iRadar: 8 MORE Knowledge Websites With Free Online Video Lectures

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

8 MORE Knowledge Websites With Free Online Video Lectures

8 MORE Knowledge Websites With Free Online Video Lectures: "

The online video world is more than music videos and somebody’s cat chasing a laser pointer. It is also a treasure trove of knowledge nuggets and crowd wisdom. If you are searching for educational and informational lecture videos, there’s a fair chance that YouTube is what you will type in; YouTube has those cool educational channels and its very own educational channel too. Apart from YouTube, names like TED and Academic Earth are household names for anyone interested in video lectures from around the world.

Our fixation on YouTube shouldn’t allow us to miss out on some other great video sites out there. When it comes to video lectures we have seensix really good ones; now let’s switch on to eight more and get some free courses on information and knowledge.

PopTech

This website is a showcase for the ideas, challenges, and opportunities that are there before us as we try to shape our community and world. The ‘Popcasts’ are video presentations of interactive talks by thinkers, leaders, and innovators as they explore ideas that affect the way we live. Of course, behind the videos PopTech is also a large community involved in many social projects like the Accelerator Initiatives, which are multidisciplinary collaborations with corporate partners, thought leaders, and innovators helping to create breakthroughs on some of the world’s toughest challenges.

Ignite

As the site explains – Ignite is a geek event in over 100 cities worldwide. At the events Ignite presenters share their personal and professional passions, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total of just five minutes. Most of the videos are hosted on YouTube. The Ignite Talks run with the Ignite Contest where technologists, entrepreneurs, DIYers make things on the spot. Both events are part of the O’Reilly media group.

60 Second Lectures

If five minutes sounds less, how much of science can you stuff into a minute? University of Pennsylvania thinks it’s just about enough as they cover science, sociology, history, literature, art, religious studies, and other interdisciplinary studies with 60 second lectures hosted on YouTube. Also check back on past lectures which are alphabetically arranged by speaker name.

Video Lectures

This is a very well organized stockpile of video lectures from around the world. You can sift through the video lectures by subject, popularity, type of content, language, keyword, and time. Most of the videos are lectures on topics of academic study from architecture to technology given by scholars and teachers. The collection is quite vast with computer science dominating with nearly 2000 videos.

Forum Network

This is a public media service centered on video lectures given by experts in a diverse range of fields. The service is brought to you by PBS and NPR public media services in collaboration with public stations and community partners across the United States. Audio podcasts are published weekly and can be subscribed for free via iTunes or the NPR Podcast Directory. Videos are also available on iTunesU and YouTube channels apart from the site.

The 99 Percent

This collection of videos is courtesy the Behance Network. The video lectures are basically about ideas and how to make things happen. The central theme of the site is on productivity, so the video series can be a good learning resource for entrepreneurs and innovators who want some inspiration on how to carry their unique ideas forward.

Idea City

Idea City is a bit like TED Talks but the annual event is hosted in Toronto, Canada. It is a select audience who get to hear 50 thinkers talk about any topic under the sun. You can watch some of the webcasts here on the site from Grammy legends to leading physicists.

Big Think

This video based website is again about ideas across diverse fields and how we can apply them to our present day. The videos are professionally produced with ideas sourced from the site’s network of thinkers and experts. Big Think covers topics like art, culture, health, environment, love, sex, happiness, justice, beliefs, business, economics etc. It also runs a section called Special Series on other topical themes.

There are a couple of others like Free Video Lectures and TalkMiner we have covered in our directory that show that free online video lectures are a burgeoning tribe. All the better because when it comes to ideas and inspiration, more is definitely better. Are you interested in educational lectures? Which are your favorite ones?

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