教育固然重要，但教育的道路正在迅速改变。获得学位可能仍然很重要，但在 21世纪的经济(Century economy)中，它已不再是过去的黄金标准。
你需要在余生中不断学习才能跟上。在你的一生中，你甚至可能不得不多次改变职业。不幸的是，对于大多数工作的人来说，放弃一切回到学校并不是一个可行的选择。
好消息是，您不再需要暂停生活（或清空您的银行账户(bank account)）来获得大学教育。由于开放教育运动和电子学习的进步(education movement and advances)，您可以在家中舒适地参加免费的在线大学(online college)课程。其中许多通常是免费的！
以下是十个最好的免费在线大学课程(online college course)网站。请注意，其中一些网站还(also )提供付费课程或付费插件，但您会发现大量免费课程可以将您的知识提升到一个新的水平。
关于评估和认证的说明(Assessment and Accreditation)
在我们访问真正的免费在线大学课程(online college course)网站之前，要提到的一件重要事情是认证和评估(accreditation and assessment)。大学课程(college course)由三个部分组成。首先是课程材料(course material)。第二个是评估你的知识。三是学校的认可。
对于在线课程，这三个部分通常是分开的。大多数情况下，课程内容(course content)是免费的。这对于想要学习新东西的人来说是完美的。如果提供对您知识的评估，通常也是免费的。您将完成计算机化考试或对您的作业进行评分。
认证是另一回事。这是一个机构认证您的评估并为您获得的知识提供正式学分的过程。根据认证的性质，您通常可以使用它来找工作、获得大学学分(college credit)或其他一些正式目的。
在提供认证的地方，它通常带有价格标签(price tag)。大多数希望在线学习的人不需要认证(need accreditation)，但如果这是您最终想要的，这是您不会免费获得的一件事。
MIT OpenCourseWare之所以特别有几个原因，但最重要的是它是开创性的项目(pioneering project)，它在网络上启动了免费的大学教育。早(Back)在 2001 年，麻省理工学院(MIT)就决定免费 在线发布他们所有的课程材料。(course material online)
使用知识共享许可(Commons licence)框架，学生和教育工作者可以阅读、修改和重用来自世界上最精英教育机构之一的学习内容。
鉴于麻省理工学院的声誉和技术专长，您可以期待计算机科学和工程(Computer Science and Engineering)等领域的许多令人惊叹的课程。但是，他们也有免费的人文学科在线大学(online college)课程，例如语言学、哲学甚至性别研究。
与下面的许多网站不同，麻省理工学院开放课件(MIT OpenCourseWare)只专注于内容。你实际上并没有“参加”这些课程。相反，您可以下载所有课程资料(course material)并自己阅读。有时这包括带有答案的作业，对于一些最近的课程，它还包括讲座的视频记录。
如果您想了解麻省理工学院(MIT)的特别之处并对其专业领域感兴趣，麻省理工学院开放课件(MIT Opencourseware)是必不可少的资源。但是，如果您想要更具互动性的东西，那么让我们继续讨论此列表中其他有价值的竞争者。
Coursera 是早期的MOOC先驱之一。即大规模开放在线课程(Massive Open Online Courses)。它由两位前斯坦福大学教授于 2012 年创立，如今托管来自普林斯顿(Princeton)、杜克和斯坦福等大学(Duke and Stanford)的内容。这仅仅是列举的一小部分。
如果您愿意支付费用，您可以获得认可的证书甚至学位！然而，你可以在这里学习一些现代生活中最相关的技能。Coursera对于了解热门的新需求技能和领域特别有价值。
这里的免费在线大学(online college)课程通常是自定进度的，由世界上一些最好的教育工作者组合而成。您可以获得某些课程的结业证书，例如这门课程。
当然，它没有得到认可，但这对你的雇主或任何(employer or whomever)你想表明你已经努力(put effort)学习新事物的人来说可能并不重要。
与Coursera一样，edX 是MOOC 革命(MOOC revolution)的先驱。于 2012 年推出。该网站是哈佛大学和麻省理工学院(Harvard University and MIT)的合资企业。但是，edX 上的免费在线大学课程材料(online college course material)来自各种受人尊敬的机构。
几乎所有你能想象到的学科领域都有大学水平的课程，包括工程和医学(engineering and medicine)等硬汉。课程的质量非常出色，菜单上有很多自定进度的产品。
虽然参加课程是免费的，但您可以付费获得“经过验证的证书”。这可以用作您已通过评估并且您是完成测试的人的证据。尽管这不算作任何形式的官方认证，但您可以将其包含在工作申请或任何其他相关申请中，以表明您已经完成了工作。
可汗学院(Khan Academy)
Khan Academy最初是作为Salman Khan帮助家庭成员了解他们的数学作业(math homework)的一种方式。今天，它是互联网上最好的教育资源之一。
虽然这里涵盖的大部分主题都涵盖了大学前的学年，但这里也有大学预科和大学水平的材料(college prep and college level material)。这也是复习高中数学之类的好方法。如果您想在以后的生活中上大学并且在学生时代有点朦胧，这将很有帮助。根据他们的官方文档，他们的课程涵盖了所有K12 和“(K12 and “)早期”大学(” college)。
网站上的所有内容都是免费的，创建者创建了一个最直观的系统来衡量您当前的水平，并引导您沿着适合您需求的学习路径前进。这在数学等困难的学科领域特别有用。
