The new teaching/learning website, LearnHub.com, looks like it’s shaping up to be an excellent resource for self-educators. There isn’t a ton of users now, but there are several learning communities worth taking a look at.

Here’s how it works: Anyone can create a learning community. The creator of the community posts lessons which are freely available to everyone. Each community also has room for on-topic discussions about the subject as well as assignments and tests.

Some of the more popular learning communities include Photography and Ruby on Rails. I’ll soon be adding the LearnHub courses to the Directory of Free Online Classes. Check it out.

Computer programming is one of the most popular topics in the database of free online classes. This week, I’ve been adding to the collection of free Ruby on Rails courses and tutorials.

One of the more interesting finds I’ve come across is a no-cost,  instructor-led Ruby programming course from RubyLearning.org. Here’s a brief bio of the teacher:

“Satish Talim is a programmer, author, trainer and speaker. A recognized expert in the field of software development with over 30+ years of I.T. experience, Satish has consulted and trained teams at various companies in India and the US.

Has been teachingRuby for the last two years and Java since 1995.”

Instructor-led courses are a rare find in the world of free learning, and this one looks like a keeper. The next session starts March 1st. They are currently accepting enrollments.

If you know of any excellent Ruby courses or tutorials that aren’t already in the database, please let me know at: selfmadescholar@gmail.com.

Want to learn how to make a sling, set a dinner table, or dress for a job interview? The new video “how-to” site HowCast.com offers video instruction on all these, plus hundred of other topics.

Online video instruction has been a growing niche over the past year or so. But, HowCast has the best production quality I’ve seen so far. That may be due to the massive $8 million dollar financing the founders (all former Google employees) generated.

TechCrunch.com explains some of the more unique features found on HowCast videos:

“There is a familiar formula for each one: The Howcast graphic, an intro explaining what you’ll need for the task at a hand, and step-by-step instructions explained in a voiceover. The video player on the site lets you jump to different chapters or steps, lets you zoom in for a better look, and provides the transcript as well. Viewers can add comments in the form of tips, warnings, and facts to each video. And the Flash-based site lets you browse the video directory on the left hand side while you are watching a video without interrupting it or going to a different page.”

HowCast offers more breadth than depth. Overall, it’s an incredible resource for self-educators seeking basic instruction.

A new site has found an interesting use for Google Maps. GoogleLitTrips.com offers downloadable presentations that explore Google Earth based on novels. Journey with your favorite characters in books like The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, The Aeneid, Macbeth, or Grapes of Wrath.

Be careful though - it can get addictive.

Reading is the keystone to self education.

This morning, I came across a quote that really demonstrates what a difference reading can make in a person’s life. Check it out:

All of the books that we will ever need to make us as rich, as healthy, as happy, as powerful, as sophisticated and as successful as we want to be have already been written.

 

People from all walks of life, people with some of the most incredible life experiences, people that have gone from pennies to fortune and from failure to success have taken the time to write down their experiences so that we might share in their wealth of knowledge. They have offered their wisdom and experience so that we can be inspired by it and instructed by it, and so that we can amend our philosophy by it. Their contributions enable us to reset our sail based upon their experiences. They have handed us the gift of their insights so that we can change our plans, if need be, in order to avoid their errors. We can rearrange our lives based on their wise advice.

All of the insights that we might ever need have already been captured by others in books. The important question is this:

In the last ninety days, with this treasure of information that could change our lives, our fortunes, our relationships, our health, our children and our careers for the better, how many books have we read?

If you’re not already in the car and driving to the library, you can read the rest of the quote here.

Scott Young from PickTheBrain.com recently published an interesting article about setting up a personal university. He gives several thoughtful suggestions for how to start learning on your own. The article may not be for experienced independent learners, but if you’re just starting out it’s worth a look. Here’s a blurb:

“Forming your personal university isn’t just reading a lot of books, just like getting a degree isn’t the result of taking random classes. Taking a more well-thought approach to what you learn in your spare time can give you an edge over the haphazard learner.”

For more suggestions on how to get started with personal learning, take a look at this site’s huge list of ways to explore your self-learning interests. You may also want to take a look at the Introduction to Self Education.

New research shows that today’s employers want more than a diploma from prospective employees. A recent USA Today article explains:

“Forget transcripts, multiple-choice tests or institutional scores. The surveyed business leaders want faculty assessment of internships, senior projects or community-based work.

“Too many policymakers and educational leaders are focused on the tests rather than on what is really important: whether students are learning what they need to know,” says Roberts Jones, president of Education & Workforce Policy, a consulting firm based in Alexandria, Va.”

According to the report, a whopping 57% of employers surveyed said that half or fewer of today’s college grads have the complete set of skills and knowledge needed to advance in the current workplace. In the ideal world, skills and knowledge would be the only things that matter. A diploma would be just another piece of paper.

In preparing the database of free online classes, I’ve sorted through thousands of courses on the net. While text-based courses are the most common, there are some very well-made video classes out there.

You can find an online video course for just about every introductory-level topic. Consider these: basic cooking, Algebra, world history, Spanish, music, weight training, guitar, and salsa dancing. A special shout-out to Annenburg Media, in particular. They offer full-length streaming video courses on their website at no charge. Each course has multiple sessions and many hours of high-quality instruction.

There are so many video courses that I can only list a few here. But, you can browse through them all in the massive list of free online video courses.

I read Ayn Rand’s lengthy novel The Fountain Head in only a few days. When I was finished I just sat there, staring into space. “What the…?” I thought. The book had some unusual ideas that I’d never considered before. I was confused and I really needed to talk about it with someone. Soon.

It’s true: this site is all about learning independently. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t need other people to make the most of your studies. When you come across a difficult problem, it often makes the most sense to seek out an intellectual companion or “study buddy.” Your buddy can be a peer who is learning alongside you or a mentor who has been there before. Whether you’re trying to understand a piece of literature, attempting to fix a broken code, or building a house, it helps to have a second brain along for the adventure. Read the rest of this entry

Did you know that you can access thousands of computer science books over the internet, for free? You may not be able to read the latest title on the nonfiction bestsellers list. But, you can read a lot of classic computer sci books without paying a dime.

Why would anyone post the full-text of computer books, at no cost? Some authors choose to make their books available after the publication goes out of print. Some publishers put books online after the book has been in stores for a year or two. This makes it possible for independent learners to study anything from PhotoShop to C++.

Here are a few of the best places to find free online computer science books…

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