Home » Library » Features » Take Any College Class for Free: 236 Open Courseware Collections, Podcasts, and Videos

Take Any College Class for Free: 236 Open Courseware Collections, Podcasts, and Videos

Published on Tuesday 12th of June, 2007

If you're interested in specific open courses, you can find a variety on the Web (or through this list of 100 courses). Usually, those single courses will contain all the materials you need to learn one subject for free. But, if you're after more than a single focus or if you need a deeper perspective on a subject, this list of open courseware collections may be just what you need. Each resource listed below contains a collection or collections of educational materials. You'll find digital archives, a variety of courses, Podcasts, videos and sometimes a mix of everything you can imagine so you can learn any given subject in depth.

Before you get started with any course in depth, you might need a few items from the top 25 Web 2.0 apps to help you learn or something that will improve your productivity. While the courses, videos, and audio files below won't help you achieve a degree because they're not credited, you can still practice completing online assignments appropriately. Once you gain significant skills in any given subject, you might be able to translate those skills into credits for an undergraduate degree.

Archives | Broadcast Learning | Directories & Searches | eBooks & eTexts | Encyclopedias | Open Courseware - University | Open Courseware | Podcasts - University | Podcasts - Other | Research | Videos - Universities | Videos - Other | Video Directories & Searches

Archives

Archival materials are easier than ever to access now that most institutions have begun to digitize their materials. The University of Virginia Library, for example, has compiled the Jefferson Digital Archive based upon their internal collections and other resources. The following is a "short list" of archival materials, but you can find several search engines and directories that will lead you to hundreds of regional and international archives and their online materials.

  1. American Memory — The Library of Congress provides extensive multimedia offerings on various topics through their American Memory Collection, including their outstanding Built in America project that showcases historical buildings through photographs.
  2. Fathom — This archive, provided by Columbia University, offers access to the complete range of free content developed for Fathom by its member institutions. The archives include online learning resources including lectures, articles, interviews, exhibits and seminars.
  3. Internet Archive — A digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.
  4. National Archives — Provides primary source materials from NARA along with lesson plans for teaching with those sources.
  5. National Climatic Data Center — The NCDC, a division of NOAA, maintains climatic archives, including lists of storms in given counties, and records about global extremes, etc.
  6. North American Computing and Philosophy — Archival material from 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005 conferences.
  7. Open Society Archives — These archives and collections relate to the period after the second World War, mainly The Cold War, the history of the formerly communist countries, human rights, and war crimes.
  8. The Rosetta Project — A global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers building a publicly accessible online archive of all documented human languages.
  9. September 11 Digital Archive — This site uses electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the history of the 9/11 attacks.
  10. U.S. Census Bureau — If you think the Census Bureau is all about numbers, you might be surprised to learn about their archived photographs, daily radio features, and more available through their Newsroom.

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Broadcast Learning

Turning off the television has become a mantra. But, when it comes to educational TV, maybe too much isn't enough. The following broadcasting companies maintain Web sites that carry Podcasts, videos, and articles. Some sites maintain special sections expressly for students and teachers.

  1. ABC Australia — This site offers various educational categories, including archives and the Big Ideas Wisdom Interview Podcasts.
  2. BBC Learning — Online learning, support, and advice. This site offers internal and offsite links to a vast amount of materials.
  3. BBC Video Nation — Current news in many categories.
  4. Biography — The site holds videos to past interviews and biographies on people in topics that range from Black history to women's history.
  5. Book TV — This is the companion site to Book TV on C-Span2. The site holds some current interviews with authors, many past interviews, opinions, reviews, and featured programs through online video.
  6. CBC Archives — Relive Canadian history through thousands of available radio and television clips.
  7. Discovery — This channel is home to several different networks that focus on the military, animals, travel, etc. The Discovery site offers a "Video of the Day" from its home page, a separate online video section, and a Discover Education center where teachers can accumulate materials for K-12 teaching. It's impossible to list all their offerings here, so go discover!
  8. History Channel — Visit the Video Gallery for a selection on historical topics. Like the Discovery Channel, this network provides many opportunities for you to gain access to information and reference materials.
  9. NOVA — Watch current science shows or browse by category. PBS sponsors this channel.
  10. PBS — The Public Broadcasting Service brings great shows to television (other than Nova, listed above), and they also offer research capabilities, information, and Podcasts to their viewers online.
  11. Research Channel — Speakers, researchers and professors present revolutionary thoughts and discoveries. Use their Webstreams and an extensive video-on-demand library for research.
  12. TVO — Canada's largest educational broadcaster brings Podcasts, video, educational television, and a special program entitled, Learn with TVO for parents and teachers of K-12 students. For older learners, TVO offers "course connections" listed at bottom left on the home page.
  13. Weather Channel — You can learn about weather all over the world, but the Weather Channel also offers dynamic content based upon seasons and special conditions and a special multimedia and education section.

