Coursera adds 12 more prestigious universities – free online education grows

As we wrote back in April, there’s no doubt that the Internet is revolutionizing education, as more and more companies continue to emerge and alter the way we learn. We’ve kept a close eye on edX, Khan Academy, Academic Earth, P2PU, Skillshare and Codecademy, and rounding out that list is Coursera, one of the youngest …

The Millennium Development Goals – wiping out disease, famine, and poverty on Earth

By Bill Gates People sometimes say that the United Nations doesn’t do enough to solve the big problems of the world. I’ve never really agreed with that point of view, but if anyone is looking for evidence of the UN’s impact, a good place to start is the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They were agreed to …

Science Experiment: How fast can you react?

I love this piece from Scientific American, written in the format of a teaching lesson, instructing you how to perform a science experiment: How Fast Can You React? Key concepts: Reaction time Neuroscience Gravity Introduction Think fast! Have you ever noticed that when someone unexpectedly tosses a softball at you, you need a little time …

America’s Best High Schools 2012

  This year, our ranking highlights the best 1,000 public high schools in the nation—the ones that have proven to be the most effective in turning out college-ready grads. The list is based on six components provided by school administrators: Graduation rate (25 percent) College matriculation rate (25 percent) AP/IB/AICE tests taken per student (25 percent) Average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent) Average …

Google launches Student Search with lesson plans, live trainings, & daily challenges

Google has launched a free tutorial website, Search Education, which will help students learn how to better use Google Search for learning and academic research. The site is aimed at both at teachers and at individual users. The company knows that while its many tools can be useful, not everyone understands how to use them. …

UNESCO World Heritage Map

This large format full-color map features the World Heritage sites and brief explanations of the World Heritage Convention and the World Heritage conservation programmes, as well as superb photos of World Heritages sites with explanatory captions. Download the PDF version – English, French, Spanish, & Korean. Order a wall map for $15 – 31×20 inches   …

144 places to educate yourself online for free

The most extensive listing of free online education I have ever seen. Bookmarking for later. 12 dozen places to education yourself online for free All education is self-education.  Period.  It doesn’t matter if you’re sitting in a college classroom or a coffee shop.  We don’t learn anything we don’t want to learn. Broken down by …

Enroll in free online in courses from top institutions – Princeton, Stanford, Michigan

Online educational marketplaces are on the rise, with tools like Udemy and Khan Academy allowing people of all ages to become an expert in any topic. New company Coursera is targeting higher education by offering university-level courses from top institutions to students all over the world, all for free. The company launched with $16 million in Series A funding and is announcing …

Infograph – homeschoolers are growing rapidly with better scores and graduation rates

We’ve all heard about the troubles in our public schools and maybe even know a few parents brave enough to homeschool their kids. But what are the effects of doing so? Is it only for the wealthy or those with teaching experience, and does it make your kids weird? A new infograph from college@home answers …

iTunes University – free online education – is booming with 100s of millions of downloads

This month both Stanford and Open University reached 50 million downloads of their iTunes U content, a major milestone for online education. Altogether, the service from Apple reached 700 million downloads in January 2012.   Stanford News: In subjects ranging from human behavior to linguistics, Stanford lectures…have been downloaded a whopping 50 million times. The …