I want to follow-up from yesterday's post about the Open Educational Movement by listing all relevant links in one place.  Consider this a modeling of an organizational strategy, a file cabinet of sorts.  If you know of any other ways to access useful, informative courses for FREE please do add to the list!  And of course, this a lot more "out there" in Cyberspace in regards to excellent, cutting-edge information and insights.  Take a look at my blogroll, for instance.  Tons of free content!  Next step, to personalize this list by narrowing in on what YOU want right now.  If you're not yet sure, well, you'll always have this list to come back to.  All in one place.  Enjoy!  Thank you again to Katie Hafner for compiling this list, and reviewing key tid bits in her article, Open Mind (the hard copy of which was published this past Sunday; the online version 1.5 weeks prior...evidence … [Read more...]

My dad always told met that “there is no such thing as a free lunch.”  He urged me to thank people, offer a return gift, to never expect anything for nothing.  But is there such a thing as a “free education?” This Sunday’s Education Life section of the Times offered a fantastic overview of the many “free” online courses available to the public.  36 courses from Yale University, for example, with videos of lectures, syllabi with its reading lists, the professor’s Powerpoint slides.  Courses from M.I.T. as well (33 courses via video, and excerpts of over 1,900 other courses).  The article also highlighted the fact there have been over 16 million downloads of courses from the Open University in England.  That’s a lot of courses!  All for FREE. But Free for whom?  Yale has “spent” $30,000 - $40,000 per course to post it online.  I put “spent” in parenthesis … [Read more...]