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Directories & Searches

Some of the items below, like Google, are fairly familiar to most Web enthusiasts. Others, such as "Archives Made Easy" might come as a surprise. You can find just about anything you need for your research and learning through the following directories and search engines. You can also learn more about how to search the "invisible Web" to find resources for your projects. Plus, you can use our list of 119 resources beyond Google to find more authoritative guides. Each resource below leads to educational materials:

  1. A World of Ideas — This site catalogues video and audio lectures on academic topics according to discipline, theoretician and topic.
  2. Academic Blog Portal — This wiki serves as a portal of the "Invisible College" - the academic blogosphere full of serious scholarship and quirky, erudite commentary. Blogs are organized by discipline and by university.
  3. Archive Grid — Search through thousands of libraries, museums, and archives that have contributed nearly a million collection descriptions to ArchiveGrid.
  4. Archives Made Easy — An on-line guide to archives around the globe that includes tips on how to navigate various repositories. Hosted by the International History department at the London School of Economics and Political Science
  5. British Academy Portal — The British Academy's directory of online resources in the humanities and social sciences.
  6. DMOZ — The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory for the Web.
  7. DOAJ — Directory of Open Access Journals covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals.
  8. Economics Network — Economics Network of the UK's Higher Education Academy provides a range of services that support university teachers of economics in the UK. Their resources section carries many online directories to materials, notes, lectures, etc.
  9. Google Scholar — Search for peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
  10. Infomine — Search for databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other types of information.
  11. Lecture Webcasts — A swicki (cross between a search and a wiki) for lecture Webcasts at the Internet TV Search Engine.
  12. Intute — A network of UK universities and partners created this free online search service with access to education and research resources.
  13. Librarian's Internet Index — Categorized index to Web sites.
  14. Merlot — Find peer reviewed online teaching and learning materials.
  15. NetSerf — Links to all things Medieval.
  16. Open Courseware Finder — Find a course online through a search or with tags.
  17. Repositories of Primary Sources — The University of Idaho has compiled primary sources by international area. Dig deeper to discover the repository, where you can gain access to primary sources online.
  18. World Lecture Hall — Find a lecture - written, video, audio, or course notes. Search by topic or by area. Brought to you by the University of Texas at Austin.
  19. Voice of the Shuttle — A database that serves content dynamically on the Web for the arts and humanities.
  20. Windows Live Academic Search — Search for scholarly journal articles, conference proceedings, dissertations and academic books.
  21. Yahoo! Humanities Collection — Search for anything on the Web under the humanities heading.

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eBooks & eTexts

You don't need to shell out big bucks for textbooks when most ancient texts and other public domain materials have been digitized. The following sources can help you save dollars while you learn. Some resources listed below may contain audio files rather than readable text and some sites may contain both text and audio files.

