Do You Have A Hunger For Knowledge?
By villageanne
@villageanne (8553)
United States
February 15, 2007 6:39pm CST
I was reading the Feb 15th copy of The Wall Street Journal about continuing ones education. I goes into great detail about all the online classes that are now available for free from many universities. I was amazed at the list of Universities that are doing this. The article is titled “Top Universities Put Instruction on the Web”
Colleges that offer free online classes include Stanford University. Last fall, This University posted the complete lectures for three courses, The literature of Crisis, the Historical Jesus and Modern Theoretical Physics. Stanford plans on making complete lectures for a dozen classes available on the I tunes U site by the end of 2007.
I know BYU offers many free online classes. I have taken many of them in the past. I love the fact that I can do things at my own rate and any time I want to. http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/freecourses.cfm
These classes include
Family History/Genealogy - Introductory
Finding Your Ancestors
Providing Temple Ordinances for Your Ancestors
Introduction to Family History Research
Helping Children Love Your Family History
Family History/Genealogy - Record Type
Family Records
Vital Records
Military Records
Family History/Genealogy - Regional and Ethnic
France: Immigrant Origins
France: Vital Records
France: Reading French Handwriting
France: Genealogical Organizations and Periodicals
France: The Internet and French Genealogy
French Research: Paris
French Research: Alsace-Lorraine
Germany: Immigrant Origins
Germany: U.S. Sources and Surname Changes
Germany: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
Germany: Reading German Handwriting
Germany: Calendars and Feast Days
Germany: Vital Records
Huguenot Research
Scandinavia: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
Scandinavia: Reading Gothic Script
Scandinavia: Church Records and Feast Days
Scandinavia: Census Records
Scandinavia: Probate and Other Records
Family Life
Building a Functional Family: Essential Elements
Dating: Romance and Reason
History and Government
The Citizen's Guide to American Politics
Music
Organ Performance, Level 1, Self-Study - Web Version
Organ Performance, Level 2, Self-Study - Web Version
Personal Development
Honesty
Trust
According to the Wall Street Journal the following Universities are offering classes. These are only a sample of the Universities that are offering free classes .
Brigham Young University byu.edu
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ocw.mit.edu
University of Notre Dame Wcw.nd.edu
Tufts University ocw.tufts.edu
Stanford University itunes.stanford.edu
University of California, Berkeley Itunes.berkeley.edu OR webcast.Berkeley.edu
I also found many online classes from the University Of Washington http://www.outreach.washington.edu/openuw/
These classes include the following:
The American Civil War
Energy, Diet and Weight
Greek Mythology
Gulliver's Travels
Hamlet HTML Basics
History of Jazz: New Orleans
The American Revolution
Shakespeare's Comedies
Heroic Fantasy: Tolkien
World War II
Many of the schools that are offering online classes for free, are receiving money to do so by grants. They say that they are not worried about losing applicants by giving away materials online. What do you think? Would you take classes online if they were free? Do you think that people will take the free classes and not attend college campus or paid classes? What kind of classes would you like to see given free online?
9 people like this
31 responses
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
16 Feb 07
None of that offered appeals to me. The first thought is what about accreditation. Without such a certificate or acknowledgement it would not be worth a whole lot. Would be cool for me to be able to take a variety of courses that would all together fit for some degree. I could tailor it to fit my future which I believe is well known to me at this point. These would be a boon to those that just love to learn. Prison inmates would also benefit. Shut ins too.
3 people like this
@chaygylmommy (2470)
• United States
16 Feb 07
I think learning anything for any reason is worth a lot. You said without a certificate, "it would not be worth a whole lot". I disagree. We all should learn things. I see 3 topics on there I want to learn more about just to be more educated.
3 people like this
@ladyluna (7004)
• United States
16 Feb 07
Hi Willowlady,
You raise some interesting questions. Although with the skyrocketing costs of higher education, and the questionable curriculum of some institutions of higher learning, I can definitely see the day when a resume could include non-acccredited, on-line education, and still carry weight. Particularly if the course of study is tailored to a particular field.
Back in the 40s the US Gov't used to offer correspondence courses on anything and everything. There was no accreditation, but employers gave preference to those with multiple course certificates under their belt. My grandfather was one such learner. He would take every course he could. He did it primarilly to quench his thirst for knowledge, but it also helped his career. Just a bit of related trivia.
3 people like this
@chaygylmommy (2470)
• United States
16 Feb 07
thank you so much for the info. I am going to check it all out. I love to learn things...I would take classes all the time if I could afford it so this will be wonderful. thanks
3 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
16 Feb 07
I am just like you. I love to learn. I think continueing to learn after we are adults is very important. I hope you find something that is of interest to you. I love to take free classes from my own living room.
3 people like this
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
16 Feb 07
Greek Mythology and the Geneology courses peak my interests. I always loved Greek Mythology. Geneology has been a curiosity of mine as well. My mother has been researching our ancestors and I would love to join in on this venture. She has been writing in Gather about her childhood and it is very interesting. I am curious about where my ancestors originated.
