Live to Learn, Learn to Live: Real, Free Online College Level Classes - by Major Universities

Hello ATSers,

I thought I would share some fantastic resources for the lifelong learners and inquisitive seekers that I know lurk here in the halls of the ATS community. Take a minute and look through some of the offerings.

Just a sampling of class titles and the university affiliation:

Buddhism and Modern Psychology, Princeton

Galaxies and Cosmology, Caltech

Introduction to Computer Science, Harvard



From the sciences to literature, languages to game programming, nutrition to calculus, there truly is something for everyone. Why not make 2014 the year you dive in and learn something your fascinated by? From the comfort of your couch and for free, how could you go wrong?

800 Free Online Courses

625 Free MOOCs from Great Universities

Open Learning Initiative

Take the world's best courses, online, for free - Coursera

It would be awesome to hear from anyone who decides to give it a try. I plan on taking one or two - the only problem is narrowing down which ones to choose among so many fascinating subjects.

Happy Learning

Edit-to-Add: MOOC (above) = Massive Open Online Courses

I studied with the open university and would syay that if I were you I would start with courses with the aim of getting credit elsewhere as you do the courses: as I belive you can do this in the UK. As it would be best to do this than do the course and then try to work it out.

If you decide you don't need the credit then ok, but if you do you then already know where you will be using the portfolio credit system.

These are all wonderful, excellent online resources.

Unfortunately, there's a strong demographic here that are willfully and even militantly anti-education as it applies to "Main-Stream", or Conventional/Established academic resources.

Sadly, over and over, we hear the same old refrain about "getting told HOW and WHAT to think".
One can lead a brain to water, but, eh, sometimes nothing will do.
Their loss.

S+F and thank you from posting this information for all who will actually benefit from it.

reply to post by werewolf99


Good point - these courses don't offer college credit (at least in the US). I have studied in an online for-credit degree program - the problem is that they all charge tuition, and plenty of it in most (if not all) cases.

If anyone knows of tuition-free courses offering college credit, please post the info!

Do you have to be from the states to do the online free courses?

reply to post by Open2Truth


You can get credit at Thomas Edison but it would cost you. I believe this is what many hoped Wikiversity would be: a place to get credit free for things learnt and/or studied. I just hope someone sets somewhere up that would do that. There are many free courses but getting credit for them seems to cost something.

I suppose many of you are in a better position to solve the problem as in the USA setting up a university is much easier. In the UK it is very difficult to do so by law.

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite

These are all wonderful, excellent online resources.

Unfortunately, there's a strong demographic here that are willfully and even militantly anti-education as it applies to "Main-Stream", or Conventional/Established academic resources.

Sadly, over and over, we hear the same old refrain about "getting told HOW and WHAT to think".
One can lead a brain to water, but, eh, sometimes nothing will do.
Their loss.

S+F and thank you from posting this information for all who will actually benefit from it.

I would tell those you refer to that the best way to understand the issues and make their case against the conventional academic resources is continued, first-hand experience. I agree that mainstream education is lacking in a myriad of ways. I also agree that we must each actually use our brains to discern for ourselves and not just take information at face value - no matter the source. That being said, I don't think there is a better way to discern then explore - including what is taught at the university level.

I do hope there will be some that will use these resources and enjoy the opportunities they offer. Thanks for the feedback

reply to post by boymonkey74


No, you do not need to be in the US to take them. In fact, Cousera (linked above) as an example offers courses taught by universities all over the world.