Knowledge
Community
Network
Signal
KNOWLEDGE
OPEN TRADITIONAL UNIVERSITY COURSES
Coursera
Offers free courses from a number of universities, including Princeton, Stanford, and Penn. “Watch lectures taught by world-class professors, learn at your own pace, test your knowledge, and reinforce concepts through interactive exercises.”
edX
A joint venture between MIT and Stanford. They award certificates to students who show a mastery of the subjects in their course.
Udacity
Currently offers free courses mostly in computer science from former Stanford professors. Although my favorite is How to Build a Startup with Steve Blank. We’ve written about them here.
The Faculty Project
The best professors from the world’s leading universities are coming together to teach online for free.” Created by Udemy.
Academic Earth
Lecture videos from the best universities in the U.S. Thematically organized into playlists. Also organized by subject and by university.
Venture Lab
Stanford University’s free online courses that are more engaging by making them more experiential, interactive, and collaborative. My favorite class is Design a New Learning Environment.
MIT Open Course Ware
Follow the curriculum guides to get a free MIT education. Various multimedia and resources for each course.
Open Yale Courses
30+ Yale courses, all subjects. Available video and audio are on iTunes and youtube.
Stanford Engineering Everywhere
13 Stanford engineering courses.
The Open University
600+ free online classes with exercises. Track progress. Use forum. Intro to advanced classes.
OCW Consortium
For more Open CourseWare universities, see current members, including 22 U.S. universities and many from around the world. The search engine for finding courses is mediocre.
Harvard Med School OCWI
115+ Harvard Medical School courses.
OPEN UNCONVENTIONAL UNIVERSITY COURSES
creativeLIVE
Watch free classes live. Pay for past recorded classes. “Online workshops in photography, video, web and graphic design, app development and many other creative topics. Our aim is to work with the best instructors who want to share their knowledge and creative expertise with the world.”
Treehouse and Code School
Courses and training videos on Web Design, Development and iOS.
The Floating University
Lectures from today’s biggest thinkers and leading scholars, including Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker.
Alison
Advanced Learning Interactive Systems Online. Offers 300+ free and interactive multimedia training courses. Use the manage feature for classes and groups.
saylor.org
Free ed. website with 13 areas of study each containing many courses that include readings, assignments, and other media.
Google Code University
Google courses for coding, programming. It’s Google so it has to be good.
Cojourneo
“Online workshops powered by human connections.” Features thought leaders like James Altucher and Jerry Colonna.
Udemy
Attend or create online courses. From free to $250 on any subject. Can include video, PowerPoint, PDFs, audio, and or classes.
Learnable
Attend or create online courses from $10-50 on Web Dev, Tech, Lifestyle, and Business.
CraftArtEdu
Online Art & Craft University. Tons of topics at a fraction of the cost of traditional art school.
VIDEO AND AUDIO LECTURES
TED
Tech Entertainment Design. Presentations of the most innovative ideas from around the world.
iTunes U
Downloadable courses available from hundreds of universities: Ivy League schools, Cambridge, Stanford, Caltech, Berkley, and more. It’s Apple so it has to be good. Search by subject or by university.
youtube.com/education
Thousands of videos available from hundreds of colleges. Each university has it’s own channel, including many Ivy League school. Search by college or by subject. 12 general subjects are further divided into subcategories, easier to browse and search than iTunes U.
Khan Academy
2,400 videos and some practice exercises. Lots of math, some science, some finance, test prep.
Stanford E-corner
Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner offers 2000 free videos and podcasts, featuring entrepreneurship and innovation thought leaders.
MIT World
Videos of significant public events at MIT.
Gresham College
Free public lectures from Gresham College. “London’s oldest Higher Education Institution.”
Stanford Mini Med School
Continuing Studies course sequence with more than thirty scientists and physicians from the School of Medicine.
Do Lectures
“Inspiring talks from people who are changing the world.”
Gel conference
Gel is a conference and community exploring good experience in all its forms – in art, business, technology, society, and life. The website isn’t great but the speakers are definitely worth watching.
