College and University Blog
Academic Earth: Go Ivy League For Free!
After turning down a notable job offer and an admission to Harvard Business School, Yale graduate and entrepreneur, Richard Ludlow, launched this past March, AcademicEarth.org, an online resource that offers nearly 2,400 video lectures and 60 full courses for free to anyone interested in a little ivy league quality knowledge from a number of elite universities. Ludlow envisioned technology as a fresh approach to creating a user-friendly resource tool that allows anyone the opportunity to access this level of education.
“We are building a user-friendly educational ecosystem that will give internet users around the world the ability to easily find, interact with, and learn from full video courses and lectures from the world’s leading scholars._” -_AcademicEarth.org
During my tour of the site, I attended a lecture taught by Marian Diamond from Berkley on the human brain and muscular system and then ventured over to Yale for a course in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) taught by Christine Hayes. (Courses and lectures in literature, religion or art forms are limited in their existence on this site, but if it is math and science you are interested in, there is a plethora to choose from.)
Here are the subject options:
- Astronomy
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Economics
- Engineering
- English
- Entrepreneurship
- History
- Law
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Philosophy
- Physics
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Religion
From universities such as:
- Berkeley
- Harvard
- MIT
- Princeton
- Stanford
- Yale
Other Useful Education Resources Sites
AcademicEarth.org is not the only resource of its kind. ForaTV is a widely available site that gathers videos from lectures, events, and debates from leading universities and other “big-idea” knowledge outlets. Big Think is a YouTube modeled site that allows users to connect on a public forum with public intellectuals of a melange of fields. YouTube EDU is another site that offers a large collection of videos and lectures from different universities.
Unfortunately, if you are looking for some sort of commendation, acclaim, or mark for job placement just for partaking in this tool, you might be disappointed. AcademicEarth and the other similar sites mentioned are simply a medium for knowledge. In actuality, the enjoyment of gleaning priceless education without the worries of essays, speeches, tests, and tardiness can be extremely rewarding. Have fun; try ivy league for free.