Higher education should not be a privilege only to those who can afford to pay. Who can't use some free courses? These free courses are not some basic courses at the elementary or middle school level. They are high quality courses from the top universities, for free. Yes, you read me right, FREE!
Founded in 2011 by two Standford professors - Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller - Coursera.org is based in Mountain View California. Coursera.org hosts professor-created courses and lectures from many top universities include Princeton University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and University of Pennsylvania. A couple of years from now these free high quality university-level courses may become a norm, but right now, Coursera.org is changing the face of education so you can learn at your own pace and work on your own schedule over the Internet.
Here's a partial list of courses currently available through Coursera in 6 major categories:
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- Computer Science
- Mathematics and Statistics
- Healthcare, Medicine, and Biology
- Economics, Finance, and Business
- Society, Networks, and Information
While I direct my kids to try out Khan Academy, I'm all in for trying out some courses on Coursera.
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by Charles Gwa