UC Berkeley OpenCourseWare Basics:

Every semester, University of California Berkeley records several popular courses and offers them free to the public. Anyone can watch these OpenCourseWare recordings and learn from home. New lectures are posted to the web each week during the run of the course. The webcast classes are kept as archives for about a year, after which they are removed from distribution.

Like other OpenCourseWare programs, UC Berkeley does not offer credit for these classes nor does it provide student/teacher interaction.

Where to Find UC Berkeley OpenCourseWare:

UC Berkeley’s OpenCourseWare webcasts can be found on three websites: Webcast.Berkeley, Berkeley on YouTube, and Berkeley on iTunes University.

By subscribing to UC Berkeley courses via iTunes, you’ll be able to receive new lectures automatically and save a copy of each course on your hard drive. If you’re an RSS user, you can subscribe to a course through the Webcast.Berkeley website and listen to lectures in Google Reader or another application. The YouTube site provides streaming videos that can be watched anywhere or even embedded in a website or blog.

How to Use UC Berkeley OpenCourseWare:

When learning from UC Berkeley OpenCourseWare, it’s smart to start at the beginning of the semester. Since lectures are posted shortly after they’re given, you’ll have the benefit of watching up-to-date recordings that reflect the most recent research and world events.

The UC Berkeley websites offer only lectures, not assignments or reading lists. However, independent learners are often able to gather class materials by visiting the lecturers’ websites. When watching the first video of a course, be sure to listen for a class web address. Many lecturers provide downloadable material on their own sites.

Top Free Online Classes from UC Berkeley:

Since UC Berkeley’s webcasts vary between semesters, there’s always something new to explore. Popular subjects include computer science, engineering, English, and psychology. Check out the Berkeley website for the most up-to-date list.