Need to brush up your skills or pursue an area of interest, but don’t want to take a formalized university course? As flexible learning becomes increasingly popular, more and more schools and organizations are offering online learning opportunities. Add two to the ever-growing list: Coursera and Udacity.
Coursera ?partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online.? Courses come with a specific start date and run anywhere from four to twelve weeks, and there are always new courses becoming available as the calendar progresses. Offerings range from English from Duke to organizational management from Vanderbilt to computer science from Princeton. Anyone can study with Coursera; all materials are freely available online.
Udacity takes a different approach; courses are also free, but are available via open enrollment. There are no deadlines. Instruction is accomplished through ?bite-sized videos,? and the site offers forums and a place to arrange study groups and meetups. Current course offerings include business, computer science, math, and physics.