September web links

These are the web links that I promised at the end of my article on "How to Educate Yourself on the Cheap" I hope you will find them useful!  :)

http://www.wikiversity.org/
this site has some courses available, and the courses themselves are created by people who wish to contribute. There are ten languages to choose from.They are not entire programs for all for the departments, and there is no accreditation for completion of a course/courses. This is also considered a “collaborative learning” site, where anyone can edit information, or add information that is not there. It comprises educational material from a pre-school level, all the way up to “tertiary” level (basically beyond high school).

http://www.mymcat.com/wiki/Main_Page
This site is specifically designed to help people prepare for the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT for short. These tests are required in both Canada and the USA for entrance to a medical program in a college or university.



http://www.gcflearnfree.org/
Goodwill Community Foundation Intl.
This site allows you to learn about computers, such as how to use the internet, computer basics, along with how to use various media programs for documents and graphs. There is a reading section that focuses on teaching adults how to read, or improve one’s reading. A section on math basics up to fractions. A career section that helps with career planning, job searches, resume writing, interview skills, job success and how to manage money. A “Most Popular” section that teaches you how to use the most popular things of interest to learn. These vary from everyday life, to business software, to social media such as Skype, facebook and the like. They also have mobile apps that allow you to learn how to use Word 2010, excel 2010, powerpoint 2010, as well as a vocabulary videos app. All useful in everyday life, but nothing that will give you credits to allow you to say that you know more than the basics.

http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/
This site has a variety of courses and study programs. The enrollment is free, not textbooks to buy, you can start learning right away. However, you do not get certification, nor do you get credits for completing your course(s). They do not even hand out grades, although you can take tests to help you “assess your progress and depth of understanding”. Also, any of the laws or rules governing medicine that you learn on here may only be true for the USA, or maybe even just one state within the USA.



http://freeonlineeducation.com/education.shtml#college
This site basically collects web pages on education, but most of them are not free.



http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/
“Exploring the universe of knowledge”
This is similar to wikipedia, it gives the definition of the word/phrase selected, along with basic information pertaining to the word/phrase.



http://free.ed.gov/index.cfm
Gives teaching and learning resources from American Federal Agencies. Not all of the information will parallel history wise with our Canadian curriculum.


http://www.uopeople.org/groups/tuition-free-education
It talks about being a “Tuition-Free Online University”, but when I looked at admissions, there was a “onetime Application Processing Fee of $10-$50 based on the applicant’s place of residence and the University Grant provided”. Upon further looking, there is also an “Exam Processing Fee”. “The processing fee will range from $10 to $100 per exam based on the student’s place of residence.”.
There are also requirements in order to get in, such as being 18 years or older, have high school transcripts, and must be proficient in English, as all courses and materials are in English.
“At present, University of the People is not an accredited institution. The University is in the process of preparing the necessary materials to apply for accreditation from an agency recognized by the U. S. Department of Education. At this time no assurances can be given as to when, or if, accreditation might be granted.”
“N
OTICE CONCERNING THE TRANSFERABILITY OF CREDITS AND CREDENTIALS EARNED AT OUR INSTITUTION
The transferability of credits you earn at University of the People is at the complete discretion of an institution to which you may seek to transfer. Acceptance of the degree you earn in either the Computer Science or Business Administration program is also at the complete discretion of the institution to which you may seek to transfer. If the credits or degree that you earn at this institution are not accepted at the institution to which you seek to transfer, you may be required to repeat some or all of your course work at that institution. For this reason you should make certain that your attendance at this institution will meet your educational goals. This may include contacting an institution to which you may seek to transfer after attending University of the People to determine if your credits or degree will transfer.”

PROGRAMS
Currently, University of the People offers the following four undergraduate degrees: Associate (A.S.-B.A.) and Bachelor (B.S.-B.A.) degrees in Business Administration and Associate (A.S.-C.S.) and Bachelor (B.S.-C.S.) degrees in Computer Science.






http://www.freebyte.com/education/#freecourses
this site has links leading to other education sites, some free, and some not-so-free.


http://www.docnmail.com/
“Free & Affordable Distance Education” - the title says it all! It has links leading to mostly low cost courses.


http://www.ocwconsortium.org/
Open Courseware Consortium
has some major universities using it, and you can view the courses for free, however, these are not courses that give you credits, and are highly specialised.


http://www.ocwfinder.org/
allows you to find courses that use the Open Courseware program.




http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/
There are open and free courses available through this site in a variety of subjects. They state “No instructors, no credits, no charge”, so if you want credits, you have to pay for them.



http://oyc.yale.edu/
These are Open Yale courses, which are free. There are no credits available for these lectures though, unless you apply and get accepted to yale and pay to take the course.


http://www.free-ebooks.net/?category=Educational
You can get books for free from this site, both educational and not-so-educational, but there is a limit to how many per month. If you view the books online, it’s free all the time, to download PDF’s, documents, or Apple Apps, you can only get 5 per month. If you want unlimited amount of downloading it costs $14.95 OR MORE per month to do so.



http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
MIT Open Courseware. Free lecture notes, exams and videos from MIT. No registration required, but also no credits given.



http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/
This school in the UK has 600 free courses to choose from. There are also entire programs available for credits, but those you have to pay for. It is also free to register, and will keep track of your progress in your courses.


http://ocw.tufts.edu/
Has free courses that covers Dentistry, medicine, vetrenary, arts & sciences. No registration, but they will “not grant credit, degrees, or certificates” for doing these courses.



http://www.kutztownsbdc.org/course_listing.asp
Has a selection of courses, in both english and spanish, focused for the entrepreneur, small business owner, or start-up business. Membership is free.



http://ocw.usq.edu.au/
A few courses available from Australia.


http://ocw.uci.edu/
A large variety of courses available. No credits for doing them.



http://www.khanacademy.org/
HUGE selection of courses that only cover math, science and economics.


http://ocw.usu.edu/courselist/
A selection of varying subjects.


http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Once you download iTunes, and open it up, you can get into “iTunes U”. You go into the iTunes store, and along the top there is a tab on a black band that is called “iTunes U”. Hit that, and you can find a HUGE selection of courses. Some are free, and some are not, but it will tell you if they cost money when you want to download. It has videos, mp3s, and some books. Just dig around and you’ll probably find what you want to learn about. No credits available for any of these.