10 Sites for Free Education – Itunes U Gets 300 Million Downloads

10 Sites for Free Education – Itunes U Gets 300 Million Downloads

You might have seen today’s mobile computers news article titled: Online education gets serious as iTunes U sees 300 million downloads from Mobile Computing News.  Click here for the article.

In my book: How to Reinvent Your Career, I list Itunes U as one of many great resources for free education.  Many people changing careers are looking for free resources to help improve their skills.  Here are the rest of the 10 free sites I suggest you consider:

  1. iTunes U: http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/ – iTunes have their university courses as well as regular podcasts available. Be sure to check out all of the free things iTunes has to offer.
  2. ‘Stuff you should know’ podcast: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/stuff-you-should-know-podcast.htm
  3. MIT Open Courseware: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm
  4. Computer training: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/topic.aspx?id=140
  5. How to use APA for writing papers: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
  6. Source for a lot of educational videos that help you to be on the cutting edge: http://wimp.com/
  7. Grammar guide: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
  8. Online tutorials: http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/ed4you.html
  9. Source for many educational training videos: http://websearch.about.com/od/imagesearch/a/education_video.htm
  10. Career training resource: http://freecareertraining.org/

Thinking of Taking Online Classes? What to Know Before You Start

My new book is now available . . . to see full press release, click here.
“Here’s something you should know – Dr. Hamilton has provided the most comprehensive “soup to nuts” book about online education on the planet. It’s a real hand-holder to get you started, guide you to a degree and beyond into the workforce.”     Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant  “Stuff You Should Know” Podcast

“Here’s something you should know – Dr. Hamilton has provided the most comprehensive “soup to nuts” book about online education on the planet. It’s a real hand-holder to get you started, guide you to a degree and beyond into the workforce.” Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant “Stuff You Should Know” Podcast

Quote start“Nearly 12 million post-secondary students in the United States take some or all of their classes online right now. But this will skyrocket to more than 22 million in the next five years.(Campustechnology.com, 2010)Quote end

Tempe, AZ (PRWEB) August 17, 2010

College and university fall-semester classes will be starting soon. With the popularity of online education, many courses are now being presented in an online format. This has left students looking for answers for how to be successful in the online classroom. Are they getting the help they need? According to Dr. Diane Hamilton, author of The Online Student’s User Manual, many students could use more helpful advice.

There is no mistaking the popularity of online education. Even Bill Gates praised online learning in his 2010 Annual Letter stating, “A lot of people, including me, think this is the next place where the internet will surprise people in how it can improve things.” With a predicted 22 million students taking some form of online courses, are students getting the help they need to understand this new form of learning? Apparently they are not, if the dropout rate is any indication. Karen Frankola with BNET (2010) reported, “Chronicle of Higher Education found that institutions are seeing dropout rates that range from 20 to 50 percent for distance learners. And administrators of online courses concur that dropout rates are often 10 to 20 percentage points higher than in their face-to-face counterparts.”

As online learning becomes the future of education, more and more students are finding they have plenty of questions about online learning but many are not receiving the answers. There is no shortage of books that explain the value of an online education. However, the typical book about online learning leaves out helpful advice about how to be a successful online student. This has left learners floundering in their first year of college.

“Other books for the online college student have failed to explain some of the most important skills that the new learner will have to possess once they enter the online classroom” explained Dr. Hamilton, who has also written books about understanding personalities in the workforce and how to reinvent your career. “I have taken my many years of experience teaching first time students and compiled what I’ve learned into The Online Student’s User Manual. This book is designed for those who are looking to understand key terminology and want answers to questions that other books about online learning have neglected to answer. For the first-time online college student, this book contains all they need for optimal success. For the experienced online student and online professor, this book is also an excellent resource, with tips on time management, goal planning, test preparation, writing guidelines, and document preparation techniques.”

There are plenty of books that will help you decide on the right school or find the money you need to finance your higher education. But if you want answers to all your other questions as well, The Online Student User’s Manual takes you where no other manual has gone before—deeply into the online learning experience. Not sure if you have enough computer skills or know how to navigate in cyberspace? Intimidated by all the new terminology? The Online Student User’s Manual will allay your fears and frustrations, as it provides you with information that will make you able to successfully traverse the online halls of learning.

About the Author
Diane Hamilton currently teaches bachelor-, master-, and doctoral-level courses for six online universities. Along with her teaching experience, she has a Doctorate Degree in Business Management and more than twenty-five years of business and management-related experience. To find out more about her writing or to schedule an interview, visit her website at https://drdianehamilton.com or her blog at http://drdianehamilton.wordpress.com/. Review copies are available.

The Online Student’s User Manual–August, 2010 ($14.95/Amazon). ISBN: 0982742800/9780982742808 Approximately –184 pages

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Why Josh and Chuck and the Stuff You Should Know Podcast is Awesome!

If you haven’t found their podcast yet, you must give it a try.  Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant have a podcast titled Stuff You Should Know.  I am very busy with my teaching and writing, but I always find time to listen to their downloaded podcasts.  They are a very entertaining team, part of the “How Stuff Works” site at http://www.howstuffworks.com/. Josh and Chuck have recorded over 250 episodes with topics ranging from serial killers to cliff diving.  

Check out this article about them on mediashift:  http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/06/how-josh-chuck-made-stuff-you-should-know-a-hit-podcast162.html

 You can get the podcast on their site at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/stuff-you-should-know-podcast.htm or just go to Itunes and look for them there.  That is how I found them.

Free Education

If you are thinking of changing careers but don’t think you have enough training or education  . . .  in my book How to Reinvent Your Career, you will be able to find some suggestions about how to learn things for free.
 
One of my favorite new ways to learn things is through iTunes’ program called iTunes U (the U stands for university). Some very well respected universities participate in iTunes U, and offer many free video downloads that you can access to learn about almost anything. Even if you aren’t considering changing jobs, I highly recommend checking out their free lectures.

You can also learn a lot on iTunes through their podcasts, which are also free. A podcast is a recorded audio program that you download onto your computer, iPod or MP3 device. There are excellent podcasts on just about any topic you can imagine.

For a list of some great free educational sites, check out the following:

1.    iTunes U: http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/ – iTunes have their university courses as well as regular podcasts available. Be sure to check out all of the free things iTunes has to offer.

2.    ‘Stuff you should know’ podcast  (the hosts Josh and Chuck are great!): http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/stuff-you-should-know-podcast.htm

3.     MIT Open Courseware: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

4.     Computer training: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/topic.aspx?id=140

5.      How to use APA for writing papers: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

6.      Source for a lot of educational videos that help you to be on the cutting edge: http://wimp.com/

7.      Grammar guide: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

8.      Online tutorials: http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/ed4you.html#Online Tutorial

9.      Source for many educational training videos: http://websearch.about.com/od/imagesearch/a/education_video.htm

10.    Career training resource: http://freecareertraining.org/

Howstuffworks “Stuff You Should Know Podcast”

­­Why can’t robots get married? Are exorcisms real? Listen in as­ Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant take a look at astonishing facts from across the globe in this podcast. They’re world travelers, too — take a look at the image gallery of their trip to Guatemala. Don’t forget to check out their Stuff You Should Know blog while you’re here.

I am a huge fan of Josh and Chuck’s “Stuff You Should Know Podcast” . . . You can find them on Itunes or click on the links above to find out more about them. I often refer to many of their podcasts in my courses I teach. These guys are entertaining and educational at the same time. Check them out!