Learning for Life, Part II

Even if a class has capped at 100 people, as a student you can now "sit in" on the course, virtually, of course. This rising feature of universities to place lectures, notes, and syllabuses on the web is not solely available to students, but alumni, and increasingly the general public. It is the subject of a Wall Street Journal article titled Yale on $0 a day.

Following the lead of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other highly competitive schools, more institutions are posting online everything from lecture notes to sample tests, and even making audio and video files of actual lectures publicly available. The sites attract anywhere from thousands to more than one million unique visitors each month.

In January, I addressed the desire for recent graduates and also alumni to continue to learn even after they graduate in my column "Learning for Life." Interestingly, more universities are reaching out to the public to fill this void. And it's not just young alumni who are seeking the learning opportunities. The return on investment from posting these online courses is vast--a rise in public knowledge and publicity for the school, to name only two.

What are some of the others?