School's In!

Unlike most people, I kinda always loved school.  Of course, when I was in the thick of it, with 4 papers and 3 tests all in the same week, I hated it like everyone else.  But each August, I was excited to get my class schedule and new supplies.  I loved learning who my teachers would be and seeing the syllabus full of what we would learn that year.  And I loved learning new things!  Ok, I loved learning non-math-related new things...If it has numbers, I'm out.  So since I've graduated from grad school, and I'm not feeling a doctoral dissertation, I've been a little new-thing starved. 

So I've been scanning the internet for some free (operative word here) learning and I've found a plethora.  First up, and this one still surprises me, is YouTube.  I've been wanting to learn Adobe Creative Suite for months now.  But without having the program to practice on (1100 is a little rich for my blood for a program I don't even know how to use), using training books is pretty impossible.  But if you search YouTube, there are hundreds of video tutorials on all the programs in CS.  Too cool!  The library access to LearningExpress is pretty helpful too. I actually feel pretty good about using the program now.  I'm sure there'll be a learning curve, but I at least know the interface and how to do some introductory things.

The second and COOLest is the website Coursera.com. Colleges from all over the US and Canada are adding courses for people to take completely for free.  You won't get actual credit from taking the course, but you will get certificates saying you did the work to pass the class.  Even course supplies like books and lectures are available online for free.  The courses include technology, education and science.  But the most remarkable thing about these courses is that they're through high-end colleges.  Johns Hopkins, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Duke, etc.  Pretty amazing huh?  I haven't taken any courses yet, but I'm starting one on Monday in Tech stuff.  Thinking it might help with the eLearning stuff...we'll see.  Can't wait!