Free Online Courses

I have seen this topic come up from time to time, and I think it is because there are plenty of people who are just as frugal (i.e. cheap) as me. I have done much searching online for free courses that, while they may not offer credit, do offer an opportunity to learn something new. You can then take that knowledge and try to get credit for it through CLEP/Dantes or Prior Learning Assessment.

Here is the list I have compiled so far. Some of these may have been discussed on this board before.

World Lecture Hall. Free online course material and access to lecture notes. From University of Texas at Austin.
http://web.austin.utexas.edu/wlh/index.cfm

Free Radio, Television and Journalism courses from the BBC.
http://www.bbctraining.com/onlineCourses.asp

Online computer training tutorials for programs such as Dreamweaver and Photoshop:
http://www.trainingtools.com/

Free courses on a variety of subjects:
http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/FreeEdMain01.asp

Free courses from MIT:
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

Free online business courses from the SBA:
http://www.sba.gov/training/courses.html

Free online courses and reading groups at Barnes and Noble University.
http://university.barnesandnoble.com/index.asp?nhid=bn

The official learning and development center of the U.S. Federal Government.
http://www.usalearning.gov/USALearning/

Free online Bible study lessons:
http://www.biblestudylessons.com/

Free courses from the University of Washington:
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/openuw/

Free math courses online.
http://www.purplemath.com/

Free online study guides at SparkNhttp://www.sparknotes.com/otes:

Free University Project. Study for the CLEP general eduction subject exams.
http://www.freeuniv.com/

Free study materials at Pink Monkey.
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/index2.asp

Free online video courses on a number of subjects. I love these!
http://www.learner.org/index.html

Math For Morons:
http://library.thinkquest.org/20991/home.html

Geography Lessons Online:
http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geg101i/home.htm

Free FEMA web courses. You can get credit for these through a couple of community colleges.
http://www.training.fema.gov/emiweb/IS/crslist.asp

Online Geography Text Book:
http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/contents.html

Introduction To Sociology. Online text book.
http://www.wwnorton.com/giddens4/chapters/chapter1/welcome.htm

Free Bible studies online. Can be transferred to for-credit college degree through Ames Bible College later.
http://www.amesbible.org/

 

Part II

Part 2:

Free online learning provided by Columbia University:
www.fathom.com

Free Genealogy courses From BYU:
http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/freecourses.cfm

Tufts Open Courseware:
http://ocw.tufts.edu

Utah State University Open Courseware:
http://ocw.usu.edu

Johns Hopkins Open Courseware:
http://ocw.jhsph.edu

The Internet Public Library:
www.ipl.org

Great Books Online:
www.bartleby.com

Project Gutenberg. Free e-books available for download.
www.gutenberg.org

Google Scholar. Google makes available a database of academic articles and e-books.
http://scholar.google.com

Fulbright Open Courseware:
http://ocw.fetp.edu.vn/fetpocw.cfm

Kyoto University Open Courseware:
http://ocw.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/

 

Part III

Free Online Language courses:
http://www.word2word.com/coursead.html

Free Bible and Biblican archeology courses:
http://www.apologeticscourses.com/

Suite101. Free continuing education courses.
http://www.suite101.com/suiteu/

Free general interest courses from About.com
http://u.about.com/

Learnwell.org. Take courses for free for personal interest, or pay $8 per contact hour for CE credit.
http://www.learnwell.org/

Land-Grant Training Alliance. Free online computer training courses. No longer updated.
http://www.lgta.org/lessons.html

 

I took the course on bats from Fathom.

http://www.fathom.com/course/21701775/index.html

It was very well put together, and did a great job of explaining how echolocation works (I had only a very hazy understanding of echolation before I took the course).

Great list by the way... it would be even better if structured as a database with user ratings.

You can also access electronic versions of McGraw-Hill textbooks online. Some of these sites are really full of all kinds of great stuff and incldue everything but the actual full text (you have to pay for that). They don't advertise this or link to the free sites very well, but you can do Google searches to get to them like this:

"keyword keyword" site:.highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/

then doing some more work to get to the most recent edition of the textbook in question.

 

Part IV

Open Courseware Directory:
http://www.btinternet.com/%7Eiberry/html/ies.htm

Sofia Free Intellectual Assets:
http://sofia.fhda.edu/gallery/

I will add more as I find them. I like the idea about the database, but I have no experience with many of these courses, so you'll have to explore them for yourself. Some of these courses are good to take just for fun, and in the end, you learn something new. My personal favorites are the Annenberg video courses, the Sparknotes and Pink Monkey sites, and Suite 101 for extension-type courses.