  1. Audio Books for Free — Free files when you choose MP3 files at tolerable quality. Higher quality audio available at inexpensive prices.
  2. Authorama — Completely free books from a variety of different authors in the public domain.
  3. Bartleby — Bartleby contains many classic American and English texts searchable by author, title, and genre.
  4. Economics Textbooks — A categorized list maintained by John Kane.
  5. Electronic Text Center — This University of Virginia collection features 70,000 electronic texts that range across many topics and languages.
  6. eMedicine — The original open access comprehensive medical textbook for all clinical fields with 10,000 contributors and 6,500 articles.
  7. European Literature — Electronic text collections in western European literature. Compiled by the University of Virginia Library.
  8. FreeTechBooks.com — Free online computer science and programming books, textbooks, and lecture notes.
  9. Internet History Sourcebooks Project — This project was designed to provide easy access to primary sources and other teaching materials in a non-commercial environment. It was developed and is edited by Paul Halsall at Fordham University and is divided into Ancient, Medieval, and Modern history along with several "sourcebook" selections.
  10. Learn Out Loud — While many choices are free by membership only, Learn Out Loud also offers free audio and video.
  11. LibriVox — LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net.
  12. Literal Systems — A small but growing classic audio book collection.
  13. Making of America Books — A digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
  14. Many Books — Free eBooks for your PDA, iPod, or eBook reader.
  15. Manuscript Reading Room — The Library of Congress's Manuscript Division's current holdings, nearly forty million items contained in ten thousand separate collections, include some of the greatest manuscript treasures of American history and culture.
  16. Online Books Page — This project indexes online free books rather than hosts them, but it's an easy resource to use.
  17. Online Mathematics Textbooks — A list created by George Cain, School of Mathematics at Georgia Institute of Technology. You might also try the more comprehensive Textbooks in Mathematics compiled by Alex Stef.
  18. Oxford Text Archive — This site hosts arts and humanities literature, languages and linguistics texts that you can download in various formats.
  19. Perseus Digital Library — Tufts University's evolving digital library.
  20. Philosophy — Canonical texts necessary for basic philosophy.
  21. Project Gutenberg — The first producer of free electronic books, there are over 20,000 free books in the Project Gutenberg Online Book Catalog.
  22. Religion Online — More than 6,000 articles and chapters. Topics include Old and New Testament, Theology, Ethics, History and Sociology of Religion, Communication and Cultural Studies, Pastoral Care, Counseling, Homiletics, Worship, Missions and Religious Education.
  23. Text Archive — Internet Archive's open source text directory.
  24. WikiBooks — Since their founding in 2003, volunteers have written about 25,292 modules in a multitude of textbooks.
  25. World Public Library — This repository maintains a public access eBook and eDocument collection.

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Encyclopedias

While most colleges won't allow citations from encyclopedias in your research papers, these resources can lead you in the right direction to find more information.

  1. Columbia Encyclopedia — Offered by Bartleby.
  2. Counterbalance Interactive Library — Offers new views on complex issues from science, ethics, philosophy, and religion.
  3. e-Podunk — Want to know information about a certain state, county, or city? e-Podunk maintains a site for this information and it's growing to include cemeteries, libraries, museums, and newspapers.
  4. Encyclopaedia Britannica — Free trial offer for full version, free access to concise version.
  5. Encyclopedia Smithsonian — Each entry contains materials within the online Smithsonian and through other resources.
  6. Highbeam™ Encyclopedia — Search through more than 57,000 frequently updated articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.
  7. InfoPlease — Information Please is part of Pearson Education, the largest educational publisher in the world.
  8. LoveToKnow 1911 — Based upon the eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, first published in 1911. While many of the science and health articles are obviously outdated, many of the biographical and historical articles and more complete and in-depth compared to materials available elsewhere.
  9. Microsoft Encarta — Gain access to 16,000 articles and more than 2,200 photos, illustrations, maps, charts, and tables for free, with ability to upgrade.
  10. Open-Site — Open-Site is edited by volunteer editors and accepts content submissions from the public to provide accurate information.
  11. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Each entry is maintained and kept up to date by an expert or group of experts in the field.
  12. Wikipedia — A multilingual, Web-based, free content encyclopedia project.
  13. World FactBook — Part of the Bartleby collection, this project provides the U.S. government’s complete geographical handbook, featuring 268 full-color maps and flags of all nations and geographical entities.

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Open Courseware Collections - University

The list below contains courseware offered by various colleges and universities. This list is by no means all-inclusive, so you might want to try a search for a specific college to see what you can find. The colleges below offer more than one course or, like "Berklee Shares", a broad perspective on one topic.

