New Education Resource

As readers of this blog may well know by this time, I am an advocate of self-education, of obtaining as much knowledge as possible. I have recently found some great resources for those wishing to pursue their own education at home, or just to enrich their lives. I find that this education is uplifting, inspiring and in general makes me happier. To paraphrase a quote in the McGuffy Reader series, which was popular in nineteenth century education, "If a day passes where you have not learned or done something useful, it is a day wasted and you ought to be very sorry for it."

So, the list of self education websites:

Yale Open Courses:
I like this resource because they have recorded the lectures in a downloadable format. You can listen to the professor, read the transcript, see the assignments in part, as well as the midterm and the answers in some cases and see which textbooks are used. So far I find the recordings to be clear, which is an advantage over some of the other open courses I've found, but the number of classes is fewer.
http://oyc.yale.edu/

U Moodle: provided by the University of Utah
I have to brag a bit about this site, allow me to plug my Alma Mater! Even though I haven't completed this set of courses, there are a few categories such as teaching and learning that I haven't seen on other open course ware sites.
http://my.courses.utah.edu/course/category.php?id=3

Utah State Open Course Ware:
I have used a few of the Family and Consumer Science courses and I loved them! The topics were interesting and the materials clear. There is a fee, as required, for some of the courses but the vast majority are free. Bonus: There are links on the homepage to other open course ware sites!
http://ocw.usu.edu/

John Hopkins Open Course Ware:
The classes here are, as might be expected, primarily medical in nature, but the topics looked interesting. I haven't checked this one out yet, but I hope to soon.
http://ocw.jhsph.edu/

Notre Dame Open Course Ware:
One of the categories that intrigued me here was a Medieval Studies category. They had some courses in categories I didn't see on other sites, including Catholic Tradition, Africana and Theology.
http://ocw.nd.edu/

Harvard Open Learning Initiative:
This one had very few courses but if you've wanted to sample Harvard, this is a great resource for you!
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/openlearning/

MIT Open Courses:
This was the first site I discovered and it has many courses. You can search courses by department, audio video and more.
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

UC Berkeley Open Courses:
The recordings here tended to be a bit garbled, but the courses are interesting none the less. I especially like how you can search the large number of classes by the term they were offered.
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/

Project Gutenberg:
While not an open course site, I love project Gutenberg for it's reading material. They have great books in classic literature, but also historic homemaking manuals (a favorite of mine!) and even a free CD or DVD download. It's entirely legal and fascinating! Audio book feature is nice for on the go education!
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

And a closing thought on education: "If formal education is not available, do not allow that to prevent you from acquiring all the knowledge you can. Under such circumstances, the best books, in a sense, can become your “university”—a classroom that is always open and admits all who apply. Strive to increase your knowledge of all that is “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” Seek knowledge “by study and also by faith.” Seek with a humble spirit and contrite heart. As you apply the spiritual dimension of faith to your study—even of temporal things—you can amplify your intellectual capacity, for “if your eye be single to [God’s] glory, your whole [body] shall be filled with light, … and [comprehend] all things.” - Dieter F. Uchtdorf