A UK research report has found a growing number of couples over 60 live in separate households, a trend particularly pronounced among those entering a new relationship at this stage of their lives. Improved mental health is a bonus.
Speakers of the calibre of David Knoff, the expedition leader stranded with his team in Antarctic during COVID, can regularly be heard at this global institution that places a premium on knowledge, not qualifications.
Leading US universities offer free tertiary courses
We might not particularly like all aspects of the US, but we must admit that they do have some of the best (and worst, but that’s another story) universities in the world. So, who wouldn’t want to study at Harvard? How great would it be to listen to a leading Harvard professor teach topics such as justice or historical literature.
Yes, you too can access some of the intellectual capital of leading American universities, often for free. How did this come about?
Well, over a decade ago a transformation took place in the field of open and online education with the growth of open educational resources. That is, institutions in this field were making some of their educational resources available to all, especially to higher education in developing countries.
A product of these developments was the emergence of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), its key features being open access, unlimited participation and online availability via the Web.
Over the years, hundreds of universities have introduced MOOCs (many turning out to be not so massive after all), often in concert with partner providers, with prominent examples being the non-profits Khan Academy and edX and the for-profit providers Udacity and Coursera.
You can access courses from Harvard, Stanford and MIT, but also find some gems of learning from much smaller and less well-known universities such as my own first institution of higher learning, the University of Tasmania. A decade ago, it launched the course Understanding Dementia, which was recognised in the prestigious journal Nature.
But let’s get back to Harvard. If you’re intrigued by the concept of justice and its application, you’d do no better than to investigate the 12-week, self-paced course Justice, essentially an introduction to moral and political philosophy.
It was Harvard’s first free online course, and the teacher is the world-renowned academic Michael Sandel, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass professor of government. And I don’t laud him lightly, as even China Newsweek labelled him as the most influential foreign figure of the year in 2013. The free version allows you access to select course material, activities, tests and forums. For a fee of $US209 ($318), you can take the exam to earn a certificate, your very own Harvard qualification.
Turning to Stanford, you might investigate their range of humanities courses, including Defining the String Quartet: Hayden to Online Jamming and Concert Technology. Their engineering courses include quantum mechanics for scientists and engineers.
Engineering also features prominently among MIT’s online courses where you’ll find specialist subjects such as engineering design and rapid prototyping alongside introductory courses in calculus, physics and chemistry. If you’re keen to know more about Italian language and literature, you’ll have to go to Yale.
Should you delve deeply into the possibilities of studying at one of these prestigious institutions, you’ll find that there’s various hurdles to overcome, though usually none too onerous. Although nominally open’ you can’t usually study their courses at any time, and so must keep to their schedule. As mentioned, they are free if you don’t want to be certificated.
Overall, MOOCs and similar offerings have brought benefits to global education. The big plus is access, with people able to access complete courses offered by universities all over the world, something previously unattainable.
They are an affordable alternative to formal education, often through partnership with non-educational organisations. For example, the giant British retailer Marks & Spencer teamed up with the University of Leeds to present a business course in 2014.
For developing countries, MOOCs have assisted them in attaining their sustainable development goals, part of a UN global agenda. Students benefit with a flexible learning schedule, enabling them to study while working and/or caring for family, and through online collaboration in a variety of guises such as discussion groups or group assessment.
So, if you’re curious, keep searching and you’ll hopefully be richly rewarded. A few years ago, I joined in a course on historical literature and was intrigued by revelations concerning the Epic of Gilgamesh. Interested? Investigate and participate.