Videos from Googleplex
“Google TechTalks are designed to disseminate a wide spectrum of views on [many] topics.” Also, see the Authors@Google speaker series.
PopTech
Brings together a global community of innovators from many fields to share insights and work together to create lasting change.
Documentary Heaven
Vast collection of documentaries spanning across many genres. Continuously updated on a daily basis.
Full Documentary
Watch free full length streaming documentaries.
Forum Network
PBS and NPR documentary videos.
Book TV
Nonfiction books only. Companion site to Book TV on C-Span2.
Front Row BC
900+ Videos of Boston College’s academic and cultural events.
HowStuffWorks Videos
From Discovery and other tv channels. Scroll down to explore categories.
eduFire
eduFire’s open video classes.
OPEN AND DIGITAL TEXTBOOKS
Kno
Textbooks 30-50% off. Use on the web, Facebook, iPad. Sync with courses. Checkout the features.
Flat World Knowledge
Premium open textbooks by top authors. Instructors choose and edit for their class.
Textbook Revolution
Student-run (crowdsourced) site that provides links to free online textbooks and other educational materials from teacher and professors.
bookboon.com
Over 1000 open ebooks written by professors and other experts for students, business professionals, and travel guides.
DOAJ
Directory of Open Access Journals. Free, full text, scientific journals. Research anything.
Scirius
Scirius is a comprehensive scientific research tool on the web. Over 460 million scientific items indexed, it allows researchers to search for not only journal content but also scientists’ homepages, courseware, pre-print server material, patents and institutional repository and website information.
Project Gutenberg
36,000+ open books (download as ebook) whose copyrights have expired.
Scribd
“The world’s largest social reading and publishing company. Share and discover entertaining, informative and original written content across the web and mobile devices.”
Inkling
iPad app for textbooks. Brings together text, audio, video. Very cool.
CourseSmart
“Includes over 90% of the core textbooks in use today in North American Higher Ed. as eTextbooks, and largest online catalog of eResources and digital course materials available for instant access.”
vitalsource
Digital textbook (ebook) software.
Nature Education’s Principles of Science Textbook Series
College-level textbooks. First book in series called Principles of Biology.
COMMUNITY
ONLINE LEARNING COMMUNITIES
P2PU
Crowd sourced learning, P2P learning anything. Create a group or course, join one. Still new and developing, not many groups.
MentorMob
Create or find learning playlists organized from best content on the web.
Veri
Ask questions, take tests, and quickly figure out what you do know and what you don’t. They are building a Wikipedia-like resource, where anyone can go to learn anything – for free.
Sophia
Free learning packets are voted up or down by members and stamped for correctness. Over 1000 learning packets mostly in Math, English and Science. Look at Collections for better stuff.
Wikiversity
Search the 15,000+ Wikipedia resources by type, school, level, and completion status.
University of Reddit
Teachers and students are free to explore any subject that interests them. Teachers given complete freedom in planning their curricula and how they want to carry out their class. Students don’t worry about attendance, grades, or tuition.
Connexions
Anyone can create modules which are then organized by “vetters” into courses. 1000s of collections that are used by millions of people.
Academia.edu
A community of 500,000+ researchers, it is a place to share and follow research.
Learnist
Create Learn Boards on topics you understand and add learnings by pointing to videos, blogs, images and documents on the web. [Still in Beta]
Zero Tuition College
Self-directed learners connect with eachother, mentors, and have assignments. About 200 students. 1:3 mentor/pro:student.
Learning Jar
Learn new skills, complete challenges, and share your portfolio with the world.
Languages
Livemocha
One of the world’s largest growing language learning communities. Also has courses and exercises.
Skype
Language exchange with whoever is using Skype around the world.
Palabea
Connects people who share the same interests in learning languages and in discovering cultures. People from all over the world can communicate via audio chat, video chat, and text messages to practice languages.
verbling
Learn a language online talking with native speakers.
BBC Languages
BBC language classes for beginner-intermediate learners. Only 7 languages
Quizlet
Find digital flashcards or make your own. Study wherever you go, sharewith classmates, play games. A great way to study languages.
