February 27, 2013

Over 40 Free Courses from Open Yale Courses

Of all the universities offering free courses online now, the best courses might be coming from Yale University. Both in terms of the quality of their content and the quality of the way the courses were recorded. Yale offers the courses on streaming video, audio download, and video download, making it optimal for audio & video learners who can watch the videos at home or listen to them on-the-go. All the courses are introductory level courses so you don’t have to worry about starting one that might be over your head. On LearnOutLoud.com we’ve embedded the courses from YouTube’s player and we link to the courses on YouTube for streaming video. We also link to the courses on the Open Yale Courses website for downloading on audio or video. We’ve created a publisher page showcasing the over 40 courses we now offer from Yale University:

Over 40 Free Courses from Yale Open Courses

A little over a year ago we added hundreds of courses to our site and created our Free Courses Collection of over 400 courses available for free online. Since then Yale has added six new courses and we’ll feature them today. The complete course lectures are up for each of these new courses. And please note: To download these courses you’ll need to click “SESSIONS” or “VIEW CLASS SESSIONS” on the Yale website:

African American History: From Emancipation to the Present by Professor Jonathan Holloway

The Atmosphere, the Ocean, and Environmental Change by Professor Ron Smith

The Early Middle Ages, 284-1000 by Professor Paul Freedman

Freshman Organic Chemistry II by Professor Michael McBride (a follow up to Freshman Organic Chemistry I)

Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner by Professor Wai Chee Dimock

Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature by Professor Tamar Gendler

For this last course we started watching it, and it was excellent. Professor Tamar Gendler dives right in with the first lecture covering some of the fundamental questions of human nature which will be examined in the course. The course combines classic texts from the Western philosophical tradition (including works by Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Hobbes, Kant, Mill, Rawls, and Nozick) with recent findings in cognitive science and related fields. Gendler addresses the core question featured in Plato’s Republic, along with presenting the ethical dilemma of the “trolley problem”, and even examines defeating procrastination with the ideas of behavioral economists. This 19-hour, 26-lecture free offering sounds like a great course!

And here are some of the free Yale courses which we’ve featured in the past:

Introduction to Psychology by Professor Paul Bloom

Take PSYC 110 with Professor Paul Bloom at Yale University and learn the basics about your mind and brain. Bloom is the author of numerous books and popular articles including his most recent book How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like. He’s a very good lecturer as well and in this course he’ll introduce you to key psychological topics like Freud, Skinner, language, consciousness, memory, emotion, sex & motivation, morality & the brain, and mental illness. Throughout the course he brings in numerous guest lecturers as well. You can watch this 18-hour course on YouTube or download it on audio & video through the Yale website.

The Psychology, Biology, and Politics of Food by Professor Kelly Brownell

We’re featuring this Yale University course that relates both to the health of humanity and our environment. In this course Yale Professor Kelly Brownell, who is also the Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, takes on the issue of food in the modern world in a comprehensive way. Through 23 lectures, including a number of special guest lectures, a variety of topics on food are covered such as how our diet has changed, the psychology of eating, obesity, the food industry, modern agriculture, food marketing, and much, much more. Professor Kelly Brownell offers a glimpse into food today and ways we can all make a difference in creating a healthier eating environment and a healthier planet. This talk is available on audio download and streaming video.

Introduction to Political Philosophy by Professor Steven B. Smith

We’re featuring the Yale course “Introduction to Political Philosophy” taught by Professor Steven B. Smith. This course introduces you to the major political works of Plato and Aristotle along with Machiavelli’s The Prince, Hobbes’ Leviathan, Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, and more. You can watch these 24 lectures online or download them on MP3 and take them with you.

Capitalism: Success, Crisis, and Reform by Professor Douglas W. Rae

In the course “Capitalism: Success, Crisis, and Reform” from Yale University, Professor Douglas W. Rae looks at the history of capitalism along with its leading economists including Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and other influential economists. Throughout the course he examines the contemporary global economy with a focus on the current economic crisis. Professor Douglas W. Rae is an engaging lecturer who interacts with his students during the course (thankfully he passes a microphone around so we can hear the questions!), and it provides for a worthy introduction to the complex economic and political ideas surrounding capitalism in the 21st century. This course is available on streaming video through YouTube and free audio & video download on Yale’s Open Courses site. He does have a slide show going with images as he lectures for those interested in the video. Also you can view the syllabus and download transcripts of the lectures through the Yale website.

Enjoy these free courses from one of the most prestigious universities in the World!