Alternative Learning

 This site is a search engine for courses from the UK, you can select your specifications (make sure to include "Online and Distance if you planning to be studying online). It includes only recognized institutions. It might save some time searching through multiple sites.

http://www.hotcourses.com/
Most may already be aware of this, but the English system and levels of education are different than the American system. You'll want to know what qualifications the course you're interested in is offering you.

I wasn't accustomed to the English system prior to looking at these courses. This article clearly explains the "US/international equivalency" for the English levels of qualification.

As a personal opinion, I wouldn't pay for any course that offers a diploma under level 3.

A friend of mine saw this and sent it to me. I checked it out and it looked good. If you're interested in other colleges and courses like the one offered below see my previous post Get Certified!

From: Nyra
Hi there budding students and learners!

I was researching online colleges and universities some time back, looking for good diploma courses, etc. After a lot of hunting I found a UK based online college, that those of you interested in studying online may find appealing. They have all kinds of courses ranging from aromatherapy to electronics, very self paced and the materials very satisfactory, I have been learning a lot! Plus the cost is not very much! Anyway, take a look and it might be what you're looking for
www.Stonebridge.uk.com
Hope it's a help, Enjoy!

Introducing...

Academic Earth, a site which offers the most complete video courses I've seen on the net. Most of the courses are series of lectures from universities like Princeton, Yale and Berkeley.

Youtube Edu, a educational section of youtube which also contains lectures and other various educational videos. I'm not as fond of this one in comparison to the site above.

Watching video lectures will not give you a complete education in a certain subject, but they're definitely helpful as supplement material for your studies and learning more about your subject of interest. For an example see: Learning Through Multiple Avenues


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When studying an online course, I find it helpful to study a topic from a few sources, or supplement a course I'm taking with additional material. For example, I'm currently studying to be a Certified Professional Trainer in a free course offered by ACT.  ACT's certification is quite revolutionary as they offer it free of charge as long as you complete their 300 page textbook and pass their online exam (see previous post: Get Certified).

However, as a suplement to what I'm learning in Physical Training I'm watching lectures on General Human Anatomy from Academic Earth, a website that offers sets of lectures from various universities on a host of different subjects.

I think this is one great way to get a well rounded and (in this case) free education, find your desired course ( I prefer those that offer a diploma or certification at the end), and then supplement your studies with university courses on that subject, you'll be sure to get a well rounded education in that field.

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What I like about certification is that it generally is not as time consuming as taking on a degree program or something of that sort (depending on the certification you're after), but at the same time it does give you the requisite knowledge for those fields and provides you with something more substantial than a free online program or course.

If you're already skilled and knowledgeable in a certain area then it's worth it to become certified.

Expert Rating offers certification in a huge variety of fields, however, some do not take this too seriously, I was looking for a course that would give me certification as a personal trainer and in online forums I found alot both for and against doing a course with certification on this site (see it here). I did find it helpful to look at all the topics and get ideas for areas that I'm experienced in and would like to progress/receive certification  in, then taking that subject that I saw on Expert Rating I googled and found good courses that would provide better training and certification in that specific field. It's your choice in the end, whether to go for it or not.

Oxford College has non degree courses in a variety of subjects, they're mostly less than 400 hours to complete and the name obviously holds alot more water than the above mentioned site.

Penn Foster College also provides Career Training with Certification in a variety of fields.

I'm looking for more credible and accredited institutions that offer short courses and tests for certification, so if you know of any please leave a comment.

Hi and welcome to Alternative Learning. This is a comprehensive, categorized and complete resource for everyone who is looking for:

• Free education, courses and learning opportunities online

• Cheap online courses, certification programs or colleges

• Financial Aid to help you in your studies

I’ve spent much time researching education opportunities online, with a focus on inexpensive or free learning opportunities . I have no miracle stories, or claims of $20,000 dropping in my lap, but I’ve complied an extensive database of websites and courses that may be helpful to you. I’ve been quite happy with the learning and studying that I’ve been able to do freely, and online. I hope it's a help to you all.


I obviously have not tried all the services or courses that I link to on this blog, however anything that is linked to here is in my opinion safe and reliable. Of course before choosing any option, or spending money on any course it's good to look into it further.

This blog is the result of many, many hours researching and studying, so be smart and take a look around; I bet you'll find something helpful to you, whatever your goals may be.

Universities offering Open Course Ware

There are a host of courses available from universities online. I found some of it led to a lot of time spent looking at lecture notes, parts of classes, courses that do not offer any university credit, and in many cases not getting anything that would bring me from A-Z as far as "real life" goes.

For example, if I wanted a career as a musician, I would look for music courses. However when you find music courses under university open course ware, you'll often find the course to be something like, "Universe of Music, investigating the role of instruments, culture, myth and science in the evolution of music." (real example used) Which is something I don't have the time or desire to delve into.

However, others may find these helpful in their development so I'm posting some of the main universities offering open course ware online, remember that these courses will not earn you university credit, it's purely for learning.

Carnagie Melon University - Open Learning Initiative. You'll find courses on topics like Chemistry, Statistics, Modern Biology, Logic & Proofs and Physics to name a few.

University of California - Irving I liked this site and the open course ware it offers. Seems quite complete and on topics like Social Sciences, Engineering, Biological Sciences, Education, Business Management, etc.

UC Berkeley’s OpenCourseWare webcasts can be found on three websites: Webcast.Berkeley, Berkeley on YouTube, and Berkeley on iTunes University.

Weber State University Available Departments in open course ware are: Automotive Technology, Criminal Justice, English, Health Promotion and Human Performance, Information Systems & Technology

Capilano University offers open course ware in Anthropology, Art History, Business, Chemistry, Computing Science, English, Geography, Mathematics & Statistic, Philosophy and Studio Art.

University of Utah. You have to create an account to access their courses. Categories of learning are: Art & Art History, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, Educational Psychology, English, History, Math, Pharmacotherapy, Physics, Teaching & Learning, Computer Science.

The Universities with open course ware that I wouldn't bother perusing

University of Notre Dame. This site had topics that I found interesting such as Africana Studies, Peace Studies, Latino Studies, etc. They had alot of the material as "reading assignments' and only provided the references. This would mean time spent looking for the material, which for me isn't worth it.

Michigan State University offering courses on: Food Safety, Horse Management, International Business, Planning and Zoning. Somehow - except for International Business - those topics don't seem relevant to me.

Tufts University this is a list of all open course warethey have to offer, I looked  at a few subjects and some didn't seem comprehensive, but they do have a very wide array of subjects so it might be worth a try if you're interested in something as random as epidemiology and biostatics.

John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health this university course ware is health; from infectious diseases to mental health. I'm sure that will appeal to some people.

MIT University - Open Course Ware. This university turned up alot whenever I searched for courses, however in looking at their courses I wasn't able to find anything very straight forward and conclusive.

University of Massachusetts Boston This site seemed to mainly offer lecture notes for its courses.

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