Free Online Courses with Certificates

Instead of presenting a math concept in this post, I would like to provide a bit of information for those interested in free online courses with certificates.  Many of the visitors I get to this site are students currently enrolled in their traditional school math programs, and they simply need help understanding their homework or a particular new topic they learned.  Other visitors may be more of the 'math enthusiast' variety, and are just reading these posts because they simply love everything to do with mathematics.  However, there may be visitors who don't have the luxury of actually attending a school to pursue their education.  Maybe there isn't a school nearby, or a good math program isn't available, or maybe they left school early and are trying to complete their education later in life.  For these people, one option available to them is online math courses.  In this post, I thought it might be helpful to present some options to consider, and I will mention what these programs have to offer.

Keep in mind that I am not affiliated with any of these, nor do I have any actual experience with them.  I am just going to present some compiled information for you to consider if you are interested.

In my research, one site that consistently came up in the search results was Open Culture, who market themselves as "the best free cultural and educational media on the web."  On their site, they have a list that contains 200 free online courses (which are "massive open online courses", or MOOCs) offered by various universities and institutions, some of which will issue a certificate of completion when you get through the course.  Some instead will provide you a statement of accomplishment.  These are good and worthy achievements, though they typically don't equate to transferable university credits.  You can find things on this list such as Introduction to Astronomy, or Introduction to Finance... topics which are mathematical in nature.  There are also classes offered with no certificates available, but may be more specific to mathematics, such as Introduction to Statistics.  It appears that this list gets updated frequently, as the courses are listed monthly as they are available, but there are also courses available that have no fixed start date, and so you can sign up and begin whenever you want.  I can't fairly comment about the quality of the material offered, but a brief look at some of the outlines available suggests that if you are serious about taking online math courses (or other subjects), these will teach you something.

Perhaps a more famous name than the previous site is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the more prestigious schools in America that you can attend.  A few years ago, they announced the beginning of a new educational venture: MITx.  While students that physically attend MIT (and gain the honour of being on campus, doing amazing things, and meeting brilliant professors), MITx promises to offer a similar quality of education online and for free.  And even better, they have said that they would issue a certificate to show that you have mastered the subjects offered, though it appears that obtaining these credentials will cost a nominal fee.  A quick glance at their site reveals a variety of topics available.  Several other schools and sites have applauded MIT for this initiative, so hopefully other institutions will follow their lead and we will have more high-quality schools offering free, recognized education.

Some reports actually suggest that the concept of MOOCs is the beginning of something big in education.  Another very well known school participating in this trend is Stanford University.  They offer several courses to take online, with varying start dates and topics.  A quick glance at the list of classes available online reveals several that are mathematical in nature, though most may be considered to be more advanced math concepts, such as algorithms and databases.  Nonetheless, for a free course that will teach you something, you won't find a much more reputable name than Stanford University, so this list of courses is definitely worth keeping an eye on, especially as it appears to be updated periodically.

Beyond these famous educational institutions, there are a few more sites that I will mention here that are extremely popular with people looking for an online education.  Coursera is a site that has partnered with top universities from around the world to offer free online courses to anyone who wishes to take them.  High quality video lessons and interactive exercises, combined with a global community of like-minded students, help make this service incredibly attractive and useful.  When I checked, there were 33 universities participating in the Coursera program, with a wide range of topics from music to medicine.  Of course, mathematics is a dedicated section with many options available from which to choose.  Algebra, calculus, and more advanced math concepts are available.  Looking at the breadth of material available, it is easy to see why this service is so popular!

Similar to Coursera, Class Central is a MOOC aggregator.  It appears to tap into the available course lists of many top universities, and makes them accessibly in an easily searchable database.  You can quickly see if there are any online courses available for your selected topic with a simple search right from their home page.  Class Central doesn't appear to offer any courses themselves, so anything you find there will be found offered by the originating institutions.  I only include it here because it seems like it could be useful to you in your research on choosing an online course.

Finally, though it's the same as the online courses I've mentioned above, Khan Academy is a very popular and useful site that provides many video lessons on several topics across a wide variety of subjects.  For example, in the math section, there are all sorts of videos that describe particular concepts, with very good explanations and examples.  If you are looking for a quick lesson on a topic, and you aren't interested in going through a whole course to obtain credits or certificates, Khan Academy should be one of the first places you look.

