degree credit, even with the fee, but it’s free information from accredited professors which is available to the public. Talk about the Information Age! It’s incredible. It’s amazing. Did I mention it’s FREE?!? It’s perfect for my budget!
Another site with a number of courses listed, mostly from British universities, is FutureLearn. EdX offers courses from MIT, Harvard, and Berkeley. The courses are in all kinds of subjects, from sustainability to linguistics. The online format is something new to get used to – it’s no substitute for a classroom – but the price tag makes it more than worthwhile. Free instruction by ivy league professors?!? Sign me up!
Needless to say, I am absolutely overjoyed at this trend. As much as I’m always yammering on about how education is undervalued in this country, and it’s not about the degree, it’s about the knowledge and blah blah blah… It really, really thrills me to see top universities offer these opportunities. If nothing else, go sign up for one just to send them the message that people are interested and we hope they keep doing it. Besides, who knows – you just might learn something!
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