Online Advanced High-School, College and University Courses
The majority of college and university-level students today are offered advanced education in brick and mortar institutions at exceedingly high costs. Due to misguided peer pressure, attraction to easier or "fun" subjects and/or lack of sufficient guidance about economic opportunities that correspond to various choices of subjects in which these students major, many college and university graduates today are experiencing exceedingly high unemployment rates.
For students who are non-conforming, self-motivated, and eager to learn, there is a veritable tidal wave of change coming in the form of free online education. Today, there is an immense wealth and diversity of online resources available to those who are eager to learn and don't need someone to hold their hand and guide them. You don't have to be from a privileged country, family, or economic background or have the right kinds of connections and recommendations to take advantage of these online educational resources. Just think, they are open to one and all! Dive in, check out some of the outstanding sites listed below and see where they might take you.
There is some overlap in course offerings among the various sites noted below. Nevertheless, varied and somewhat overlapping sources are supplied because students may prefer the format or organization of some of the sites over others.
Online Courses Focused Primarily on a Single Discipline/Major
This is an interactive way to learn to program. It is designed to be easy to use and fun.
Udacity offers online computer programming courses, beginning with CS101 (Building a Search Engine). The is a very serious effort by some top-notch people to bring high quality computer science education to self-motivated, non-conforming students who are eager to learn. The pages might load a bit slowly, but don't let that discourage you.
Pros and Cons are listed for each course, including time required to complete the course. The list is very extensive and includes training in basic programs, e.g., Excel -- see below:
This site offers a thorough list of cybersecuity educational offerings and breaks those down by state, degree types, and online programs.
Cybersecurity has an enormous growth potential, considering the rapid growth of internet and digital technology in our lives and the risks posed by online activities. Individuals with educational credintials in cybersecurity ought to be in high and ever-growing demand.
This site includes courses ranging from basics on family finance or debt and borrowing to more advanced courses on economics and investment risk.
This site includes courses on accounting and finance. It also has useful material on SAT and ACT Preparation. The site is well-organized and easy to use.
A one-stop solution for all queries related to the nursing profession: Best schools, licensure procedure, salaries in a different states, job outlook, educational requirements, duties, work settings and cost of education.
This interesting project is being developed in collaboration with the University of Central Florida. It uses animated videos to introduce high-school or more advanced students to theory underlying mathematics. These courses go far beyond rote learning of rules in mathematics that is typical of a great deal of mathematics education. Instead, they introduce students to how the rules were created in the first place. These courses have the potential to excite and challenge more thoughtful students to seek greater understanding of (or even careers in) higher mathematics.
Although not free of charge, this approach illustrates the potential for offerings of online degree programs by major educational institutions. It is designed for working engineers who may not be able to attend on-campus programs and who may wish to update their engineering skills.
Online Courses Dealing with Multiple Disciplines/Majors
This awe-inspiring and very extensive collection of courses is available from Khanacademy. The courses are simply and clearly formulated in 12-minute video segments.
You can work at your own pace, backtrack, and review any course you are taking currently or have taken previously. The highly flexible
and easy-to-use format makes these an extremely valuable addition or substitute to courses that would be offered at the high-school or university levels.
There is a tremendous wealth of knowledge here that is delivered in highly palatable form.
This is an interesting article about Salman Khan, his colleague, Shantanu Sinha, and Khan's ambitions for the Khan Academy.
MIT has long been offering a large variety of its courses online free of charge. edX is a recent and very ambitious collaboration of Harvard and MIT. It aims to reproduce, as much as possible, a university-like educational experience (including interactions among students and staff, course assignments and test grading, interactions among students worldwide, and feedback from students on IT aspects of the courses). edX hosts open online courses from 30 schools. The edX platform at MIT is customized allowing professors to give instant feedback to students.
Students anywhere in the world are offered the opportunity to virtually sit alongside students in the classrooms of major universities and avail themselves of courses being offered at premier science and engineering institutions in the
world. Those who are currently enrolled at other colleges or universities and who wish to supplement their current course topics with these online resources from edX will find themselves catapulted to top-level performers in their schools.
Coursera works in tandem with some major universities (Standord, Princeton, University of Michigan and University of Pennsilvania). It has the objective of helping these universities offer their classes online while achieving as many of the features of actual classrooms as possible.
These are recordings of lectures from top US universities and include a very wide selection of high-quality courses. Students who are attending lesser institutions
can supplement their courses by watching online courses offered here that deal with their current course topics. Classes dealing with science, mathematics, and engineering are the most noteworthy in this collection.
Helpful Sites for Instruction on Microsoft Office, MAC, and Other Practical IT Courses
Computer literacy, coding, IT, basic online skills, web development, Microsoft Office (MS Word, Excel), Skype, Gmail, operating systems, Twitter, Youtube, identity theft, and many more practical and focused free online offerings for adults. Courses range in length from 3 hours to 18 weeks.
Microsoft Excel is an important skill in many jobs. This website attracts more than 2 million visitors each month and offers a fully illustrated Excel tutorial + 300 examples. Use of the site is free.
Online Education for a Fee
Study.com has an impressive organizational structure and includes information on courses in math, science, business, english, social sciences, history, and psychology. If, for example, you are interested in business courses, you can select your level of education (e.g., high school freshman), the subject of interest (e.g., management), as well as your study goals (e.g., test preparation; certificates of completion) to find available lessons that are offered online. Thus, these self-paced video lessons can help in preparing for exams, earn college credit, or improve business or leadership skills.
Fees are involved for taking the courses. But, I would suspect a great many workers or job-seekers who desire to advance in their work careers through additional education will find Study.com of great help.
Here are some of their partners:
Grading & Certification of Completed Online Education
Testing and certification are an essential part of online education because they provide students with documentary evidence they have successfully completed course or degree programs.
Helpful Resources for Finding Online Courses
This is a useful resource for students and provides a variety of helpful tips for choosing and using online educational resources.
From the site: "For those who need a hands-on element to their education, many online programs have the best of both worlds, allowing for remote coursework but including campus-based or other on-site laboratory experiences."
Also, "Like classroom learners, online students need to be motivated. Beyond the desire to learn you need to be self-disciplined, have good time management skills, and be comfortable in an environment where it's just you and your computer. You need to be proactive and access the course frequently so you stay on top of the work. You’ll also need to be at ease communicating and interacting with other people without face-to-face contact."
Includes offerings from UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University, Yale University, UC Irvine, and many others. This is a well-organized and regularly-updated list.
This is a platform that offers detailed information about Nursing Schools. It is a one-stop solution for all the queries related to this profession. From top schools to Nursing licensure procedure, salaries in a different state of U.S. to job outlook, you get it all over here.
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