Textbooks, at a reduced cost
Textbooks, free
Free education
Lots of free education is available through the Internet.
- Your local library may offer training materials, including Books24/7 (an online book resource from SkillSoft).
- Khan Academy “With over 3,200 videos on everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and hundreds of skills to practice, we’re on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.”
- Coursera massive open online courses (MOOCS)
- Udacity free online courses
- edX free online courses (MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, Texas, Wellesley, Georgetown)
- Udemy paid and free online courses
- Self Made Scholar index to many free online courses
- Self Made Scholar index to education resources
- smart.fm learn a few things
- Open Educational Resources content is made free to use or share, sometimes modify and share (see licensing).
- schooX Social Network for Online Learning, free online courses in a wide range of subjects.
- TeacherTube educational videos
- Mission To Learn blog about education, including an online language learning tools post
- Virtual museum tours
- AcademicEarth Free video courses from leading universities
eBooks and Audio Books
- Wikipedia’s book:sources entry
- University of Pennsylvania’s Online Books Page
- World Public Library Catalogs and Collections
- World Public Library over half a million ebooks and audio books
- Bartleby.com: Great Books Online
- Lit2Go, an online service of Florida’s Educational Technology Clearinghouse, is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format.
- World Public Library or Digital Media Locator search public libraries around the world for ebooks and audiobooks
- Free audiobooks from LibriVox, ThoughtAudio, Wired for Books, Learn Out Loud, Free Audio, and LiteralSystems. eJunto and Audio Anarchy for philosophical and historical audiobooks. Speak the Speech for Shakespeare. PennSound for poetry. Voices In the Dark for fiction and mystery. Christian Audio
- If you like Librivox, then you can use Alexa (an Amazon Company) or archive.org to find similar web sites.
- The Internet Archive (archive.org) also features the Naropa Poetics Audio Archives
- LoudLit Audio books
- LiteralSystems Audio books
- BooksShouldBeFree Audio books
- NewFiction Audio books
- ThoughtAudio Audio books
- LibriVox Audio books
- Podiobooks Audio books
- Open Culture Audio books and more
- Learn Out Loud Audio books
- Project Gutenberg eBooks and audio books
- Storynory Audio books for children
- Librophile eBooks and audio books
- Audiobooks.org Audio books
- Hackershelf eBooks
- Forgotten Books eBooks
- SparkNotes for summaries
- Questia for research
- FreeBookSpot
- Hundred Zeros is a frequently updated catalog of best-sellers that are free on Amazon. You can also download and read Kindle ebooks on your computer, mobile phone, tablet, or the browser.
- 4eBooks has a huge collection of computer programming ebooks. Each downloadable ebook has a short review with a description. You can find over thousand of free ebooks in every computer programming field like .Net, Actionscript, Ajax, Apache and etc.
- Free-eBooks is an online source for free ebook downloads, ebook resources and ebook authors. Besides free ebooks, you also download free magazines or submit your own ebook.
- ManyBooks provides free ebooks for your PDA, iPod or eBook Reader. You can randomly browse for a ebook through the most popular titles, recommendations or recent reviews for visitors.
- GetFreeEBooks is a free ebooks site where you can download free books totally free. All the ebooks within the site are legal downloadable free ebooks.
- FreeComputerBooks consists of a huge collection of free online Computer, Programming, Mathematics, Technical Books, Lecture Notes and Tutorials. It is very well categorized by topics, with 12 top level categories, and over 150 sub-categories.
- FreeTechBooks lists free online computer science, engineering and programming books, textbooks and lecture notes, all of which are legally and freely available over the Internet. Throughout FreeTechBooks, other terms are used to refer to a book, such as ebook, text, document, monogram or notes.
- Scribd, the online document sharing site which supports Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and other popular formats. You can download a document or embed it in your blog or web page.
- Globusz is a unique ePublishing house, specializing in free eBook downloads. They also provide an excellent Star Rating Showcase for new and evolving authors.
- KnowFree is a web portal where users are able to exchange freely e-books, video training and other materials for educational purposes and self-practice.
- OnlineFreeEBooks provides links to various ebooks (mostly in pdf) spanning in 9 big categories which are: Automotive Ebooks, Business Ebooks, Engineering Ebooks, Gadget Ebooks, Hardware Ebooks, Health & Medical Ebooks, Hobbies Ebooks, Programming & Technology Ebooks, Sport & Martial Art Ebooks.
- MemoWare has a unique collection of thousands of documents (databases, literature, maps, technical references, lists, etc.) specially formatted to be easily added to your PalmOS device, Pocket PC, Windows CE, EPOC, Symbian or other handheld device.
- BluePortal
- OnlineComputerBooks contains details about free computer books, free ebooks, free online books and sample chapters related to Information Technology, Computer Science, Internet, Business, Marketing, Maths, Physics and Science which are provided by publishers or authors.
