75 free courses from expensive schools

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tag-link-position-37" style="font-size: 20px;" aria-label="online course (5 items)">online course</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/open-access/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-177 tag-link-position-38" style="font-size: 21.044776119403px;" aria-label="open access (6 items)">open access</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/outreach/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-136 tag-link-position-39" style="font-size: 29.253731343284px;" aria-label="outreach (24 items)">outreach</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/personalization/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-137 tag-link-position-40" style="font-size: 21.044776119403px;" aria-label="personalization (6 items)">personalization</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/planning/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-139 tag-link-position-41" style="font-size: 24.925373134328px;" aria-label="planning (12 items)">planning</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/publishing/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-179 tag-link-position-42" style="font-size: 22.537313432836px;" aria-label="publishing (8 items)">publishing</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/smartphone/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-114 tag-link-position-43" style="font-size: 21.044776119403px;" aria-label="smartphone (6 items)">smartphone</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/social-media-2/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-51 tag-link-position-44" style="font-size: 26.716417910448px;" aria-label="social media (16 items)">social media</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/study/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-133 tag-link-position-45" style="font-size: 21.791044776119px;" aria-label="study (7 items)">study</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/twitter/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-164 tag-link-position-46" style="font-size: 22.537313432836px;" aria-label="Twitter (8 items)">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/user-interface/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-20 tag-link-position-47" style="font-size: 28.358208955224px;" aria-label="user interface (21 items)">user interface</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/video/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-118 tag-link-position-48" style="font-size: 21.791044776119px;" aria-label="video (7 items)">video</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/visitors/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-97 tag-link-position-49" style="font-size: 25.522388059701px;" aria-label="visitors (13 items)">visitors</a>, <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/visualization/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-199 tag-link-position-50" style="font-size: 21.044776119403px;" aria-label="visualization (6 items)">visualization</a> </div> </div> <div class="js-ajax-frame"> <section class="post-list"> <h3>Recent posts</h3> <article class="post"> <div class="article-footer"> <time datetime="2014">5 Mar 2014</time> <h4><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2014/03/05/gender-role-literacy-girls-in-science/">Gender role literacy: Girls in science?</a></h4> </div> <p>There are gender wars, and then there are casualties. It wasn’t until 2011 that the behemoth toymaker LEGO acknowledged girls’ desire to build with bricks, even though the company had long before made a seemingly effortless pivot to co-branding, video games, and major motion pictures. So it’s little wonder that girls face all-too-real obstacles when <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2014/03/05/gender-role-literacy-girls-in-science/">[…]</a></p> <a class="more" href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2014/03/05/gender-role-literacy-girls-in-science/">Read more</a> </article> <article class="post"> <div class="article-footer"> <time datetime="2013">9 Dec 2013</time> <h4><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/12/09/challenges-of-crowdsourcing-analysis-of-historypin/">Challenges of crowdsourcing: Analysis of Historypin</a></h4> </div> <p>Crowdsourcing can build virtual community, engage the public, and build large knowledge databases about science and culture. But what does it take, and how fast can you grow? For some insight, we look at a crowdsourced history site: Historypin is an appealing database of historical photos, with dates, locations, captions, and other metadata. It’s called History <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/12/09/challenges-of-crowdsourcing-analysis-of-historypin/">[…]</a></p> <a class="more" href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/12/09/challenges-of-crowdsourcing-analysis-of-historypin/">Read more</a> </article> <article class="post"> <div class="article-footer"> <time datetime="2013">18 Nov 2013</time> <h4><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/11/18/dinovember-creative-literacy-starts-young/">Dinovember: Creative literacy starts young</a></h4> </div> <p>“Uh-oh,” Refe Tuma heard his girls whisper. “Mom and Dad are not going to like this.” It’s Dinovember, and his family’s plastic dinosaurs have been getting into mischief all month. Every year, Tuma and his wife devote the month of November to “convincing our children that, while they sleep, their plastic dinosaur figures come to life. Related <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/11/18/dinovember-creative-literacy-starts-young/">[…]</a></p> <a class="more" href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/11/18/dinovember-creative-literacy-starts-young/">Read more</a> </article> </section> </div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <main role="main" id="main"><div id="twocolumns"> <div class="container"> <h1>75 free courses from expensive schools</h1> <div class="twocolumns-holder"> <section id="content" class="about-holder img-posts"> <article class="post"> <p><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3907" title="Moooooooooc" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/MOOC-20uuehs-300x246-150x123.png" alt="" width="150" height="123" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/MOOC-20uuehs-300x246-150x123.