Sometime back in August, I was watching Steven Colbert's show on the internets... and his guest was a professor from Harvard, who said he'd gotten together with a bunch of colleges and universities to offer free courses on-line free of cost to anyone who wanted to siggn up for one. Well it sounded interesting....
Colbert asked him whiy he would do such a thing when it costs sexty thousand dollars a year to physically study there, and he said, it was a way of giving back to the world.
It sort of got my attention, all right. So I went to the site he mentioned, and took a look at it, and what was being offered, being retired and all, and mostly bored, thinking it would be a change of pace and challenging to see if I still had a noggin which would absorb 'rarified information'.
The course titles looked a bit daunting. But I found four that were mostly related to my minor subject at UNH forty !!! years agp. amd sogmed up. Three were topic related, one was in science. Now, in October, have dropped two of them. One because it was so advanced, I didn't have the necessary basic knowledge to follow, let alone pass, and one because it was badly organised.
Leaves two. Of the tow, one is at the university of texas at Austin, and am getting by in, but am not so keen on how it is constructed. The other is STELLAR. A History of Global Architecture taught at MIT. I've already learned more about the world in two weeks than I could have at UNH in tow semesters! It is time consuming and demanding, but really a complete trip. And is more about the history of the world and how we hot to where we are now than mechanics, and about the buildings themselves. I really look forward to each lecture, and this past week, had to get through twelve hours of them, but each was a minor revelation.
I've since picked two others, one of which begins today, and one which begins in November. So it is keeping me busy. But that isn't the reason I wanted to bring this subject up.
I know from the news about the insane costs of higher education in the US these days. So for anyone who has children who are strapped for funds, this site may provide a real answer to those who want to study but can't afford it.... BECAUSE... if you pass, you can earn a certificate which will be acknowledged as course credits by most colleges and universities.
And some of these aren't what we used to call gut courses (easy). They set a high bar and demand some intensive time on-line.
The set up is very easy to folow, and there is a tutorial course on how to navigate the interfaces.
There are no hidden costs.
So pass the word along to anyone you know who are so strapped, financially, they can't begin or continue their education. So far, I've leared that some of the courses are just 'edumacation, but others are of very high quality indeed, and challenging.
Just tell them to go to www.edx.com and sign up, which is very easy, and to check what is being offered.
And a tip: the people at MIT are just incredibly good.
This was a public service announcement.
Colbert asked him whiy he would do such a thing when it costs sexty thousand dollars a year to physically study there, and he said, it was a way of giving back to the world.
It sort of got my attention, all right. So I went to the site he mentioned, and took a look at it, and what was being offered, being retired and all, and mostly bored, thinking it would be a change of pace and challenging to see if I still had a noggin which would absorb 'rarified information'.
The course titles looked a bit daunting. But I found four that were mostly related to my minor subject at UNH forty !!! years agp. amd sogmed up. Three were topic related, one was in science. Now, in October, have dropped two of them. One because it was so advanced, I didn't have the necessary basic knowledge to follow, let alone pass, and one because it was badly organised.
Leaves two. Of the tow, one is at the university of texas at Austin, and am getting by in, but am not so keen on how it is constructed. The other is STELLAR. A History of Global Architecture taught at MIT. I've already learned more about the world in two weeks than I could have at UNH in tow semesters! It is time consuming and demanding, but really a complete trip. And is more about the history of the world and how we hot to where we are now than mechanics, and about the buildings themselves. I really look forward to each lecture, and this past week, had to get through twelve hours of them, but each was a minor revelation.
I've since picked two others, one of which begins today, and one which begins in November. So it is keeping me busy. But that isn't the reason I wanted to bring this subject up.
I know from the news about the insane costs of higher education in the US these days. So for anyone who has children who are strapped for funds, this site may provide a real answer to those who want to study but can't afford it.... BECAUSE... if you pass, you can earn a certificate which will be acknowledged as course credits by most colleges and universities.
And some of these aren't what we used to call gut courses (easy). They set a high bar and demand some intensive time on-line.
The set up is very easy to folow, and there is a tutorial course on how to navigate the interfaces.
There are no hidden costs.
So pass the word along to anyone you know who are so strapped, financially, they can't begin or continue their education. So far, I've leared that some of the courses are just 'edumacation, but others are of very high quality indeed, and challenging.
Just tell them to go to www.edx.com and sign up, which is very easy, and to check what is being offered.
And a tip: the people at MIT are just incredibly good.
This was a public service announcement.