- SnipFiles offers you free ebooks and software legally by brought or attained PLR, resale or master rights to all the products on their page.
- BookYards is a web portal in which books, education materials, information, and content will be freely to anyone who has an internet connection.
- The Online Books Page
- AskSam Ebooks
- Baen Free Library
- eBookLobby
- Free Ebook Download Links
- eBoook3000
- SlideShare
- PDF Search Engine
- eSnips
- Book Gold Mine
- eBooks-Space
- drebooks
- E-Books Directory
- UFindBook
- Books-PDF
- PDFoo
- Free Ebook Down
- Free-Ebooks-Canada
- eBooks Download Free
- PDFGeni
- CHM PDF
- eBook-X
- Spotbit
- Ebook Share
- Filebook – Free eBooks download in zipped format.
- ebooksboard – Free eBooks download portal.
- Computer-Books.us – Highest quality computer books all of which are available for free download.
- 76eBook – Free ebooks download for IT, business and multimedia.
- Linux Related Free Ebooks – 68 Linux Related Free E-books.
- TechBooksForFree – Free books on technology subjects.
- Wowio – WOWIO is passion for FREE BOOKS + FREE MINDS.
- Freeebooks – Free ebooks are divided into different categories from business, art, computing and education.
- Witguides – The premier online source for a wide range of useful e-books that are completely free with no need to sign-up or buy anything.
- Issuu – Issue lets you find and share the web’s most interesting publications.
Lectures
- The University of California-Berkeley has been streaming videos of their courses through their site webcast.berkeley since 2001. In 2006 they became the first university to podcast a significant number of their courses on audio, making lectures available as downloadable MP3s put up on RSS feeds that you can subscribe to. Their podcasted courses cover science, psychology, engineering, and many other subjects. Podcasts of lectures are released throughout the semester and they also have an archive of all their previous courses which they’ve made available on podcast and streaming video.
- Free Video Lectures from Google Talks
- Free Video Lectures at TED.com
- Free Video Lectures at FORA.tv
- Free Video Lectures at The Forum Network (NPR, PBS, WGBH)
- Free Video Lectures at freevideolectures.com
- Free Video Lectures on Computer Science at freevideolectures.com
- Free Video Lectures at videolectures.net
- Free Video Lectures at lecturefox.com
- Free Video Lectures at learnerstv.com
- Videos, interviews and podcasts at Barnes & Noble Media
- @Google Talks videos, lectures and presentations
- Scholar Spot free University
- Varsity Notes free lecture notes
- Free Science Videos and Lectures
Courses
- OpenCourseWare is a free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses. The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 200 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model. For example:
- Online Education Database is a reference to online colleges which has published an index to 236 open courseware collections.
- Career training from the US Departments of Labor and Education
- Career training videos, text and podcasts from the US Small Business Administration
- Free Courses: 250 Free Online Courses from Top Universities
- Video MD
- Discovery Education
- USGS Educational Videos and Animations
- Certified Home Inspectors training videos
- College and Careers Counseling videos
- Patient Education videos
- Online Video Guide index of educational video sites
- Videos for teachers
- TeachOutLoud is a service which allows you to publish and sell your audio and video learning content. It’s a free and simple tool for you to spread your knowledge to the world.
- Open Yale courses
- UChannel, Princeton’s “collection of public affairs lectures, panels and events from academic institutions all over the world”
- YouTube channels for:
- Harvard
- Stanford
- University of California
- Carnegie Mellon University
- North Carolina State
- Georgia Tech
- University of Minnesota
- Penn State
- Wesleyan University
- Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, Universities of California (CITRIS-UC)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Research Channel
- SANS Institute
- Sun Microsystems
- Wired Magazine
- OSI Model Training
- Microsoft Windows 7 training
- University & College Podcasts – Free Educational Podcasts some are NOT found on iTunes
- Podcasts from the University of Oxford (series)
- The iTunes Store aggregates education from many sources and made available through iTunes. Search for “iTunes U” or navigate to Podcasts -> Audio Podcasts -> Education and choose from Educational Technology, Higher Education, K-12, Language Courses and Training.
- Stanford (via The iTunes Store)
- UCLA (via The iTunes Store)
- UC Berkeley (via The iTunes Store)
- Similarly, Zune Marketplace aggregates education podcasts. You don’t need a Zune (just as, with the iTunes store, you don’t need an iPod).
- You know to search with Google, but the Internet Archive and Alexa (we’re not running a popularity contest here, people) may be more efficient ways to locate educational materials.