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/MOOC-20uuehs-300x246-240x196.png 240w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/MOOC-20uuehs-300x246.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Undergraduate education is valuable, but expensive, averaging $375/course at a community college, and $3.5k/course at a private university. As higher education explores new business models, many are trying out free massive enrollment courses. These courses are typically not for credit (which is easier to administer and get internal approval for), and allows the schools to see what it takes chance the assumptions about delivering education. <span id="more-3902"></span></p> <p><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3905" title="Open Culture" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-15-at-2.06.48-PM-150x24.png" alt="" width="150" height="24" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-15-at-2.06.48-PM-150x24.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-15-at-2.06.48-PM-240x39.png 240w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-15-at-2.06.48-PM.png 492w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Many universities are now offering free certificate programs online that are available to everyone. The concept is that while many people either can’t afford traditional schooling or cannot attend a traditional classroom schedule or setting, many of them still want and need to learn new skills. Dan Colman at openculture.com has compiled a <a href="http://www.openculture.com/2012/10/introducing_a_list_of_50_free_university_courses_with_certificates.html">list of 75 of the best free certificate courses</a>, ranging from Stanford’s cryptography offering to Johns Hopkins’ Principles of Obesity Economics.</p> <div id="attachment_3906" style="width: 122px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-3906" title="Rosie Redfield" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cropped-blog-112x150.jpg" alt="" width="112" height="150" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cropped-blog-112x150.jpg 112w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cropped-blog.jpg 216w" sizes="(max-width: 112px) 100vw, 112px" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Rosie Redfield, Life Sciences Centre at the University of British Columbia</p></div> <p>Still, the current generation of courses often disappoint, as it’s hard to find a balance between traditional classroom learning and independent online learning, and also keep the price free. As colleges and universities move deeper into on-line learning, they limit face to face classroom time with instructors teaching course content. Dr. Richfield, a researcher and professor at the University of British Columbia, is skeptical of the current generation of courses. She writes in “<a href="http://rrteaching.blogspot.com/2012/10/preparing-for-mooc-ocalypse.html">Preparing for the MOOC-ocalypse</a>” that universities must “develop integrated programs with hands-on and face-to-face experiences that are seen as worth the cost.”</p> <p>But what does integration mean, and how is the balance reached? Redfield suggests that “Ironically, the best way to prepare for this MOOC-opalypse may be to become part of the problem by teaching a MOOC.” One approach, borrowing from the “flipped classroom” widely discussed for younger students, students can learn the course work independently, using online tools and watching videos from their dorms, and use class room time for discussions and problem solving.</p> <hr /> <p>The need for a radical re-working of the costs of education is clear. Education is absurdly expensive. The following is a breakdown of estimated undergraduate budgets for 2011-2012. The dark blue is tuition and fees. For public 2-year commuter colleges, it’s just under $3 thousand; and for a private nonprofit 4-year campus, it’s $28.5k. (The per-course costs assume 8 courses per year.)</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-3904" title="Tuition and fees" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-15-at-1.59.40-PM-545x227.png" alt="Tuition and fees constitute about 38% of the total budget for in-state students living on campus at public four-year colleges and universities, and less than 20% of the budget for public two-year college students who pay for off-campus housing." width="545" height="227" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-15-at-1.59.40-PM-545x227.png 545w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-15-at-1.59.40-PM-150x62.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-15-at-1.59.40-PM-240x100.png 240w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-15-at-1.59.40-PM.png 811w" sizes="(max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><em>Source: Graph of tuitions undergraduate budgets from The College Board, Annual Survey of Colleges. <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/downloads/College_Pricing_2011.pdf">PDF</a>. </em></p> <div class='yarpp-related'> <h3>Related posts:</h3><ol> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/11/what-is-an-online-course/" rel="bookmark" title="What is an online course?">What is an online course? </a> <small>“The debate about which is better, face-to-face learning or online learning is fast becoming obsolete,” says Jennifer Berghage, an instructional designer...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/29/online-courses-for-developing-the-developing-world/" rel="bookmark" title="Online courses for developing the developing world">Online courses for developing the developing world </a> <small>Online education can have a real impact in the developing world. Last week, we needed to hire a programmer for...