For you "Great Books" fans out there, the Gutenberg Project and Bartleby.com should be added to your online "favorites" lists.

 

additional links for studying online

Hello,
Your posting of the links will help out a lot of people. Great job!

I was wondering, during your search for free study links, did you happen to come across any free links for nursing study material online?

Any help is appreciated.

 

Re: additional links for studying online

Actually, I have come across quite a few free online courses for free nursing continuing education credits.

http://www.nurseceu.com/free.htm

http://medi-smart.com/freeceu.htm

http://allnurses.com/Nursing_Continuing_Education/Online_CEUs/

http://www.cybernurse.com/ceu.html

 

Tons of free nursing ceus and for others

If you're looking for free nursing CEUS or medical CME none is better than medscape.com. I need 150 every 5 years and I get most of them there. Multiple areas of courses in every area of medicine /nursing.

Other free nursing CEUS at:
http://www.powerpak.com
Free courseware for pharmacists, nurses, and physicians

Another site where you can obtain lots of free CEUS is:
http://www.pain.com/sections/professional/index.cfm
All in area of pain control.

These sites save nurses a ton of money.

Others include:
http://www2.nursingspectrum.com/CE/Self-Study_modules/
offers 1-4 free courses a month.

For free NBCC( For Counselors) ceus ( hard to find free ones) go to:
http://www1.mentalhealthcme.com/TopicReq?

Topics include suicide prevention, tobacco cessation, addictions, genetics etc.

and at http://pathwayscourses.samhsa.gov/how.htm#education

will find some free courses for ceus needed approved by:
The following online courses available on this site have been approved for credit from the following accrediting bodies:

National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc.
National Association of Social Workers
National Board of Certified Counselors
NAADAC - The Association for Addiction Professionals

Topics include bullying, substance abuse , domestic violence.

These sites have saved me alot of time and money-hope they help you!

 

Excellent thread! Thank you for all that information.

 

Any Basic First Aid for Educators on line

Wonderful list. I am looking for basic first aid for classroom teachers. Thank you. Hille

 

It's not specifically for teachers or classroom settings, but you can learn first aid and CPR online.

http://www.firstaidweb.com/index.php

http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/

http://www.cpr-pro.com/first_aid_resources.html

It's not free, but the American Red Cross does offer a low-cost first aid course for teachers. Check with your local chapter.

 

Free Online High School

Free High School courses for Florida residents.

http://www.flvs.net/educators/fact_sheet.php

Free online high school for Minnesota residents:

http://blueskyschool.org

Free Online High School For select California Residents:

www.choice2000.org

Free Online High School for Colorado residents:

http://monte.k12.co.us/ola/index.htm

Online library and study resource aimed at high school students:

http://www.worldwideschool.org/

 

Part V

Verizon Literacy Campus. Online literacy courses from Verizon.

http://www.literacycampus.org/course/index.asp

Free IT courses:

http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?page=666

School For Champions. Business and Science courses.

http://www.school-for-champions.com/default.htm

Online chats and speeches from Harvard:

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/

Journalism training courses from News University. Offered by the Poynter Institute. Requires registration. Most courses are free. Some have a charge.

http://www.newsu.org/

 

Thank you so much! This free exchange of information by those thoughtful enough to share is one of the best things about Degreeinfo.

 

Community Dispatch - service which lists free online courses, some of them for CEU credit.

http://communitydispatch.com/artman/publish/cat_index_3.shtml

 

Free online course in Arabic:

http://i-cias.com/babel/arabic/

Free courses in a variety of topics:

http://www.learnthat.com/

Free online course about starting a business and writing a business plan. The course is free, but they charge for a textbook

http://www.myownbusiness.org/course.html

Free online course in Modern Icelandic.

http://www.icelandic.hi.is/coursetest.php

THIS IS COOL! Create your own online course. Free software!

http://moodle.org/

Free Jewish studies online:

http://www.jewishstudies.org/

 

cool, I can use some of these sites to prepare for clep exams!

 

Robert,

Why on Earth would you need to prepare for CLEP exams? You already have two Master's degrees!

Just curious.

- Tom

 

japhy4529,

Well I am wanting a third masters in either biology or environmental health and I do not have much of a background in the natural sciences. I am an education junkie one can say.

 

Saw this on another thread, just adding it to the list.

Research Channel, educational videos available online.

http://www.researchchannel.org/program/ptitles.asp