- Quizlet flash cards, testing tools
- FlashcardExchange flash cards
- CIA World Factbook; kids page
- Project Tuva is a Silverlight-based website designed to share with the general public an acclaimed lecture series held by physicist Richard Feynman from Cornell University in 1964
- The Legacy of Randy Pausch and His Lecture Videos, Professor of Computer Science, University of Virginia
- Mathematics at Worldwide Center of Mathematics
- Free Computer Training at GCFLearnFree.org (Reading, Math, Career Skills as well)
- Office 2007 training from Microsoft
- Microsoft Learning Events and LiveMeetings which can help prepare for certification
- Stanford Advanced Computer Security On-Demand Webinars & Symposiums
- Web development at W3Schools
- XML tutorial at W3Schools, at academictutorials.com
- SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) tutorial at xml.com, at searchsoa.techtarget.com, at academictutorials.com
- HTML tutorial by W3Schools
- DHTML (HTML with JavaScript) tutorial by W3Schools
- ASP Active Server Pages tutorial by W3Schools
- JavaScript tutorial by webteacher.com
- VBScript tutorial by W3Schools
- PERL tutorial by W3Schools
- IBM Redbooks, such as TCP/IP Tutorial and Technical Overview [pdf] and Introduction to Storage Area Networks [pdf]
- Network Fundamentals at Juniper
- How To Become a Hacker by Eric Steven Raymond
- Computations at Wolfram|Alpha
Fractions, division of: One quarter is “one out of every four.” You are already doing division when you are doing fractions. To divide fractions (that is, to undo the division you are doing) turn it upside down and multiply.
If want you a degree, check out Western Governors University, an online and accredited degree-granting organization. They don’t offer classes, they offer degree programs. $2,890 for a six-month term; terms begin the first of every month. If you knew the sheepskin you wanted, you could “test out” of introductory courses, and pick up a Bachelor’s degree in two or three years, paying 2,890 every six months.
Testing
- Brainbench offers many tests for free.
Language
- Think of Conjuguemos as an online workbook for your Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Latin language students. The site stores a large amount of practice activities, with more exercises added during the year by our users. Teachers can also create their own activities.
Five Minute MIS
Four “A”s of Information Management
- Acquire
- Analyze
- Assess
- Act
Five Minute MBA
Three “P”s and a “D” of Business
- Product
- Pricing
- Promotion
- Distribution
Sometimes this is presented as four “P”s, with “Place” substituting for “Distribution”. E.g., Marketing Mix at MarketingTeacher.com.
Five Minute BA in Philosophy
That brilliant insight you read, heard or had: were you remarking about how you know (decide that, discover that or determine that) something or remarking about what it is (its nature)? Technically, is it an epistemological question or a metaphysical question (respectively)? More than likely, the insight is interesting only if you can confuse the two types of observations.
Marianne Talbot lectures in Philosophy
A Classical Education
Consider working on the seven liberal arts: the Trivium (grammar, rhetoric and logic) and the Quadrivium (geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy)
An Undisciplined Education
The following questions do not seem to have an academic study or discipline that would address them:
- How are decisions made, when decisions are made well?
- How does work get done, when work gets done well?
- How do people work together, when people work together well?
The Problem of Questions
When giving a presentation, do you take questions during the presentation or hold them off until the end? If they are held off until the end, they probably won’t be asked. If they are given during the presentation, they interrupt its flow.
Have persons make a note of their questions, then break for questions every … fifteen minutes? There is probably an optimal interval to pause for questions. The written note to remind yourself of the question should be brief, perhaps three words. When you are writing, you are not listening.
A well prepared presentation should lead you along. The question you want to ask may be answered in the next few seconds. Waiting a hour before pausing for questions can make a brief note of three words unintelligible.
The compromise, then, would be to hold questions until a break, with frequent breaks.
Don’t be afraid to anticipate questions and, instead of waiting for the question to be asked, point out that further information is beyond the scope of this presentation.
The Problem of Mistakes
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. That’s how you learn. But why do you have to learn so much?
Presentations
Livelier PowerPoint presentations with:
- Poll Everywhere Poll via SMS, Twitter and update the Powerpoint slide
- Twitter Tools Poll via Twitter and update the Powerpoint slide
- Papershow project notes written during presentation
- Fotolia stock photographs, clipart
Projects
Here are links to various (science) projects:
- Instructables
- Make Magazine
- Xinventions
- Build a Wi-Fi antenna
- Repair and parts iPod, iPhone, Zune, Creative Zen, PSP, PSP Slim, NDS, NDS Lite, NDSi, Wii, XBOX 360, PS3
- CMUcam: Open Source Programmable Embedded Color Vision Sensors
Educators and students can get free components for educational purposes (regulators, Schottky diodes, and such) from Texas Instruments. Register at ti.com. Limit of eight items per order.
- RFID 4U
- RFID Basics Course helps learners to understand the fundamentals of RFID technology and provides an overview of RFID hardware including different types of tags, tag frequencies, readers, antennas, and so on.
- Wireless Connectivity: RF ICs and proprietary protocols for the Sub-1 and 2.4 GHz frequency bands, ANT™, Bluetooth®, Bluetooth low energy, RFID, PurePath™ Wireless audio, ZigBee®, IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee RF4CE, 6LoWPAN, Wi-Fi® [pdf]