Web Review: Expand horizons with distant learning online

With the internet becoming faster, we can now have access to course materials and other academic resources online from the top universities in the world.

Here are some online platforms where one can get free online courses and tutorials, trainings, video lectures, and many else, from universities including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, Duke, UC Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, among others.  

Harvard Online Learning

Harvard University invites you to explore its extensive, world-class online learning opportunities, ranging from podcasts and lectures to fully interactive courses and programs, all available here.      

MIT OpenCourseWare

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has launched its OpenCourseWare (OCW) with a simple idea: to publish all of its course materials online and make them widely available to everyone.

OpenLearn: The Open University

With the OpenLearn online portal, The Open University aims to break the barriers to education by reaching millions of learners around the world, providing free educational resources and inviting all to sample courses that its registered students take, and all that for free.

OpenLearn is a great place to know what to expect from university study. With over 800 free courses offered across a variety of subject areas, you can be sure of finding something that interests you.

Coursera

Coursera provides universal access to the world's best education, offering an array of courses online partnering with top universities and organisations in the world. Each of the courses, which are mostly offered for free, is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes, and projects.

Open2Study

Open2Study is an online learning portal backed by Open Universities Australia (OUA), an Australian leader in accredited online education. It offers free online courses in various subjects, and also accredited courses leading to graduate and postgraduate degrees. 

edX

Founded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012, edX is an online learning destination that offers high-quality courses from 90 global partners including the world's best universities and institutions to learners across the globe.

Open edX is the open-source platform that powers edX courses and is freely available. With Open edX, educators and technologists can build learning tools and contribute new features to the platform, creating innovative solutions to benefit students everywhere.

FutureLearn

FutureLearn is an online learning platform run by 113 partner universities and special organisations who carefully design each online course, so that the students can study with them no matter where they are.

So, all you need to do now is to choose the online distant learning portal and sign up for the courses or materials you would like to study. Happy learning!