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/24/online-courses-for-learning-skills-moma-nyt-knitting/" rel="bookmark" title="Online courses for learning skills: MoMA, NYT & knitting">Online courses for learning skills: MoMA, NYT & knitting </a> <small>Online courses can be a great way to teach (and learn) new skills. They can be small and...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/31/higher-ed-courses-with-massive-enrollments-a-revolution-starts/" rel="bookmark" title="Higher-ed courses with massive enrollments: A revolution starts">Higher-ed courses with massive enrollments: A revolution starts </a> <small>“Being able to teach machine learning to tens of thousands of people is one of the most gratifying...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/04/22/lessons-to-be-learned-from-moocs-2-years-out/" rel="bookmark" title="Lessons to be learned from MOOCs, 2 years out">Lessons to be learned from MOOCs, 2 years out </a> <small>Online courses with very large enrollments have rapidly matured in the last two years, led largely by experiments...</small></li> </ol> </div> </article> <section class="comment-respond"> <div id="respond" class="comment-respond"> <h3 id="reply-title" class="comment-reply-title">Leave a Reply <small><a rel="nofollow" id="cancel-comment-reply-link" href="/blog/2012/10/15/75-free-courses-from-expensive-schools/#respond" style="display:none;">Cancel reply</a></small></h3> <form action="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform" class="comment-form"> <p class="comment-notes"><span id="email-notes">Your email address will not be published.</span> Required fields are marked <span class="required">*</span></p><p class="comment-form-author"><label for="author">Name <span class="required">*</span></label> <input id="author" name="author" type="text" value="" size="30" maxlength="245" required='required' /></p> <p class="comment-form-email"><label for="email">Email <span class="required">*</span></label> <input id="email" name="email" type="text" value="" size="30" maxlength="100" aria-describedby="email-notes" required='required' /></p> <p class="comment-form-url"><label for="url">Website</label> <input id="url" name="url" type="text" value="" size="30" maxlength="200" /></p> <p class="comment-form-comment"><label for="comment">Comment</label> <textarea id="comment" name="comment" cols="45" rows="8" maxlength="65525" required="required"></textarea></p><p class="form-submit"><input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit" class="submit" value="Post Comment" /> <input type='hidden' name='comment_post_ID' value='3902' id='comment_post_ID' /> <input type='hidden' name='comment_parent' id='comment_parent' value='0' /> </p><p style="display: none;"><input type="hidden" id="akismet_comment_nonce" name="akismet_comment_nonce" value="90d0fa1c8a" /></p><p style="display: none;"><input type="hidden" id="ak_js" name="ak_js" value="2"/></p> </form> </div> </section> </section> <aside id="sidebar"> <section class="widget inner-text"> <h3>Related posts</h3> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/11/what-is-an-online-course/">What is an online course?<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <p>“The debate about which is better, face-to-face learning or online learning is fast becoming obsolete,” says Jennifer Berghage, an instructional designer at Pennsylvania State University. The common goal is that “an online course should be, above all, engaging, so that the learner enjoys the learning and is able to not only assimilate it but retain it and apply it.” Online courses are <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/11/what-is-an-online-course/">[…]</a></p> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/29/online-courses-for-developing-the-developing-world/">Online courses for developing the developing world<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <p>Online education can have a real impact in the developing world. Last week, we needed to hire a programmer for a small freelance job. To my surprise, several candidates advertised they had completed programming MOOCs. These were young programmers in their 20’s, in countries like Pakistan and Thailand, who lacked college-level coursework, but are trying to launch <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/29/online-courses-for-developing-the-developing-world/">[…]</a></p> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/24/online-courses-for-learning-skills-moma-nyt-knitting/">Online courses for learning skills: MoMA, NYT & knitting<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <div style="padding: 10px 0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExQDM6zGwMI</div> <p>Online courses can be a great way to teach (and learn) new skills. They can be small and highly personal, or scale to thousands of students. As followup to my post about “What is an online course?”, let’s look behind the scenes at a few kinds of successful online classes, rich with video, feedback and large <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/24/online-courses-for-learning-skills-moma-nyt-knitting/">[…]</a></p> <div style="clear:both"></div> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/31/higher-ed-courses-with-massive-enrollments-a-revolution-starts/">Higher-ed courses with massive enrollments: A revolution starts<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <div style="padding: 10px 0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0WKJLovaZg</div> <p>“Being able to teach machine learning to tens of thousands of people is one of the most gratifying experiences I’ve ever had,” says Stanford University computer science professor Andrew Ng. Over 100,000 students signed up for his free, fall 2011 course on machine learning. The impacts were huge. Over 12% of the students completed the course, and received a statement of <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/31/higher-ed-courses-with-massive-enrollments-a-revolution-starts/">[…]</a></p> <div