OpenCourseWare Education Sites

Below is a list of places that offer free courses for business and other topics.  (Source) I took a look at several and found that they are very different.  MIT, for example, is fantastic if you are an instructor designing a course.  However, it does not seem very practical for someone just hoping to study the topic at home.  You have to buy the textbooks and such, which makes sense, but it is still designed more for a classroom.

Contrast that with the Business Week approach.  From what I reviewed, they are most likely offering nice classes in exchange for your contact information.  And that contact infomation can then be sold as leads to their advertisiers.  I do not know if they are doing that, but it would make sense.  (I am not even saying it is bad, if it generates revenue and justifies more free online business courses, it is great.)

Here is the list of OpenCourseWare Education opportunities that I found on degreedirectory.org

#1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT’s Sloan School of Management offers more than 100 free business administration courses online. The courses cover every management topic imaginable and include everything from lecture notes and assignments to case studies and quizzes. Audio, video and text make up the bulk of the courses.

#2 Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

The Kutztown University’s Small Business Development Center offers one of the largest collections of business administration courses available for free online. Courses cover topics like accounting, finance, marketing and management. Most courses are made up of either slides or videos.

#3 Business Week’s Online Business School

Business Week Online offers dozens of free online business courses to registered Business Week users*. These fantastic courses are led by an instructor and allow you to interact with other students online. Courses cover everything from finance to technology. (*Registration is free)

#4 HP Learning Center

The HP Learning Center offers more than 50 free instructor-led courses that can be taken online. Course topics include everything from software instruction to marketing and business. You’ll need to register for an account and enroll in the course you are interested in, but you can do both at no charge.

#5 U.S. Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Adminsitration has a section on their website that includes course links. Most of the links take you to university websites that offer free self-paced courses. Courses cover everything from business planning and advertising to management and finance.

#6 University of California, Irvine

UC Irvine provides free online access to several of the school’s best business courses. The text-based courses included images and illustrations and can be easily viewed on the university’s website. Only a few courses are available right now, but more are expected to be added in the near future.

#7 Utah State University

Utah State University makes a number of different courses available through their OpenCourseWare program. Courses that would be of interest to business administrators and managers focus on economics. The courses offer in-depth coverage of the topic and include materials like lecture notes, assignments and quizzes.

#8 Western Governors University

Western Governors University offers several free courses that would be of interest to someone pursuing business administration, namely an ethics course and a communications course. Both courses are easy to follow and provide in-depth instruction for self-learners.

#9 iLearn Small Business Courses

The iLearn section of iVillage has a number of instructor-led business courses that are available to registered iVillage users* at no charge. Courses are self-paced, so you can view your lessons whenever it is convenient for you. (*Registration is free)

#10 University of Alaska

Dr. Fred Barbee of the University of Alaska makes materials from his Principles of Financial Accounting course available for free online. This wonderful text-based course offers comprehensive coverage of the topic and includes slides, assignments, practice exams and much more.