Use Open Courseware and Take Classes at MIT, Stanford, or Harvard for Free

By Jennifer Williamson

The year was 1999.  The online education industry was still in its infancy, but MIT was ahead of the times.  The school’s provost, Robert Brown, had just given the school an assignment: figure out how to position itself for the coming trend in online learning. 

Many colleges at the time wanted to figure out how to make money with online education—and MIT was no different.  But then a group of professors suggested a revolutionary idea: why not just post all class materials online, available to everyone? And why not make it free?

MIT attracted funding and publicity, and the rest was history.  Their success sparked an OpenCourseWare movement among top universities all over the world.  Today, you can pull up a virtual chair and sit in on classes at Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Utah State, the University of Notre Dame, and other top-tier universities—all without paying a dime.

The Limits of OpenCourseWare: What You Can’t Get From It

OpenCourseWare is a phenomenal information-sharing trend, but it’s not a magic bullet. There are a few things it can’t give you, and these include:

A degree.  You can download the OpenCourseWare materials for all the required classes for a four-year degree at Harvard Medical School.  You can read the books and articles, watch all the lectures, and take all the quizzes and tests.  You can even grade yourself.  But you can’t get a degree from Harvard—not unless you’re paying tuition.

Money.  One of the problems with OpenCourseWare that schools are trying to address is the possibility of exploitation.  Some entrepreneurs have seen an opportunity to offer “MIT degrees” and other fraudulent college degrees based on free OpenCourseWare materials, for a fee.  But OpenCourseWare wasn’t created with individual profit in mind, and anyone who does this is likely to face legal challenges. 

Attention from professors.  You can download lectures, read lecture notes, and do all the assignments with OpenCourseWare that paying students do.  But the professor won’t grade your test, answer your questions, or give you feedback.  It’s a major reason universities justify the fact that OpenCourseWare won’t give you a degree.  Teacher attention does make a difference.

The Benefits of Open Courseware: What’s In It For You

However, OpenCourseWare does bring you valuable knowledge.  If you’re not looking for a degree and have strong independent learning skills, you can get a great deal out of a good OpenCourseWare program. 

A supplement to your other classes.  OpenCourseWare comes into its own when you want to go more in-depth in a subject than your current classes allow.  You can browse OpenCourseWare offerings to get a different perspective on the same topic, peek in at more advanced classes, and increase the depth of your learning.

Practical knowledge.  You may not get a degree studying engineering at MIT through OpenCourseWare.  But you’ll learn a lot more about it—probably enough to apply it to your own projects.  If you’re in it more for the knowledge than the credential, OpenCourseWare is an excellent way to get the know-how you need.  You get access to the knowledge base of an expensive college, all for free.

More than reading lists.  It’s a common misconception that OpenCourseWare simply provides a list of reading materials, and leaves it at that.  But it’s much more in-depth.  Many programs provide video lectures, tests and quizzes, multimedia presentations, audio recordings, and more—in addition to reading lists and lecture notes.  With OpenCourseWare, you get everything but the student-teacher interaction. 

OpenCourseWare is becoming more and more common at the nation’s top schools: even Stanford and Yale are planning to make their course materials available online in the near future. 

OpenCourseWare can bring you much of the knowledge enrolled students pay thousands of dollars for.  True, it’s no replacement for an actual degree; but it’s a valuable free resource every online student should know about.

EdX Free Online Courses at Harvard, MIT, UC Berkeley

Are you looking forward to improving your knowledge base in your field? Why not try EdX?

What is EdX?
edX is a learning platform that gives students from any country the opportunity to take free online courses offered by three premier Universities in the US – Harvard, MIT, and UC Berkeley.  Online learners can earn a certificate of completion after completing the course. It is interesting to know that you can take your course of study from anywhere in the world as long as there is internet connection.

The Host Institution(s):
The list of Universities include Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California Berkeley, McGill University, Australian National University, Wellesley University, Georgetown University, University of Toronto, TU Delft,  and The University of Texas System.  More than 120 universities from around the world have expressed interest in collaborating with edX since its inception; in the future, more Universities will participate in the program.

Field(s) of study:
There are currently 32 courses offered for Fall 2012 but their goal is to offer a wide variety of courses across disciplines.

Target group:
The course are available to anyone in the world – from any demographic – who has interest in advancing their own knowledge.

Scholarship value/inclusions:
For the courses in Fall 2012, those certificates will be free. There is a plan to charge a modest fee for certificates in the future.

Eligibility:
EdX will be available to anyone in the world with computer with internet connection, and in general, there will not be an admissions process.

Application instructions:
To apply for an EdX course, just simply complete the online signup form. Enrolling will create your unique student record in the edX database, allow you to register for classes, and to receive a certificate on successful completion.  Applications are accepted throughout the year.

It is important to visit the official website (link found below) for detailed information on how to apply for this scholarship.

Website:
Official Scholarship Website: https://www.edx.org/

I would share some information about other equally free online courses media later. Thanks!