Websites you really should be aware of

[frihyland]

I'll start out with several free online education sites.

MIT open courseware the first to open source all their education materials, thanks for starting the online education revolution guys

 

Khan Academy I learned economics and financial analyses here, there's 3100 classes from basic arithmetic to art history

 

Udacity Google university, just programming at the moment but you simply can't find better programming classes anywhere for any price

 

 

How about some awe inspiring art and science that may change the world (and definitely brighten your day)

 

TED Talks - Ideas worth spreading, this will blow your mind and open your heart

 

Gapminder - How to use data to get real answers

 

Metaefficient - Info on the smartest uses of technology

---

z929669--> adding to Fri's great resources:

 

CS50 OpenCourseWare (Harvard class - into to computer science. GREAT course for beginners and intermediate developers. Features several semesters of full course instruction for FREE from one of the best instructors in the world. Get the CS50 Appliand VM to completely immerse yourself as a student taking this class!)

 

Stanford School fo Engineering - Intro to Computer Sci

 

Building Mobile Apps - CSE76 OpenCourseWare

[Roogal]

Essay Typer - For you last minute essay needs.

https://essaytyper.com/

 

Harvard Referencing Generator - Works surprisingly well most of the time.

https://www.harvardgenerator.com/

 

Ninite - Create a custom selection of usefull freeware with automated installs. (Simply schedule to run weekely to keep everything up to date).

https://ninite.com/

 

Convert PDF to word - Works most of the time and suprisingly keep tables and other formatting. Tried several and this is the best and free.

https://www.pdftoword.com/

 

Zamzar Online Converter - Convert many many file types.

https://zamzar.com/

 

Glasnost - Test if your ISP is shaping bittorent traffic.

https://loki08.mpi-sws.mpg.de/bb//glasnost.php?measure=yes&repeat=3&duration=20&down=yes&up=yes&port=0&port2=0&protocol1=BitTorrent

 

Nearmap - If you live in australia it provides access to really high res aerial imagery, much better then google maps.

https://www.nearmap.com/welcome-new

[Bealdwine]

I'm sure most know about this MS one - Dreamspark - they've tightened it up a bit for access but if you are at college, or have children there, it's a good way to get otherwise unaffordable dev software to play with.

 

I know the top 3 fri, but will look with interest at the others :)

[stoppingby4now]

Excellent resources Fri. I've been following Ted Talks for several years.

 

Love the online courses links. Already see some that I'm very interested in. +1

[MontyMM]

:)

 

As the song says, "These are a few of my favourite things!"

 

I think there's even a good case for putting these in the wiki, under resources for people who would like to learn more about computer science and development. And everything else under the sun!

[Roogal]

Essay Typer - For your last minute essay needs.

 

Spreeder - Trains you to speed read.

 

Kickstarter - Contribute to startup projects.

 

Harvard Referencing Generator - Generates reference via URL or ISBN.

 

Ninite - Create a custom selection of usefull freeware with automated installs. (Simply schedule to run shortcut weekely to keep everything up to date).

 

Convert PDF to word - As stated and keep tables and other formatting. Tried several and this is the best and free.

 

Zamzar Online Converter - Convert many many file types.

 

Glasnost - Test if your ISP is shaping bittorent traffic.

 

Nearmap - If you live in australia it provides access to really high res aerial imagery, much better then google maps.

 

Grooveshark - Listen to a huge amount of songs free and create custom playlists.

 

 

 

Most of these are just tools but you may find them usefull. I just came across kickstarter recently and I find the way it exposes projects and lets you be a part of them

to be fantastic. Some interesting ones ive seen so far are - Twine funky monitor device and pebble an e ink watch.

[Roogal]

Essay Typer - For your last minute essay needs.

 

Spreeder - Trains you to speed read.

 

Kickstarter - Contribute to startup projects.

 

Harvard Referencing Generator - Generates reference via URL or ISBN.

 

Ninite - Create a custom selection of usefull freeware with automated installs. (Simply schedule to run shortcut weekely to keep everything up to date).

 

Convert PDF to word - As stated and keep tables and other formatting. Tried several and this is the best and free.

 

Zamzar Online Converter - Convert many many file types.

 

Glasnost - Test if your ISP is shaping bittorent traffic.

 

Nearmap - If you live in australia it provides access to really high res aerial imagery, much better then google maps.

 

Grooveshark - Listen to a huge amount of songs free and create custom playlists.

 

 

 

Most of these are just tools but you may find them usefull. I just came across kickstarter recently and I find the way it exposes projects and lets you be a part of them

to be fantastic. Some interesting ones ive seen so far are - Twine funky monitor device and pebble an e ink watch.

[Roogal]

Essay Typer - For your last minute essay needs.

 

Spreeder - Trains you to speed read.

 

Kickstarter - Contribute to startup projects.

 

Harvard Referencing Generator - Generates reference via URL or ISBN.

 

Ninite - Create a custom selection of usefull freeware with automated installs. (Simply schedule to run shortcut weekely to keep everything up to date).

