There is a rich online world that has been designed to teach and educate you about almost anything. You can take classes from some of the best professors at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and many universities from the comfort of your home, often for free. Listed below are some of the best options.

Coursera is one of the most popular sites for online learning. They have partnered with over 200 leading universities and corporations to provide a broad range of free and low-cost topics. Here you can find courses designed by leading professors from Harvard, Penn, Duke, Stanford, and many others.

One of the most popular courses in Coursera is The Science of Well-Being, offered by Yale University and Dr. Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology. At this writing, over 3.4 million people have enrolled in this offering.

I recently completed an excellent course Hacking Exercise for Health. The surprising new science of fitness. from McMaster University. Developed and recorded by two of the lead researchers in exercise physiology I found it very helpful.

I just started a course, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies, taught by professors from Princeton University. I hope that this lays a foundation to better understand these new tools.

edX is like Coursera. It offers a diverse group of courses created by professors from some of the best institutions in the world such as Caltech, The Berklee College of Music, Georgetown University, MIT, University of Oxford, and numerous others.

One of the best edX courses that I have taken was Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science. This course was created by Harvard and several of the top chefs in the world who gave several of the lectures. I highly recommend this course.

Open Culture is another offering of educational courses, many from leading institutions of the world. All their content is free. I especially like their Great Recordings and 7 Nobel Speeches by Writers.

Duolingo is a free online language learning site. English speakers can choose from 37 other languages to learn. The have an excellent iPhone and Android app.

Learning in person

If learning remotely by computer is daunting, explore taking a class in person. Consider enrolling at your local university if you prefer in-person classes.

If you are over 60 in Little Rock and an Arkansas state resident, you can enroll and take classes tuition-free at UA Little Rock. All you pay for is the application fee, class supplies, and required books. For more information, email the Office of Student Accounts at studentaccounts@ualr.edu. Check out their course offerings at www.catalog.ualr.edu.

I hope that you will take a little time to explore the free offerings that are available for your fun and education. I guarantee that education will enrich your life.

Ralph Broadwater, M.D., CFP^®

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