乌迪米(Udemy)
Udemy成立于 2009 年，在在线学习领域不断壮大。Udemy的关键创新在于它让任何有教职的人都可以相对轻松地创建课程。如果您是可以将您的技能传授给他人的专家，那么Udemy是一个在赚钱的同时做到这一点的好地方。
是的，Udemy上的许多课程确实收费，但平台上也有成百上千的优秀免费在线大学(online college)课程。通常(Often)，讲师会免费提供他们的入门课程，只对中级和高级水平收费。这(Which)意味着您可以自由学习各种学科的基础知识。
虽然这些课程通常并不等同于大学课程(college course)模块，但其中许多课程是由这些领域的退休教师或专业人士教授的。(faculty or professionals)因此，这是一种以不太正式的方式直接从某个领域获得技能和知识的好方法。
另一方面，与edX 或 Coursera相比， (edX or Coursera)Udemy没有严格的管理标准，因此您始终必须以批判的眼光对待网站上提供的任何课程。我们还认为Udemy拥有(Udemy)当今所有在线教育网站(education site today)中最用户友好、最精美的移动应用程序之一。非常值得一游！
优达学城(Udacity)
不要与同名的Udemy 混淆(Udemy)，Udacity由 Sebastian Thrun创立，并且仍然是在线教育领域的关键参与者。当Udacity刚推出时，它专注于复制大学课程，但随着该领域竞争的白热化，Udacity已经发展成为一个更加职业化、以技能为中心的平台。
Udacity上有很多优秀的免费在线大学(online college)课程，但如果您愿意付费，您可以报名参加Udacity创新的“纳米学位”课程，这些课程由各种较小的课程组成，并带有正式认证，所以您可以使用它们来申请工作和其他正式目的。
Udacity 的课程不是自定进度的，您需要注册并与其他人一起开始。话虽如此，有大量的过去免费课程可供审核。知识就在那里！
Blackboard是世界领先的学习管理系统(management system)( LMS ) 提供商之一，其开放式教育网站(Education site)为机构提供免费课程的平台。这是一个非常简单的网站，但事实证明使用它同样简单。
您需要做的就是输入搜索词或使用各种过滤器浏览课程目录。(course catalog)这包括按机构、学科领域和教学语言(area and language)进行搜索。
该平台有点慢，但Blackboard本身是一个非常可靠的LMS，并且目录中有很多非常有用的课程，您完全可以免费学习。
开放学习(OpenLearn)
OpenLearn是开放大学最著名的开放学习资源项目(Open Learning Resource project)。它也是网络上最古老的开放学习资源之一，可以追溯到 1999 年。早在MOOC 革命(MOOC revolution)之前，由Coursera 或 edX(Coursera or edX)等网站推动。
OpenLearn为(OpenLearn)教育行业(education industry)的人提供了绝对的资源，但是对于渴望学习的节俭学生来说，他们感兴趣的部分是提供的免费在线大学(online college)课程目录。这些几乎涵盖了您能想象到的所有学科领域，课程的长度和难度级别(length and difficulty level)都有明确的标记。
由于这些是来自各种来源的开放课程的集合，因此润色水平各不相同，但它是一个非常易于使用的网站，也是必不可少的学习资源(learning resource)。
卡内基梅隆大学开放学习计划(Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative)
卡内基梅隆(Carnegie Mellon)大学是另一所世界著名的大学，它投身于开放学习运动(learning movement)。但是，并非本网站上的每门课程都是免费的。幸运的是，这些课程在适用时被明确标记为“开放和免费”。
更好的是，您甚至无需注册帐户即可访问课程内容(access course content)。当然，如果不这样做，您将无法保存任何进度、设置或工作。
未来学习(FutureLearn)
Futurelearn是此列表中最有趣的条目之一。它是从头开始创建的，专注于MOOC(MOOCs)，而不是调整现有的大学课程 FutureLearn一直将MOOC(MOOCs)作为专业。
他们的课程的制作质量和设计(production quality and design)比竞争对手高出一筹。FutureLearn部分归开放大学(Open University)所有，但其课程由 100 多家机构提供。
FutureLearn的商业化程度更高，这是有道理的，因为制作那些光鲜的课程也需要花费不少钱。好消息是他们收取单一年度订阅费，这使您可以访问数百个付费短期课程。然而，我们想要的是免费课程，FutureLearn已经轻松地将他们所有的免费课程集中到一个目录(one catalogue)中。
开始学习！
互联网的诞生得益于学术界的支持，因此它可以为当今世界各地(world today)的数百万人提供免费教育是正确的。
通过这十个站点，您可以访问感觉像是人类知识的总和，以及用户社区，并且通常可以访问专家教育工作者。所以你真的有借口不提高自己的技能吗？现在是学习的时候了！
10 Best Free Online College Course Websites
Educatiоn is important, but the path to eduсation iѕ changing rapidly. Getting a degrеe may still be important, but іn the 21st Century economy it’s not the gold standard it used to be.