  1. Columbia University Interactive — A gateway to selected electronic learning resources developed at Columbia University.
  2. Berklee Shares — Free music lessons that you can download, share and trade with your friends and fellow musicians.
  3. Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative — OLI courses are designed to support you to learn a subject at the introductory college level.
  4. Duke Law Center for the Public Domain — News, lectures, links to various other resources within the site and on the Web. Projects range from the arts to international law issues.
  5. Fulbright Economics Teaching Program — FETP is a resource for people who work or study in policy-related fields to increase their knowledge and explore new approaches to learning and curriculum development.
  6. Harvard Extension School — Course-related materials are supported by videotaped lectures.
  7. Gresham College — Find lectures in various topics that are also available as audio and video files.
  8. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health — This project provides access to content of the School's most popular courses, from adolescent to refugee health.
  9. MIT — Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a wide variety of open courses from aeronautics and astronautics to writing and humanistic studies.
  10. Open University — Originating from the U.K., this collection ranges from arts and history to technology.
  11. Tufts University — Six separate schools, from dentistry to the School of Arts and Sciences.
  12. United Nations University — UNU promotes the idea of a Global Learning Space for science and technology.
  13. University of California, Irvine — This college offers the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET) and a few other courses.
  14. University of Notre Dame — From Africana studies to theology, students can take advantage of options within numerous Notre Dame departments.
  15. University of Washington — This one is a bit tricky, as they offer free online courses through this link, but you can also find free materials through various departments outside this official online learning program.
  16. Utah State University — Available departments online range from anthropology to wildland resources.

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Open Courseware Collections

The following courseware isn't always labeled as "open courseware," but they qualify because each site contains collections filled with lectures, visuals, audio, video and other educational materials. This list contains sites that aren't hosted or generated by universities.

  1. BBC Training & Development — The British Broadcasting Corporation brings training and online broadcast and new media courses online for anyone interested in media courses.
  2. Connexions — A place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc. You can find 3993 reusable modules woven into 219 collections at Connexions.
  3. Digital History — An interactive, multimedia history of the United States from the Revolution to the present.
  4. Exploratorium — View Webcasts and visit the digital library. You'll find lectures, lessons, and more.
  5. Music Theory — This site is a compact set of lessons, trainers, and utilities compiled by Ricci Adams.
  6. NASA — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration maintains updated and archived materials and several modules. They also maintain the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where a researcher can find many materials including university lectures.
  7. National Geographic — While not as generous with online free videos as some sites, the work they offer is always stunning. They also offer an educational resource for K-12.
  8. Nature — This international weekly journal's online resource provides Podcasts, streaming video, gateways and databases for all things in nature.
  9. Open Educational Resources — Internet Archives' collection of educational content including coursework, study guides, exercises, and recorded lectures.
  10. Smithsonian — Learn through online museum exhibits, recordings, research, and Journeys.
  11. Sofia — Content for eight courses is now available online for free through the Sofia open content initiative.
  12. W3Schools — Web-building tutorials, from basic HTML and XHTML to advanced XML, SQL, Database, Multimedia and WAP.
  13. Wikiversity — This project comprises a community for the creation and use of free learning materials and activities.

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Podcasts - University

Georgia College & State University (see # below) was among the first of many campuses to put together an academic program using iPods when it launched a few pilot programs in 2002. Today, there are active iPod programs on many other campuses around the country. Therefore, the list below is limited when compared to how many campuses will take on this technology by this upcoming fall quarter/semester.