style="clear:both"></div> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/04/22/lessons-to-be-learned-from-moocs-2-years-out/">Lessons to be learned from MOOCs, 2 years out<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <div style="padding: 10px 0"><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/04/22/lessons-to-be-learned-from-moocs-2-years-out/"><img src="//img.youtube.com/vi/nsiQ6-JTOWM/0.jpg" height="125" width="150" /></a></div> <p>Online courses with very large enrollments have rapidly matured in the last two years, led largely by experiments outside mainstream academia by Coursera, Udacity and edX. Ambitious educators, technologists, and funders have created courses on diverse topics, and over five million students worldwide have registered for classes. And 3% have completed the courses. What can we learn? Related posts: What <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/04/22/lessons-to-be-learned-from-moocs-2-years-out/">[…]</a></p> <div style="clear:both"></div> </article> </section> </aside> </div> </div> </div> </main> <aside class="info-links"> <div class="container"> <div class="left-holder"> <p><time datetime="2012">15 Oct 2012</time> , post by <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/author/idea/" title="Posts by IDEA" rel="author">IDEA</a></p> </div> <div class="right-holder"> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/mooc/">MOOC</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/teaching/">teaching</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/education/">education</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/classroom/">classroom</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/costs/">costs</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/higher-education/">higher education</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </aside> <aside class="items-holder"> <div class="container"> <div class="list-items widget-apps-widget"><h3>Read more about <br class="separator"><strong>our language-related apps.</strong></h3> <ul> <li> <div class="item-holder"> <a href="http://www.idea.org/otherwordly"> <picture>  <source srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/otherwordly_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-35x36.png, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/otherwordly_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-70x70.png 2x" media="(max-width: 767px)"> <source srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/otherwordly_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-70x70.png, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/otherwordly_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-140x140.png 2x">  <img src="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/otherwordly_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-70x70.png" alt=""> </picture> <span class="title" style="color:#c46e3c">OtherWordly</span> </a> </div> </li> <li> <div class="hr"></div> <div class="item-holder"> <a href="http://www.idea.org/inotherwords"> <picture>  <source srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/inotherwords_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-35x36.png, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/inotherwords_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-70x70.png 2x" media="(max-width: 767px)"> <source srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/inotherwords_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-70x70.png, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/inotherwords_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-140x140.png 2x">  <img src="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/inotherwords_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-70x70.png" alt=""> </picture> <span class="title" style="color:#8b8be0">In Other Words</span> </a> </div> </li> <li> <div class="hr"></div> <div class="item-holder"> <a href="http://www.idea.org/linguabase"> <picture>  <source srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/linguabase_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-35x36.png, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/linguabase_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-70x70.png 2x" media="(max-width: 767px)"> <source srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/linguabase_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-70x70.png, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/linguabase_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-140x140.png 2x">  <img src="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/linguabase_appicon_1024px_rounded_01-70x70.png" alt=""> </picture> <span class="title" style="color:#b859cc">Liguabase</span> </a> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </aside> <footer id="footer"> <div class="container"> <nav class="page-nav"> <ul> <li id="menu-item-4498" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-home menu-item-4498"><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/">Home</a></li> <li id="menu-item-4497" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-4497"><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/about/">Mission & history</a></li> <li id="menu-item-4499" class="popup menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-4499"><a title="popup" class="js-btn-show-popups" href="#wrapper">Browse topics</a></li> <li id="menu-item-4666" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-4666"><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/contact/">Contact IDEA</a></li> <li>Copyright © 2025 <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog">IDEA</a></li> </ul> </nav> </div> </footer> </div> <link rel='stylesheet' id='yarppRelatedCss-css' href='//www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/style/related.css' type='text/css' media='all' /> <script type='text/javascript'> /* <![CDATA[ */ var wpcf7 = {"apiSettings":{"root":"https:\/\/www.idea.org\/blog\/wp-json\/contact-form-7\/v1","namespace":"contact-form-7\/v1"},"cached":"1"}; 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75 free courses from expensive schools – IDEA