Free Distance Learning at Universities

Distance learning is an increasingly popular method of gaining higher education with degrees available online ranging from certifications to doctoral degrees. Distance learning involves taking classes from a college or university from the comfort of your home. The college may be in the same town or could be on the other side of the world. Distance learning is great for adults who work during the day, or for parents that cannot attend traditional classes.

Many top universities offer their course work free to the public. These do not apply to an official degree or certificate. They are available through distance learning websites maintained by the schools. The schools offer complete course work including video lectures, work sheets and recommended readings. The courses offered by each university vary, and not all of them have made all their courses available at this time.

World Lecture Hall

World Lecture Hall is maintained by the University of Texas at Austin. It is a compilation of links to course work created by faculty around the world in almost every language.

MIT

MIT Open Courseware makes 900 courses available free to the public. MIT offers lecture notes, videos and exams. Texts for the courses are available as well. MIT Open Courseware has resources available such as supplemental resources, archived courses and curriculum guides. The faculty is not available to answer questions, and not all materials reflect the entire course content.

University of California Berkley

The University of California Berkley offers free webcasts of current and archived courses. These are available as newsreaders and RSS feeds. The University of California Berkley also offers live and on-demand videos of keynote speakers and events on campus.

Stanford University

Stanford University offers free course work. You can download courses, faculty lectures and interviews. These are available to play on your iPod or computer, and there is an option to burn these files to CD.

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame has offered OCW (Open Courseware) since September 2006. When you choose the course of interest, click on the link on the University website. You will find the course syllabus, a brief bio of the professor, lectures and readings available.

With the help of an Online Associates Degrees program, busy individuals can go back to school without any inconvenience.