Elite university courses free to all online

MIT goes open source? Sort of. If you’ve ever wanted to attend a class at one the the elite universities but lacked the time, money and credentials, your time has come. With MIT in the lead, more and more colleges are making lectures, notes and tests available to anyone with internet access.

The world’s top universities have come late to the world of online education, but they’re arriving at last, creating an all-you-can eat online buffet of information.

And mostly, they are giving it away.

MIT’s initiative is the largest, but the trend is spreading. More than 100 universities worldwide, including Johns Hopkins, Tufts and Notre Dame, have joined MIT in a consortium of schools promoting their own open courseware. You no longer need a Princeton ID to hear the prominent guests who speak regularly on campus, just an Internet connection. This month, Yale announced it would make material from seven popular courses available online, with 30 more to follow. (from Yahoo News)

If you want textbooks, you’ll still have to pay, and they are not cheap. Neither are the degrees. But, if what you really seek is knowledge, who cares about the sheepskin?