  1. Alleghany College — News and events, conferences, etc.
  2. American University — Podcast collections from this university's Washington College of Law.
  3. Apple + iPods @ GCSU — Georgia College & State University provides a virtual learning community, courseware, and technology advances through this site.
  4. Arizona State University — Lectures and speakers.
  5. Berkeley on iTunes — Listen to events about the arts, education, politics, science and technology - extensive collection..
  6. Buffalo State College — Lectures, forums, events, and more.
  7. Cambridge University — Popular science broadcasts, including Science Festival Podcasts presented by Carol Vorderman.
  8. Center for International Studies — University of Chicago's Chiasmos, a source for international events.
  9. Chicago GSB — Chicago University's Graduate School of Business thought leadership on current topics affecting companies and organizations around the globe.
  10. Classics Podcasts — Ever want to hear the news in Latin? Visit more links to readings of Latin and (ancient) Greek texts, brought to you by Bryn Mawr's Haverford College.
  11. College of DuPage Codcasts — Classes, lectures, arts & leisure, and special topics.
  12. College of St. Scholastica Podcasts — Visit the links on this page to find numerous course-specific lectures and speakers.
  13. Distance Learning Podcast — Western Kentucky University's Podcasts for students and teachers.
  14. Drexel CoAS Talks — Podcasts, Screencasts and Vodcasts(for video iPod) of talks or seminars in the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University.
  15. Educator's Corner — The Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture series takes place every Wednesday during the academic quarters at Stanford University. Listen to archived materials.
  16. Front Row — Boston College offers free access through streaming media to tapes of cultural and scholarly events.
  17. Georgetown University Forum — A weekly radio program that highlights Georgetown University faculty's research and expertise.
  18. Harvard Business Online — A free Podcast featuring breakthrough ideas and commentary from leading thinkers in business and management.
  19. Havens Center — The University of Wisconsin-Madison's audios that are focused on the study of social structure and social change.
  20. Insead Podcasts — Knowledgecasts and Leadercasts from one of Europe's elite business programs.
  21. Johns Hopkins — Audio recordings from Johns Hopkins' faculty and alumni.
  22. Knowledge@Wharton — Podcast archive for news and lectures at the University of Pennsylvania.
  23. Lewis & Clark Law School — Events and speakers on law.
  24. London School of Economics — Podcasts of public lectures and events.
  25. Montclair State University — Interesting list from English department - mostly Noam Chomsky, but other lectures on Medieval literature to Vietnam War here as well. Some video.
  26. NOVA — Nova currently offers four different Podcasts.
  27. Perdue Boilercast — List of various Podcasts.
  28. Princeton University Channel — A collection of public affairs lectures, panels and events from academic institutions all over the world.
  29. Princeton University's Event Streaming Media — Special events, lectures, sports, etc.
  30. SAIS — The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., part of Johns Hopkins University, offers news and events.
  31. Southwest Tech's CourseCasts — Various course topics.
  32. Stanford on iTunes — Download faculty lectures, interviews, music and sports.
  33. Swarthmore College University Lectures — Lectures on various topics.
  34. Times-Online MBA Broadcasts — Ten of the world's leading business thinkers provide the latest thinking in economics, management, finance, strategy, and marketing.
  35. UCLA Bruincast — Course topic Podcasts.
  36. University of Arizona College of Law — Lectures and Seminars.
  37. University of Bath — "BathPods" from a public lecture series where leading names from the worlds of science, humanities, and engineering talk about the latest research in their field.
  38. University of British Columbia — UBC offers a wide variety of UBC-related digital content, from public lectures and talks to student-created music and more.
  39. University of Connecticut — Podcasts about general psychology.
  40. University of New South Wales — Podcast lectures that relate to health and fetal development.
  41. University of Nottingham — Browse through current issues, latest research and events.
  42. University of Oregon UO Channel — Interviews, documentaries, lectures.
  43. University of Virginia — Podcasts and Webcasts for news, events, and lectures.
  44. University of Warwick — Hear university experts comment on important issues, their research and events.
  45. University of Washington TV — This university project offers their "premiers" as Podcasts. You can also watch these shows as video.
  46. Vanderbilt University — Interviews, lectures, news, and events.
  47. Weber University — Lectures and speakers.
  48. Yale University — A diverse collection from Yale's many schools.
  49. York College Podcast Lectures — Current focus on philosophy and psychology from City University, New York (CUNY).

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Podcasts - Other

This list of Podcasts are not hosted or generated by any school of higher learning. But, they contain collections that can turn your brain on to the world around you.

  1. Evolution 101 — Dr. Zachary Moore offers Podcasts along with other resources on this topic.
  2. Global Voices — Global Voices is an international, volunteer-led project that collects, summarizes, and gives context to some of the best self-published content found on blogs, Podcasts, photo sharing sites, and videoblogs from around the world, with a particular emphasis on countries outside of Europe and North America.
  3. Listening to Words — Find, listen to, and discuss free lectures from around the Web.
  4. Logically Critical — Don't be afraid to think. Visit this site, listen to the Podcasts, and agree to agree or disagree.
  5. Ludwig Von Mises Institute — Use the links on this page to gain access to Podcasts and video.
  6. Maria Lectrix — Six days a week of audiobooks - mystery, history, adventure, devotion - for people with Catholic tastes.
  7. NPR — National Public Radio offers several venues to learn about various topics through articles and Podcasts.
  8. Open Source — Christopher Lydon brings hot topics to online listening through Public Radio International (PRI).
  9. Neo-Latin Colloquia — Graduate students and faculty associated with the UK Institute for Latin Studies are creating a variety of materials for the renewed study and enjoyment of neo-Latin colloquia scholastica, texts that date primarily from the 16th century. This is housed at STOA, the Consortium for Electronic Publication in the Humanities.
  10. Point of Inquiry — Point of Inquiry is the premiere Podcast from the Center for Inquiry, drawing on CFI’s relationship with the leading minds of the day including Nobel Prize-winning scientists, public intellectuals, social critics and thinkers, and renowned entertainers.
  11. Scientific American — Enjoy 60-second science Podcasts or longer interviews with leading scientists and journalists.
  12. The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe — A weekly Podcast talkshow produced by the New England Skeptical Society (NESS) in association with the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) discussing the latest news and topics from the world of the paranormal, fringe science, and controversial claims from a scientific point of view.
  13. Shakespeare by Another Name — MP3 audio files that discuss some of the stories, themes and characters in the book, Shakespeare By Another Name.
  14. Sound of Young America — Public radio's "funniest, most fascinating interview program," available free on the air, on the Web or by Podcast.