3 people like this
@AKRao24 (27424)
• India
16 Feb 07
Thanks a lot for providing such a nice information on continuing education! I am really interested in it as I am based at a Stud Farm and it is not possible for me to go toany University for higher education fot these types of farms as situated far away from the Cities. I think this will be an great opportunity for me to continiuing my further education! I am from India , will I be eligible for it ? Please help!
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
16 Feb 07
Yes, you can access this site from anywhere and take the classes. They are free for anyone. Hope you enjoy them. Knowledge is a great thing to gain.
1 person likes this
@fatal_ivory (238)
• Philippines
16 Feb 07
I really love learning. For me, it is a continuing process as long as you live. Knowledge is really important in our daily living. We always apply it in every thing we do. For me, it is a measuring tool of the personality of the person's value.
Thanks for sharing your ideas with us. I will give it a try once I've finished my review in my Board Exam.
3 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
16 Feb 07
I did not want to post this site as it does encourage you to purchase books but you could easily do it without the books. Stay on the right side of the screen. The things on the left cost.
http://www.wannalearn.com/Business_and_Careers/Accounting/
1 person likes this
@ladyluna (7004)
• United States
16 Feb 07
Villageanne,
Wow, what a great post. Thanks for sharing the wealth of info.
I got my BA/BS in the late 80's, my post-bacc. in the early 90's, and still take a class here and there at our local community college, for fun. I will definitely look into this. I guess that would place me in the category of hungering for knowledge.
I will say that I wish all Americans would take 'The Citizen's Guide to American Politics". A more informed voter base would be a welcomed change.
I would jump at the opportunity to take free Project Management courses. Or, Computer Science classes on-line. Either or both would be great fun.
I don't know that it would be feasible, but one of the most enjoyable college classes I ever took was called "Chemistry for Poets". It was so interesting. It really stimulated a desire to understand the chemistry of everyday products in our homes. I believe such as class, offered free and on-line, would be really helpful to many people.
Thanks again!!!
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
16 Feb 07
I am glad that you will be able to use it. Knowledge is a great thing to have. I love to gain knowledge in various fields. You are very welcome
1 person likes this
@monkeywriter (2004)
• United States
16 Feb 07
Thanx for the info. I am in college though. But it would be helpful if I wasnt. I love learning new stuff. I try to keep up with news, I read books, I love knowledge. I know its important to keep learning. Plus its brain smarts. Its great. Thanx for the info for those who really need it! :))
@omoayan (9)
• Nigeria
16 Feb 07
If it were true that universities now offer free classes on the internet, then an amazing contribution is being made towards the development of education beyond the confines of the classroom. Education on the internet makes it possible for individuals to be exposed to other areas of interest that are possibly beyond their educational careers and at their own pace. Consequently, this does not stop people from attending classes because everything or every explanation cannot be got on the net. There is need for that teacher-student contact which exposes the student to the intrigues of the course which may not be readily available on the net. Also, not all courses can be treated on the net. There are some courses that will demand researches that must be carried out where the facilities are, and these facilities can only be provided by the institutions.
2 people like this
@arunkumarkt (331)
• India
16 Feb 07
s thank u very much.. i love to know some thing new to me..... i checked ur link its nice....... keep ur good work........
@margieanneart (26423)
• United States
16 Feb 07
I love to learn more and more. No matter how old we are, we hunger for more knowledge. Thank you for posting all this, and I will definately check out a lot of it.
2 people like this
@chimex4real2k2 (1853)
• Nigeria
16 Feb 07
Hunger, thirst, thrive on it! I love to do research and discover things I didn't know before - I am insatiable! :)
1 person likes this
@raijin (10345)
• Philippines
16 Feb 07
Very good post, you did it again!;)
I always push myself for learning new things, I'm always hungry for knowledge and would never consider myself as the best of the intellectuals. I am very fond of learning history, stories from our countries past and also of the world. I sure would like to take classes, I'll just have to find my freetime though!;) For me studying never stops eventhough we've all graduated and obtained our degrees..
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
16 Feb 07
All of these are really free? I am very interested in several of them, saving this list for future, thank you so very much, I love learning and free classes are spectacular as I'm short on extra money right now.
@flagbabygirl (891)
• United States
16 Feb 07
Thank you for the information I will check it out. Yes I hunger for knowledge!
2 people like this
@Admirela09 (160)
• United States
16 Feb 07
Yes I do! I have always hungered for knowledge since I was a young toddling little one. as soon as i could read i read everything in reach until my parents had to move any books inappropriate for me at that age. I loved to read so much that age 10 I tested at 12 grade level for reading and 7th grade level math. I have always tried to find out everything there is to know about some thing and take almost every opportunity to learn. I'd love to see an free, indept chemistry classes online because I love the sciences.
2 people like this