 

Convert PDF to word - As stated and keep tables and other formatting. Tried several and this is the best and free.

 

Zamzar Online Converter - Convert many many file types.

 

Glasnost - Test if your ISP is shaping bittorent traffic.

 

Nearmap - If you live in australia it provides access to really high res aerial imagery, much better then google maps.

 

Grooveshark - Listen to a huge amount of songs free and create custom playlists.

 

 

 

Most of these are just tools but you may find them usefull. I just came across kickstarter recently and I find the way it exposes projects and lets you be a part of them

to be fantastic. Some interesting ones ive seen so far are - Twine funky monitor device and pebble an e ink watch.

[Roogal]

Essay Typer - For your last minute essay needs.

 

Spreeder - Trains you to speed read.

 

Kickstarter - Contribute to startup projects.

 

Harvard Referencing Generator - Generates reference via URL or ISBN.

 

Ninite - Create a custom selection of usefull freeware with automated installs. (Simply schedule to run shortcut weekely to keep everything up to date).

 

Convert PDF to word - As stated and keep tables and other formatting. Tried several and this is the best and free.

 

Zamzar Online Converter - Convert many many file types.

 

Glasnost - Test if your ISP is shaping bittorent traffic.

 

Nearmap - If you live in australia it provides access to really high res aerial imagery, much better then google maps.

 

Grooveshark - Listen to a huge amount of songs free and create custom playlists.

 

 

 

Most of these are just tools but you may find them useful. I just came across kick starter recently and I find the way it exposes projects and lets you be a part of them

to be fantastic. Some interesting ones ive seen so far are - Twine funky monitor device and pebble an e ink watch.

[Roogal]

Most of these are just online tools rather then learing resources but some of you may find them useful like I have . I just came across kickstarter recently and I find the way it exposes projects and lets you be a part of them to be fantastic. Some interesting ones ive seen so far are - Twine funky monitor device and pebble an e ink watch.

 

Essay Typer - For your last minute essay needs.

 

Spreeder - Trains you to speed read.

 

Kickstarter - Contribute to startup projects.

 

Harvard Referencing Generator - Generates reference via URL or ISBN.

 

Ninite- Create a custom selection of usefull freeware with automated installs.

 

Convert PDF to word - As stated and keep tables and other formatting. Tried several and this is the best and free.

 

Zamzar Online Converter - Convert many many file types.

 

Glasnost - Test if your ISP is shaping bittorent traffic.

 

Nearmap - If you live in australia it provides access to really high res aerial imagery, much better then google maps.

 

Grooveshark - Listen to a huge amount of songs free and create custom playlists.

[skwareballz]

All these sites are awesome, and OpenCourseWare has bailed me out a few times.

 

Zuesoft - This is like Ninite except its a nice little app for software that is about 90% open-source.

[frihyland]

Interesting article on free online education

[Bealdwine]

A good read Fri, any initiatives of this kind have to be welcomed. I would be much happier to see a group have the courage to offer a valid certification through these courses as well... BUT, many universities and colleges are now little more than money-minded conveyorbelt systems (the accountant effect again) although they would argue blue faced that it is all about the education :P

 

With the relatively low overheads of an online 'university' it might even be possible to pay reasonable wages to lecturers for marking and assessment through some forms of advertising and industry involvement. Except that accredited organisations would never give their qualifications away for free.

However, if a certification was given with due diligence, accredited or not, and students with that certificate were found to be exceptionally competent it would gain a market value of its own (after all that's how Oxbridge certification came about - just as a paper to prove "I went here to learn, and they say I did").

 

The biggest problem with distance learning is ensuring the work has been done by the claiming student ;) Although there are ways of capturing plagiarism, substitute students would be harder to catch.

 

Be that as it may, any schemes making true education more widely available have got to be a great thing :D

[frihyland]

I am more interested in constructively sharing knowledge than I am in seeing people get a piece of paper saying they have knowledge.

 

Education is a process, at no point do you become "educated" as a result of it, that is always a false claim imo. Semantically it would be ok to say that I have experienced 7 years of education as that claims no final result of the process, but it still implies that 7 years is better than 1 year which may not be true.

 

I just think a paradigm shift is vastly overdue for education.

[Bealdwine]

This is of course true, however in the real world learning for the sake of learning can be deeply satisfying but try to convince an employer that you are worth your salt with anything BUT those pieces of paper and you won't get far.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you by any means, but sadly it is a fact that at some point we have to make some arbitrary and completely artificial statement about the progress of an individuals attainment. That tends to be based on assessment of results from study (ongoing or through exam) + the status of the awarding institution (which hopefully they deserve :P ). It means very little in intillectual terms but if education/learning is to have any currency for other than personal satisfaction it has to be done, right or wrong.

Of course it doesn't guarantee expertise or even accomplishment (unless everyone carried their full portfolio of marked work araound to show!). It mainly gives a vague interpretation of commitment, capability and potential. Only application through experience has any more concrete meaning.