Tag: online education

How to Give Yourself a Free College Education Online

Important as education is for the modern workforce, the formal system that provides and certifies educational attainment is broken. Costs have gotten away from the benefits of a formal college degree. Students face college costs today that is 3 times higher than they were less than 20 years ago. Housing and food insecurity are rampant among college students, causing 20% to lose weight and 17% to go homeless. After sacrificing so much time and welfare for a college degree, 73% of college graduates end up in a job unrelated to their degree. What is the point of asking so much from students only to give them so little in return?

It’s no surprise that more people want alternatives to the current system. Of the youngest generation of American adults, less than half believe degrees are necessary for success. Companies as famous as Tesla are coming around to agreeing with them. People of all ages believe education is shifting more towards autodidacticism or a self-taught model. People who were self-taught in whole or part have made important contributions to society in the past. Melanie Klein gave us children’s psychology without ever attending college. Steve Jobs gave us Apple without so much as a year of a college education. Should people choose to take their education into their own hands today, they will be in good company.

Educating Yourself is More of a Possibility Now than Ever

The truth is that self-education is at your fingertips in a way it never was in the past. The internet makes it possible to access innumerable educational resources without spending a penny. Finding a college-level education online is easier than you think.

Where should self-learners seek out resources? Ironically, some of the most expensive universities to obtain a degree from offer the widest selection of free courses on their website. MIT, Harvard, and UC Berkeley all have a large catalogue of courses to choose from. For those who don’t wish to search individual college websites yourself, aggregate sites like College Cliffs or Coursera curate the best courses by subject for their users.

Stepping away from formal universities entirely, expert-made courses are abundant at Khan Academy, Udemy, and TEDEd, and free online resources like PDF Drive and Z library to download books. Another great place to educate yourself is free online courses like MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses. Canvas is an example of a MOOC, as is LinkedIn Learning. The latter is especially useful because it allows users who complete courses to upload their success to their LinkedIn profiles where potential employers can see it. For those who don’t fare well in traditional classroom environments, SkillShare and Codecademy teach via interaction and project competition. In the vast landscape that is the internet, there is an educational resource for anyone.

Young adults aren’t the only ones taking advantage of these offerings 78% of people worldwide believe they need more training in “soft skills,” and the internet seeks to provide it. For working adults wanting to keep up with company upgrades, 42% of Americans use free online resources to retrain for work.

Source: CollegeCliffs

July 8, 2021
Minnesota Gets Tough on the Enemy That Is Free, Online Education

Free online education platform Coursera says they are “education for everyone.” But after a decision by one U.S. state, they may have to throw an “almost” into that motto.

In a truly baffling display of governmental ignorance, the state of Minnesota has outlawed Coursera. Yes, the state of Minnesota has outlawed free, online education. As The Chronicle of Higher Education reports it, the ban cites a decades-old law that forces educational institutions to get permission from the state before they begin operating there.

A spokesperson for Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education defended the declaration by saying,

“This has been a longtime requirement in Minnesota (at least 20 years) and applies to online and brick-and-mortar postsecondary institutions that offer instruction to Minnesota residents as part of our overall responsibility to provide consumer protection for students.”

From Coursera’s standpoint, the Minnesota law focuses on degree-granting programs – which Coursera is not. Of course, a decades-old law would not have been able to foresee free, online education providers – but it begs the questions: Why would the state expand the scope of the law to include them?

Adding to the odd nature of the decision, it’s entirely unclear how the state plans to enforce the new law. And it’s also unclear whether the state has included other similar online education services like edX and Udacity in its ban.

Either way, Coursera has done their part to inform Minnesota residents of the decree. They’ve posted this in their terms:

Coursera has been informed by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education that under Minnesota Statutes (136A.61 to 136A.71), a university cannot offer online courses to Minnesota residents unless the university has received authorization from the State of Minnesota to do so. If you are a resident of Minnesota, you agree that either (1) you will not take courses on Coursera, or (2) for each class that you take, the majority of work you do for the class will be done from outside the State of Minnesota.

Sorry, Minnesotans who wish to expand their knowledge. I’m sure you can find everything you need to know on Facebook.

Coursera was launched earlier this year by computer science professors from Stanford University. As of today, knowledge-seekers can access 198 different courses in 18 different categories ranging from biology to business & management, from economics to engineering. Coursera currently boasts 33 University partners.

October 19, 2012
Walmart To Offer Online Degrees For Its Workers

Walmart is partnering with American Public University, an online, for profit school, to offer its employees college degrees.

Walmart and Sam’s Club employees in the U.S. will be able to earn a college degree at a discounted price through a combination of academic credit earned for Walmart job learning and experience, and online course work via APU.

"We share Walmart’s commitment to enhance America’s competitiveness by helping to increase the number of working Americans with college degrees," said Dr. Wallace E. Boston, Jr., APUS president and CEO.

"We are honored to be selected by a world-leading organization to promote to their associates the qualities and attributes that are central to our mission."

Walmart says it surveyed 32,000 of its employees and 72 percent said they preferred an online university over other options. The company says the range of 70 undergraduate degrees that APU offers in an online format makes it a convenient option for its workers.

Employees will be able to earn job-learning credit in current degree offerings in programs such as management, transportation and logistics, and security management. APU plans to offer new concentrations in related management and other related fields.

June 4, 2010