OFFLINE COURSES AND SCHOOL-ISH PROGRAMS
Skillshare
U.S. based classes. See select cities. Sign up for classes, pay the fee. “Learn anything from anyone.”
TechShop
Workshop that provides machines, tools, and processes to anyone who wants to create or invent.
Apps For Good
A course that teaches young people how to create apps that change the world.
School Factory
Organization that creates value-creating communities and spaces that transform education.
The Amazings
Elders (over 50s) list skills they’ve developed over a lifetime. Skills are turned into activties for you to sign up for.
The Public School
School with no curriculum, classes proposed by public, people can sign up, and when there is enough interest, they find a teacher.
Citizen Circles
Social Innovation fueled by peer learning. 3+ person groups that solve local problems. Related to p2pu.org. Real world small application of this big p2p site.
Learning Unlimited
Learning Unlimited is leading a movement of college students teaching high school students everything and anything.
HourSchool
Type in what you want to learn. Create a class and find a teacher in your city.
Thinking Beyond Borders
Gap year (or semester). More of a cultural experience than anything.
LeapNow
Internships and programs abroad, focused towards kids out of high school. You can do your own retreat for more work but less dough down.
SAGE
Studies Abroad for Global Education. For students and educators who want to volunteer and travel.
The Barter Village
An experimental education project. Teaches how to survive using the most basic of items. Using only technologies that are human-powered participants learn to grow food and raise livestock.
School for Social Entrepeneurs
Australia. 9-month program that gives social entrepreneurs the personal and business support they need to grow their venture. Based on a learning by doing approach
The International Youth Initiative Program
Jarna, Sweden. Social entrepreneur training for youth aged 18-25. How to bring your initiative into being. Check out their recorded lectures.
Swaraj University
India. “Each learner builds their own portfolio over the course of 2 years, comprised of recommendations, self-reflections, published work, photographs, etc.” Learners start their own ‘green’ ventures in their communities. Rotating campus 2-4 weeks.
STUDY GROUPS
Course Hero
Access to the learning materials, tutors, and textbook help. “Providing an open platform where students and teachers of all ages can share and access quality learning resources in variety of subjects.”
OpenStudy
1000s of students. Find students who can help you. Post a question and others answer. One big study group. Massive multiplayer study group. Game-mechs.
hoot.me
Switch Facebook into study mode.
Codecademy
Learn coding with your friends. Take courses for beginners.
Stack Overflow
Collaboratively edited Q&A site for professional and enthusiast programmers.
StackExchange
Growing network of 66 Q&A sites on many diverse topics. Ask anything. Get it answered here. Over 1 million users.
Kibin
Crowdsourced editing community for essays, articles, resumes, poems, and any written content.
goodreads
Online book club.
43Things
List your goals, share your progess, connect with others doing the same things.
STUDY APPS
Snapguide
Snapguide is a free iOS app and web service for step-by-step how-to guides. Create your own or view guides others have made for topics such as cooking, gardening, crafts, repairs, do-it-yourself projects, fashion tips, entertaining and more.
ShowMe
The ShowMe iPad app lets you create lessons using a whiteboard. The app is free and there is no limit what you can teach. From chemistry to history to football strategy and more.
inClass
Free app that help you organize schedule and notes. “Reinventing going to class.”
educreations
Free app. “Teach what you know. Learn what you don’t . Create and share amazing video lessons with your iPad or browser.”
TUTORS AND TEACHERS, FIND ONE OR BE ONE
Evisors
Get advice from nearly 800 experts on topics related to business and education.
Betterfly
Find the best people to help get better at anything. Sign up as a “betterist” to help others. Big network of people.
Student of Fortune
Ask a question, tutors create tutorials. Preview, choose, and pay for one you want. Also be a tutor and answer questions.
tutorspree
Marketplace for high quality tutoring.
Skilio
A marketplace that connects members via live video on any subject. Choose from over 600 categories, use SM accounts to connect with people.
cramster.com
Online homework answering questions for college and high school students. Experts answer in under 2 hours. Also has 1000s of study guides (lecture notes, practice exams, video lectures). Free or paid subscriptions.
