4 Start-Ups Are Offering Free Online Courses

Photo: Nick DeSantis

"The market for free online courses is growing every week, with new companies emerging to offer open courses to anyone who wants them. Some of them have forgone the support of traditional institutions to try the for-profit waters instead." summarizes Nick DeSantis. 

For anyone who might be struggling to keep track of the ever-growing field—the companies’ names can sound similar or stretch the bounds of the dictionary—below are four recently created start-ups challenging the traditional degree model with their free online courses:

Udacity:
The free education platform that grew out of Stanford professor Sebastian Thrun’s huge artificial-intelligence course has its own plans to expand. When Udacity appeared a few weeks ago, two courses—one on building a search engine and the other on programming a robotic car—were in the works. They start on February 20 and will last seven weeks. And now, Udacity’s Web site lists eight new courses, all slated to begin later this year. The new offerings include classes on computer security and building Web applications. Students who finish a course will get a signed certificate.
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Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education (Blog)