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Research

Whether it's at the library, through videos, Podcasts, or online, research is easier when it's free. Plus, you can ease some headaches if you know how to take copious notes. Check out Fifty Ways to Take Notes to pave your way, and use the following list to forge ahead.

  1. Elements of Style — Visit Strunk & White at Bartleby.
  2. Episteme Links — Search for over 19,000 categorized links to philosophy resources on the Internet.
  3. HighWire Press — HighWire Press is a division of the Stanford University Libraries, which produces the online versions of high-impact, peer-reviewed journals and other scholarly content. Some sites are free to peruse through trial periods or through archived materials.
  4. In Other Words — A lexicon for the humanities. Learn the terminology of a new discipline and come to understand the generally accepted reference of terms.
  5. Internet Public Library — Search through online collections in numerous categories.
  6. LitSum — Free literature summaries and study guides.
  7. Mayo Clinic — This site contains databases for diseases and conditions, drugs and supplements, and treatment decisions.
  8. SparkNotes — Free online study guides.
  9. U.S. Government Manual — The official handbook of the Federal Government.

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Videos - University

The list of video collections below are either hosted or generated by a school of higher learning. Some resources also include Podcasts or other educational materials, so look around when you head to a specific site.

  1. Berkeley Multimedia Research Center — Six videos that mainly focus on the university's multimedia presentation capabilities. You'll also find a chemistry lecture.
  2. Butte College — Televised courses and events such as workshops, meetings, and conferences. All sent to you via streaming video.
  3. CalTech Today — "Streaming Theater" for science and technology, society and culture, and campus life.
  4. Carleton University Television (CUTV) — Two courses only: Introductory Chemistry, CHEM 1000 taught by 3M teaching award winner Robert Burk, and Natural History, BIOL 1902, taught by highly respect naturalist and wildlife photographer Michael Runtz.
  5. Case School of Law — Lecture series dating from 2001 to current year.
  6. Dartmouth Chance — Chance is a quantitative literacy course, and Dartmouth offers video lectures and more to help conduct your own Chance course.
  7. Duke University Multimedia — Classroom video archives produced in the Duke University Mathematics Department Multimedia Classroom.
  8. Georgetown University Webcasts — Current critical intellectual and social issues debated and discussed.
  9. Harvard@Home — The mission of Harvard@Home is to provide the Harvard community and the broader public with opportunities for rich in-depth exploration of a wealth of topics through Web-based video programs of the highest caliber.
  10. Harvard Law School — Events and lectures online.
  11. Homeric Odyssey and the Cultivation of Justice — If you want to get to know this classic in depth, this is where you need to go. Online text, video lectures, the works. Brought to you by Professor Gregory Nagy is the Francis Jones Professor of Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University.
  12. Kennedy School of Government Video Archive — From Harvard University.
  13. Landon Lecture Series — Gain live access on day of lecture or view archived lectures on public issues, thanks to Kansas State University.
  14. Mathematical Sciences Research Institute — MSRI streaming video lectures.
  15. MIT World Video Index — Search, or sort by title, date, or MIT host for videos on the sciences and arts.
  16. Oxford Internet University Webcasts — Live and on-demand Webcasts of prominent speakers from events and conferences organized or recorded by the Oxford Internet Institute.
  17. Princeton University's New Media Center — Student and faculty projects, including lectures, speakers, interviews, etc.
  18. Princeton University WebMedia — Includes events, lectures and a small selection of Podcasts.
  19. Rice University Webcasts — Live and archived events, speakers, and lectures at Rice.
  20. Rockefeller University — A small collection of Flash videos.
  21. St. Edward's University — Philosophy audio and video lectures.
  22. Stanford University Audio and Video — Selections from the Graduate School of Business.
  23. UC Berkeley Resources — Links to many resources online and at Berkeley. Some resources for students only, others open to the public.
  24. UCLA Webcasts — UCLA Instructional Media Production (IMP) provides live Webcasts of important and interesting campus events, archives them, and makes them available for on-demand viewing.
  25. University of California TV Video on Demand — Lectures, seminars, and talks on a variety of topics.
  26. University of Connecticut — A video lecture series from this university's School of Medicine.
  27. University of Texas at Dallas — UTDallas brings a list of online neuroscience lectures to the table.
  28. Webcast Berkeley — Courses and events offered by the University of California (UC) Berkeley. Also offered as Podcasts.

