Back to School, Online, For Free

The definition of "classroom" has changed significantly in the last decade, especially at major universities that have embraced online courses as part of their curriculum. If pushing your kids out the door to school has awakened in you a hunger for learning,  if you want to refresh your knowledge in a certain subject, or even if you're considering going back to school to help improve your career prospects,  going back to school can be as easy as a click of the mouse.

If you're just looking for the education (and not credit-hours), you can virtually attend many classes for free. While "online universities" charge tuition much like traditional schools do, some universities are putting the contents of their classes online for free.

 In some cases, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, classes are provided as "open courseware". The notes, videos, and tests for the classes are all provided online for free.  MIT has over 2000 courses that it has put online as open courseware, from multiple areas of study.

Many other universities are following suit.  The Online Education Database provides an index of 236 collections of open courseware, as well as a list of the top 100 open courseware projects in a wide range of subject areas.  Want to learn about civil engineering?  OEDB can point you to lecture notes, textbook chapters, exercises and other content from the University of Washington, Texas A&M,  Penn State, and other top colleges.

Some universities are going even further, allowing non-matriculating students to participate fully in online classes—including online discussions. The concept is called Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOC.  According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, professors at colleges including the University of Florida and Brigham Young University are opening their classrooms to free registration by anyone who cares to attend.

The experience is not only helping those auditing the classes online—it's helping those teaching them and those paying for the experience. Wendy Drexler, a postdoctoral associate at the University of Florida, told Chronicle of Higher Education that the experience of taking a MOOC on learning theory through the University of Manitoba was one of the most valuable experiences of her life:

She found herself interacting mostly with participants who weren't taking the course for credit. Corporate instructional designers, other classroom teachers, consultants: The chance to engage with so many different people on a focused topic, she says, was "mind-boggling."

Aside from being free, these online resources can help you dive into a chosen subject at any time, whenever you have free time. Open courseware lets you proceed at your own pace.  And if you do decide that you want to go back and earn another degree or certificate to improve yourself (and your job prospects), these classes can help you prepare yourself for the rigors of online learning.