Knowledge: the Timeless Investment

The Internet appears to be doing just what was promised to us for TV in the age of Sputnick - an unleashing of educational content for all. Evidence of this is overwhelming and I want to share three such sites that are among the standouts:  

• MIT Open Courseware: these are taped courses from various MIT lectures - the real deal content that one might need a 4.7 highschool GPA, 1500 SATs, and a cool $50,000 a year to see live. 

• Khan Academy: a more home grown variety featuring over 2000 short talks (mini lectures) given by ex hedge fund analyst and MIT double major graduate turned education rock star Salman Khan. This free access site with its lectures and work problems for those wishing to test their learning of the materials is one of the vanguard tools for education reform. Also see the TED presentation by Salman Khan.

• TED Talks are a web collection of many of the talks given over the years at TED conferences. TED stands for Technology Education and Design, and the conference brings together some of the most interesting (and some very unusual) speakers and concepts in these areas. Each typically 12-18 minutes long.

I welcome your comments on additional sites where great education and information sharing such as this is being offered.