I’ve often said that education should be for adults. I remember trying desperately to care about US History when I was in high school but I found it dreadfully boring. Today, I absolutely love US History and can’t get enough of it. In college I did as little as I needed to do to pass Humanities class. I’d love to get another crack at it now.

In this day and age, there is so much information available that to not avail yourself of it to increase your knowledge of any subject is a real shame. It doesn’t matter the topic, whether it be the arts, science, literature, you name it; it’s out there. I’m going to give you a few resources you may be unaware of. When I first discovered these, I could hardly believe this kind of educational material was available for free. Now, I’m just excited to try to find a way to fit all of it into my schedule.

MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has created OpenCourseWare, a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content! There is no registration required and it’s absolutely free! Interested in Anthropology? There are 38 courses available from Intro to Anthropology to The Anthropology of Cybercultures and everything in between. Perhaps, like me, you have an interest in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Structure of Earth Materials, Structural Geology, Intro to Astronomy and Intro to Seismology are just a few of the courses available to choose from. Courses vary in the style and quantity of information available. For example the Intro to Biology course has Video Lectures, Assignments (with solutions), Audio Lectures, Lecture Notes and the actual Exams (with solutions).

Open Culture has is an aggregator of free online courses in all manner of topics. Free audio books, movies, language lessons, eBooks are all found here. The editor of Open Culture is Dan Coleman, Associate Dean of Stanford’s Continuing Studies Program. Open Culture also has a free iPhone app that includes a plethora of free audio books (I tested it by listening to Aristotle’s Poetics), Foreign Language Lessons, and a lot more.

I hope you will take advantage of these resources and pick a topic you find interesting and expand your knowledge. “The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.” ~Mortimer Adler