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15 Free Online Education Resources for Teachers

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. More guest posts by Karen for SYWTT are available here.

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Teachers who are interested in furthering their education can find many free education resources online. There are colleges, universities, and education associations that offer free courses as well as informational sites that provide details on earning advanced degrees, certificates, and continuing education credits. Here are 15 free online education resources to explore in your spare time.

Thinkfinity – Thinkfinity provides free interactive webinars, online courses, and instructional videos for teachers and afterschool practitioners. Graduate credit is available for some of the courses.

Teachers Network – The Teachers Network offers a wide range of how-to’s for teachers. Covered topics include finding a teaching position, professional development, standards-based teaching, classroom management, report cards, and childhood literacy.

UC Irvine OCW – The University of California-Irvine provides several free education courses through their OpenCourseWare program. Courses include preparation for the California Subject Examinations for Teachers (CSET) as well as instruction for teachers who want to learn more about education theory and teaching gifted students.

OpenLearn – The OpenLearn Learning Space provides free education-related learning materials from the UK’s Open University. Although some of the materials are UK specific, the majority would be useful to teachers in any location.

MIT OCW – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers more than 1,900 free online courses through their OpenCourseWare program that may be of interest to classroom teachers. Covered subjects include anthropology, biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, history, literature, and music among others.

Utah State University OCW – The Utah State University College of Education and Human Services offers a free self-paced course for classroom teachers who want to learn more about conducting research. The course includes ten units, assignments, and suggested reading materials.

Connexions – There are several free education-related courses and learning modules available through Connexions including this free course which explores the best practices in online teaching.

First Year Teacher Program – This free online course from Reading Rockets is designed for new K-3 teachers who want to learn more about teaching phonics, speech sounds, and text comprehension. The course includes 10 self-paced modules.

Concept to Classroom – Concept to Classroom offers an award-winning online workshop for teachers who want to learn more about teaching to academic standards. The workshop includes explanations, demonstrations, and advice on implementing standards-based teaching in the classroom.

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The Apple – The Apple is a Monster site where teachers can learn, network, and explore education careers. The site offers a degree finder, career articles, job search support, education news, and an “ask the teacher” section.

U.S. Department of Education – The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education offers information on accreditation as well as an easy-to-navigate accreditation database that can be used to find accredited education programs and schools.

All Education Schools – All Education Schools is an online guide to U.S. colleges of education. Teachers can use the site to research schools, education programs, and teaching careers.

Online Masters Degree – Teachers who have been thinking about furthering their education but do not have time for a full-time campus-based program can visit this site to learn more about earning a masters degree online.

Online Continuing Education – This site provides information on fee-based continuing education courses that can be taken online for credit through colleges, universities, and non-profit organizations.

AFT – The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) provides a long list of scholarships for teachers who want to pursue a masters degree and other education opportunities. The list also includes information about loan forgiveness programs.

Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for OnlineClasses.org, an online college class resource.

Karen Schweitzer
Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for OnlineClasses.org, an online college class resource.
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