You’ll need to keep learning for the rest of your life in order to keep up. You may even have to change careers multiple times over the course of your life. Unfortunately, for most people who work, dropping everything to go back to school is not a viable option.
The good news is that you no longer have to put your life on hold (or empty your bank account) to get a college-level education. Thanks to the open education movement and advances in eLearning, you can take free online college courses from the comfort of your home. Many of these are often free!
The following are ten of the best, free online college course websites. Be aware that some of these sites also host paid courses or paid add-ons, but you’ll find plenty of free courses to elevate your knowledge to the next level.
A Note on Assessment and Accreditation
One important thing to mention before we get to the actual free online college course websites is accreditation and assessment. There are three components to a college course. The first is course material. The second is assessment of your knowledge. The third is the school’s accreditation.
With online courses, these three components are usually separate. Most often, the course content is free. This is perfect for someone who wants to learn something new. The assessment of your knowledge, when offered, is often also free. You’ll either complete a computerized exam or have your work graded.
Accreditation is a different story. This is the process through which an institution certifies your assessment and gives you formal credit for knowledge gained. Depending on the nature of the accreditation, you can usually use it to get a job, gain college credit or some other formal purpose.
Where accreditation is offered, it usually carries a price tag. Most people looking to learn online don’t need accreditation, but if that’s what you’re ultimately after, this is one thing you won’t get for free.
MIT OpenCourseWare is special for a few reasons, but the most important is that it’s the pioneering project that kickstarted free college-level education on the web. Back in 2001, MIT made the decision to publish all of their course material online, for free.
Using the Creative Commons licence framework, students and educators can read, modify and reuse learning content from one of the most elite educational institutions in the world.
Given MIT’s reputation and technological specialization, you’d be right to expect many amazing courses in areas such as Computer Science and Engineering. However, they also have free online college courses in humanities subjects, such as linguistics, philosophy and even gender studies.
Unlike many of the sites below, MIT OpenCourseWare is solely focused on content. You don’t actually get to “take” these courses. Rather, you can download all the course material and go through it yourself. Sometimes this includes assignments with answers, and for some more recent courses it also includes video recordings of lectures.
If you want to see what makes MIT special and are interested in their specialized subject areas, MIT Opencourseware is an essential resource. However, if you want something a little more interactive, then let’s move on to the other worthy contenders on this list.
Coursera is one of the early MOOC pioneers. That is, Massive Open Online Courses. It was started by two ex-Stanford professors back in 2012 and today hosts content from universities such as Princeton, Duke and Stanford. To name but a few.
If you are willing to pay the fee, you can get an accredited certificate or even a degree! However, for no money at all you can learn some of the most relevant skills in modern life here. Coursera is especially valuable for learning about hot, new in-demand skills and fields.
The free online college courses here are usually self-paced and put together by some of the best educators in the world. You can get a certificate of completion for some courses, such as this one.
Of course, it’s not accredited, but that might not matter to your employer or whomever else you want to show that you’ve put effort into learning something new.
Like Coursera, edX is a pioneer of the MOOC revolution. Launching in 2012. The site is a joint venture by Harvard University and MIT. However, free online college course material on edX comes from a large variety of respected institutions.
There are college-level courses in just about any subject area that you can imagine, including hard-hitters such as engineering and medicine. The quality of the courses are exceptional, with plenty of self-paced offerings on the menu.