School of Everything
U.K. based. Tell us where you are, choose the subjects you’re interested in and we’ll help you find relevant teachers and lessons. Probably could connect with these teachers through Skype.
NETWORK
Start with the obvious: Use Linkedin and Twitter
BranchOut
Import professional data from Facebook and Linkedin. Discover connections, better job.
Identified
Uses Facebook to help professionals connect, companies find employees, and professionals find employers.
Meetup
Anyone can organize a local group sharing or doing anything. Or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face.
StudentMentor.org
Find or be a mentor. Matches college students with professionals. In person or virtual. More than 1. 30-60 minutes a week.
Ohours
Open hours help you meet new people, connect over shared interests, and structure your time together – so you spend more time with people and less on logistics. Ohours can be in person or by video chat.
LetsLunch
Complete a social profile or connect with Linkedin, give your availability and logistics, have lunch with great people.
GrubWithUs
“A community where friends and future friends create and join group meals. Whether you want to get to know people from your neighborhood, you’re in a new city, or just want to meet like-minded folks, Grubwithus meals are hosted at restaurants and typically have 6-10 people at each table.”
Glassdoor
Find jobs and see company salaries, reviews, and interviews – all posted anonymously by employees.
Clarity
An online network that brokers high value consulting and mentoring relationships over the phone for business owners.
Sonar
Sonar is a mobile app that uses data from Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and LinkedIn to help introduce you to relevant people who share your interests, friends and professional contacts.
InternMatch
Students apply to internships. Employers can recruit. Currently, only available on the west coast. Includes guides to successful interning.
VolunteerMatch
Matches volunteers to nonprofits. Use to find volunteer opportunities or recruit volunteers.
Whitetruffle
Matches engineers with startups. Build an anonymous profile, and they email you when there’s a company that’s interested.
GitHub Mentoring
Mentoring for coders.
hackNY
Organizes Summer Fellows program and student ‘hackathons’ during the year in order to empower a community of student-technologists.
MeetingWave
Helps you meet new friends, clients, or business contacts, while providing you with control, privacy and flexibility. Meetings only confirmed if everyone agrees and your name and contact info are private until you are ready to exchange business cards.
WWOOF
Worldwide Opps on Organic Farms. Links volunteers with organic farmers, share sustainable ways of living.
CouchSurfing
Connects travellers with local communities and places to crash.
Adopt a Hacker
Tech people (hackers) that want to come to NYC apply to stay with a member of the startup scene. Like couchsurfing for hackers.
Vayable
Social travel website that “connects explorers with great people who want to share the things they love to do.”
Spark
Apprenticeship network for lower income youth. Only in 3 big cities. “Spark’s mission is to provide life-changing apprenticeships to youth in underserved communities across the United States.”
Sparked
Online volunteering, virtual volunteering.
Assetmap
Build your network of friends and colleagues, share needs, and discover resources through social networks.
Plancast
Discover cool events and share plans with friends.
Rebellious Truths
A social movement inspiring the next generation of responsible revolutionaries. Great content and community that empower youth to band together and create change. Check out their Rise Our American Youth video to get an idea of what they’re about.
SIGNAL
Platform to create and share “Certs” (certifications) for yourself.
Network for creative professionals to showcase their talent and for companies to find them.
dribbble
Designers, developers and other creatives share shots—small screenshots of the designs and applications they are working on.
Mixtent
Rate and discover the most talented people in your LinkIn network.
Honestly
Candid community-created reviews of business professionals, through Facebook.
Zerply
Build a professional profile and find like-minded people by tags, skills, location.
Smarterer
Take tests in order to prove your skills in a wide span of subjects – from facebook to CSS to English for Business. Share your scores, and recruiters can even evaluate candidates by comparing smarterer scores.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons helps you share your knowledge and creativity with the world. Develops, supports, and stewards legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.
oDesk
Build your career here with more than 10,000 jobs from companies around the world.
