Invaluable knowledge resources

March 1st, 2010

Books There are numerous sources of knowledge on the Internet. Among the eLearning resources, specialized reading, focus groups, portals, etc., you can find the topic that is of interest to you and spend a lot of hours reading and watching videos on the subject.

I am also very keen on learning new things and gathering knowledge in various spheres of life. So, I was very excited, when several years ago, one of the most prominent universities in the IT sphere – the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), decided to start an innovative project – to make the courses, taught to MIT students, available online. Since then, many universities have made this step, and as a result, you can now “attend” top universities’ courses from the comfort of your own home, to mix and match content according to your own interests and needs, and to design unique curricula for yourselves.

So here is (hopefully, an ever growing) list of links to the publicly available university courses and other knowledge resources:

Academic Earth [http://www.academicearth.org/]
MIT Open CourseWare (OCW) project [http://ocw.mit.edu]
MIT World [http://mitworld.mit.edu]
UC Berkeley Webcasts [http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php]
Open Yale Courses [http://oyc.yale.edu]
Apple iTunes U [http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning]
Research Channel Video Library [http://www.researchchannel.org]
Sceince Stage [http://sciencestage.com]
TeacherTube [http://www.teachertube.com]
TED Talks [http://www.ted.com]
Udemy [http://www.udemy.com]
videolectures.net [http://videolectures.net]
YouTube EDU [http://www.youtube.com/education]
Yovisto [http://www.yovisto.com]
RSA [http://www.thersa.org]
Open CourseWare Consortium [http://www.ocwconsortium.org]

Feel free to propose other valuable resources, that belong to the list. Also, be sure to revisit this article, as it is my intention to keep the list updated as I find other valuable resources.

[Image by svilen001, taken from www.sxc.hu]

Video inspiration – TED Talks

January 7th, 2009

TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, is a conference, held annually in Long Beach, California since 1984. It is famous for “bringing together the world’s most famous thinkers and doers”. It currently covers the topics Technology, Entertainment, Design, Business, Science, Culture, Arts and Global issues, with probably more to come. The conference presentations are made from the people who shape the future (Seth Godin, Isabel Allende and Bono to name just a few). The event is something people from all over the world are lining up to attend (if they can afford to, it’s a bit pricey).

Each year, three exceptional individuals receive $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of “One Wish to Change the World.” This is the TED prize, that goes to the three people with the most world-changing dream.

Since several years, the presentations, a.k.a TED Talks, are available online for watching under a Creative Commons license. They are a valuable knowledge collection, as well as a genuine source of inspiration.

I wish you unforgettable moments with these jewels!