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Video - Other

The following list contains collections that are not maintained by a school of higher learning. But many of these resources offer great opportunities to learn through videos that range from short-shorts to entire movies.

  1. 2007 Exploring Space Lectures — Brought to you via Smithsonian Institute.
  2. Atom Film Documentaries — Short film genre.
  3. Center for Economic Studies (CES) — Lecture series from 2001 forward.
  4. Cern Webcast Service — CERN lectures and seminars to universities, schools and to the general public.
  5. Exploratorium — This is a Webcast archive filled with selected videos that date back to 1996.
  6. Free Documentaries — Mostly political films.
  7. Free Movies and Documentaries — Videos embedded from other sites, but worth a look for various categories under documentaries, news items, etc.
  8. Free to Choose — TV series by economist Milton Friedman along with interviews.
  9. Google Video — Educational lecture options from Google. Search for other genres, like documentaries.
  10. Howard Hughes Medical Center Lectures — Gain access to information on everything from evolution to RNA.
  11. Indymedia — The San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center is a non-commercial, democratic collective of bay area independent media makers and media outlets. This site also serves as the local hub for the global Indymedia network, and offers archival materials as well.
  12. Lifesign — A short list of medical genre videos. It appears that this site, funded and maintained by the Department of Creative Technologies, University of Portsmouth, intends to grow.
  13. Link TV — Current perspectives on international news, current events, and diverse cultures, presenting issues not often covered in the U.S. media.
  14. Moving Image Archive — Internet Archive's collection of classic full-length movies, daily alternative news broadcasts, and user-uploaded videos of every genre. This is a mega-source.
  15. National Archive — Over 250 titles collected by the NASA Office of Public Affairs between 1962 and 1981.
  16. Nobel Prize Lectures — Provide a wealth of background to every Nobel Prize since 1901. You can find biographies, interviews, photos, articles, video clips, press releases, educational games and a great deal more information about the Nobel Laureates and their work.
  17. ScienceLive — Free popular science videos.
  18. The Royal Society — Video lectures on topics from biology and climate science to physics. They also maintain a short list of Podcasts.
  19. Vega Science Trust — The Vega Science Trust aims to create a broadcast platform for the science, engineering and technology (SET) communities. Learn from seminars, lectures, and more (they have four priceless archival recordings delivered by Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman at the University of Auckland, New Zealand).
  20. Webcasts — From the Library of Congress.
  21. WGBH Forum Network — The WGBH Forum Network is an audio and video streaming Website dedicated to curating and serving live and on-demand lectures given by some of the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policy makers and community leaders.

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Video Directories & Searches

Finally, this is a short list of directories and search engines dedicated to free online videos.

  1. Ethics Videos on the Web — Compiled by Lawrence M. Hinman from the University of San Diego.
  2. Mathematics Videos — A list of online lectures and videos compiled by Jean-Marc Gulliet and hosted at New York University.
  3. Open Video Project — This repository provides video clips from a variety of sources, especially various video programs obtained from U.S. government agencies such as the National Records and Archives Administration and NASA.
  4. Web Lecture Archive Project (WLAP) — Browse through lectures by category, or conduct an advanced search.

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Remember, the resources above cannot be applied toward credit at any university, even when a school of higher learning offers the materials. But, you can train yourself to learn faster, deeper, and better when you spend time with these resources on a regular basis. Keep your brain cells active and you'll have a better brain!


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