SkillSlate
An auction site for local services that crowdsources the best people to apply for any job you need done.
taskrabbit
Get just about anything done by safe, reliable people. TaskRabbits are people in your community who just want something more interesting than a standard desk job.
Gigwalk
Use your smartphone to get work. Businesses outsource gigs to people around the world.
GitHub
Largest coding host in the world. “We make it easier to collaborate with others and share your projects with the universe.”
Kickstarter
Start and get funding for your creative project. Discover and help fund the projects of others.
University of the People
“Provides universal access to tuition-free online post-secondary education to qualified students in order that students may be able to overcome any geographic or financial limitations and access higher learning.” Partnered with HP to provide online internships for their students.
StraighterLine
College courses online for a $99/month subscription. Credit goes toward partner colleges.
knext.com
Turns work/life experience into college credit for partner institutions.
learningcounts.org
College credit for what you already know. Prepare a portfolio or video of yourself or take a test.
College Unbound
Southern New Hampshire University. Get degrees through a program of your own interests and goals. Real world learning, internships, work.
Western Governs Univ
Low-cost, online University that offers competency-based degrees.
CodeLesson
Online technology learning. Courses usually around $300. Check out the Be Your Own Technical Co-Founder track.
Singularity University
Study the growth of technology and how it can solve major problems of the world. 9 week Summer grad program. Connect with top thinkers.
General Assembly
NYC. Multi-faceted (design, tech, entrep) campus to serve the needs of entrepreneurs and advance the startups in NY (Manhattan). Some members use as full-time base of operations to run their startups. Others use to meet future colleagues, attend talks, workshops, and classes.
Startup Weekend
Startup Weekends are 54 hour events where developers, designers, marketers, and product managers come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups.
StartingBloc
A people incubator with chapters in a few major cities. Check out theirfellowship program and workshops.
ac4d
Austin, Texas. School for interaction design and social entrepreneurship. 1 year program. Checkout their curriculum and courses.
AudioVisual Academy
Comprehensive open online educational program for new media and audiovisual studies.
YES Program
Youth Exchange and Study Program. Gives high school students and recent grads full scholarships for up to one academic year to live and study abroad in contries with significant Muslim populations.
Hungry Academy
LivingSocial’s 5 month apprenticeship program. Open to programmers and nonprogrammers. College or no college.
Code for America
Helping cities use web technology to do a better job of providing services to citizens. Offer city governments technical talent at less than market rates. 11 month fellowship program.
Design for America
“Design for America teaches human centered design to young adults and collaborating community partners and implements innovative solutions based on insights into human needs, rapid prototyping, user-testing, and interdisciplinary team work.” Year program (9 months), Summer program (6 weeks).
W+K 12
Appl to this Portland based group that, among other things, create campaigns for local businesses and non-profits.
The Mycelium School
A new school for social change and innovation that will open in 2012/13. Teaches community development, self-reliant living, permaculture, cool stuff.
Tetuan Valley
Spain. Nonprofit startup school for social entrepreneurship. Programs last 6 weeks. Checkout the alumni and their startups.
New Entrepreneurs Foundation
Britain. 25 UK students work for a year with the country’s leading entrepreneurs.
TSiBA
South Africa. Tertiary School in Business Administration for entrepreneurial leaders who ignite opportunity and social change. Integrates personal development with business learning through coordinated internships, mentorship, leadership, entrepreneurship and career management programs.
Knowmads
Amsterdam. School for entrepreneurs who want to make a positive difference in this world.
Hyper Island
Sweden. “The digital Harvard” Select group of students that are learning together. Application process is really cool. No teachers and no tests. Participants work side-by-side with professionals, in an environment that mirrors the workplace. Programs are limited to digital media, ecommerce, and mobile apps.
KAOSPilot
Denmark. Positive social change through personal growth and business. Three year programs: Business Design, Leadership Design, Project Design, Process Design. No grades.
Team Academy of JAMK University
Finland. Teams of entrepreneurs act as companies and find real life projects to work on. Guidance from coaches. Many grads go on to start their own businesses.
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