While taking a course is free, you can receive a “verified certificate” for a fee. This can be used as evidence that you’ve passed an assessment and that you were the person who completed the test. Although this does not count as any sort of official accreditation, you can include it with job applications or any other relevant applications to show you’ve done the work.
Khan Academy started off as a way for Salman Khan to help family members understand their math homework. Today it’s one of the best educational resources on the internet.
While the majority of topics covered here cover the school years before college, there are college prep and college level material here as well. It’s also an excellent way to brush up on things like high school mathematics. This is helpful if you want to enroll in college later in life and are a bit hazy on your school days. According to their official documentation, their coursework covers all of K12 and “early” college.
Everything on the site is free, and the creators have created one of the most intuitive systems to gauge your current level, and guide you along a learning path suited to your needs. This is especially helpful in tough subject areas such as mathematics.
Udemy was founded all the way back in 2009 and has simply gone from strength to strength in the world of online learning. The key innovation of Udemy is that it makes it relatively easy for anyone with something to teach to create a course. If you’re an expert who can transfer your skills to others, then Udemy is a great place to do that while earning some money.
Yes, many of the courses on Udemy do attract a fee, but there are also hundreds and hundreds of excellent free online college courses on the platform. Often, instructors will make their introductory courses free, only charging money for intermediate and advanced levels. Which means that you can freely learn the fundamentals of various subjects.
While these courses are generally not meant to be the equivalent of college course modules, many of them are taught by retired faculty or professionals in those fields. So it’s a good way to gain skills and knowledge from a field directly in a less formal way.
On the other hand, Udemy does not have stringent curation standards compared to the likes of edX or Coursera, so you’ll always have to approach any courses offered on the site with a critical eye. We also think that Udemy has one of the most user-friendly, polished mobile apps of any online education site today. It’s well worth a visit!
Not to be confused with the similarly-named Udemy, Udacity was famously founded by Sebastian Thrun and remains a key player in the world of online education. When Udacity was first launched, it focused on replicating college courses, but as competition in this sector had heated up, Udacity has evolved into a more vocational, skills-focused platform.
There are plenty of excellent free online college courses on Udacity, but if you’re willing to pay you can enroll for Udacity’s innovative “nanodegree” programs, which are built up from various smaller courses and come with a formal accreditation, so you can use them to apply for jobs and other formal purposes.
Udacity’s courses aren’t self-paced, and you need to enroll and start along with everyone else. That being said, there’s an extensive archive of past free courses to audit. The knowledge is there for the taking!
Blackboard is one of the world’s leading learning management system (LMS) providers and their Open Education site provides a platform for institutions to offer free courses. It’s a pretty barebones site, but using it proves to be just as simple.
All you need to do is either enter a search term or browse the course catalog using various filters. This includes searching by institution, subject area and language of instruction.
The platform is a little slow, but Blackboard itself is a very solid LMS and there are plenty of very useful courses in the catalog which you can take to your heart’s content for no money at all.
OpenLearn is the Open University’s best-known Open Learning Resource project. It’s also one of the oldest open learning resources on the web, dating back to 1999. Long before the MOOC revolution, driven by sites such as Coursera or edX.
OpenLearn has an absolute mountain of resources for those in the education industry, but the part that’s of interest to frugal students with a desire to learn is the catalogue of free online college courses on offer. These cover just about every subject area you can imagine, with courses clearly marked in terms of their length and difficulty level.
Since these are a collection of open courses from various sources, the level of polish varies, but it’s a very user-friendly site to use and an essential learning resource.
Carnegie Mellon is another world-famous university that’s thrown its hat into the open learning movement. However, not every course on this site is free. Luckily, the courses are clearly marked as “open & free” when applicable.
Even better, you don’t even have to sign up for an account in order to access course content. Although, of course, you can’t save any progress, settings or work if you don’t.
Futurelearn is one of the most interesting entries on this list. It was created from the ground up to focus on MOOCs, rather than adapting existing college courses FutureLearn has been making MOOCs as a speciality.
The production quality and design of their courses are a cut above the competition. FutureLearn is partly owned by the Open University, but features courses contributed by well over 100 institutions.
FutureLearn is a little more commercialized, which makes sense since those glossy courses also cost quite a bit of money to make. The good news is that they charge a single annual subscription, which gives you access to hundreds of paid short courses. What we want however, are free courses and FutureLearn have handily lumped all of their free courses together into one catalogue.
Get Your Learn On!
The internet started life thanks to support from academia, so it’s only right that it can provide free education to millions of people all over the world today.
With these ten sites, you have access to what feels like the sum total of human knowledge, along with user communities and often access to expert educators. So do you really have an excuse not to up-skill yourself? The time to learn is now!