Of course, if you are looking for help on math concepts, you can always search my site or contact me to see if you can find the assistance that you need.  As I said, I have no experience with any of these services that I've discussed on this page.  I have only done a basic research and compilation to bring this information together in one place for you to consider if you would like to further your education by taking free online courses.

New Site Milestone! 600,000 views!

I don't have any new math concepts to present in this post.  Rather, I just want to announce that my site has reached another milestone, because as of this morning it has received more than 600,000 views!  That's a lot of traffic, and has come a long ways since I started.  So, I just want to send a brief thank you to everyone who has ever come by my site or contributed in any way, especially those who have stimulated discussion in my posts, suggested new topics for me to cover, and to all of those other sites out there that have generously linked to mine.  Math is not a simple topic for many students, and I am extremely happy that I am able to provide any degree of assistance in making these concepts more accessible and understandable.  Thanks to everyone for your support, and here's looking at 1 million views!

Mathematics and Multimedia: Partner Blog Highlight

In this post, I'd like to highlight a very well done math blog called Mathematics and Multimedia, a site that is maintained by Guillermo Bautista and is now a partner blog of Math Concepts Explained.  The material that he posts on his site discusses a wide variety of mathematical concepts that span the whole K-12 range of grades, and also into university levels.  He also blogs about alternative ways of teaching these topics, which is very helpful for both teachers and students alike to see something different from the usual/traditional methods.  Good math resources are also frequently shared, such as online calculators or other tools. 

Many examples demonstrate the usefulness of technology and its integration into education curriculums.  He is a strong supporter of the use of GeoGebra software for teaching and learning math, for which he has created more than 50 GeoGebra tutorial lessons and posted them on his site.  These lessons start with the basics of introducing the software and how to use it, and then gradually advance to demonstrate how it can be used for both teaching and learning.

Another one of his most popular posts includes a list of more than 20,000 mathematics contest problems and solutions.  This is an incredibly useful resource for anyone looking for practice questions.  The problem sets come from various contests or past exams, so it is all very relevant material, and there is such a huge selection that you would be an expert if you managed to get through all of it!

Guillermo is a very knowledgable instructor, which is evident by the diverse selection and depth of his explanations and content.  His blog has been created as a hobby, but you can see his passion for the subject in his writings.  It is highly recommended that you pay his site a visit to see if you can find anything there that is helpful to you!

Japanese multiplication method

There is a bunch of videos going around lately that seem to be very popular, which demonstrate a style of Japanese multiplication.  It is quite visual, and I would argue that more complicated products could require even more work than traditional (at least, what I consider traditional) methods.  In any case, it is a very interesting process that you could use to impress your friends and family, or even use it as a math trick.  Here's the gist of how the Japanese multiplication method works.

Let's try a simple example.  Find the product of 12 x 31.

Essentially, you denote the digits as groups of lines, and then you count the intersections to arrive at your result.  So, in this case, the 12 is represented by a group of 1 line and a group of 2 lines, and the 31 is represented by a group of 3 lines and a group of 1 line.  We'll draw the "12" lines slanting up in blue, and the "31" lines slanting down in orange.

Now, imagine that these lines and their intersections can be divided into columns.  You get the left point of the diamond in the first column, the top and bottom of the diamond together in the second column, and the right point of the diamond in the third column.  Now, to find the product of these two numbers, all you do is count the intersections in each column and write that number down.  These numbers will be the digits in the final answer.

Check with your calculator and you can verify that 12 x 31 = 372!  It takes a bit of work, but it's a pretty cool method of multiplying numbers together!  This works really easily when you are multiplying a pair of two digit numbers together.  When you have three digits numbers, or more, you simply add another group of lines, and then you will wind up with more columns to tally the intersections.  Also, in any one column, if you count more than 9 intersections, you simply carry the tens digit of your intersections over one column to the left and add to that total.  So, if you count 12 intersections in a column, the value you keep is the 2, and you add the 1 to whatever is in the column to the left.

If nothing else, I think this method is a really cool demonstration for a cool math trick, though I don't think that I would use it to replace the style of multiplication that I learned in school.  However, that's not to say that it won't be more appealing or useful to you!  Do you use this method in your studies?  Let me know in the comments, and don't forget to hit the Facebook Like button at the start of the post to support my site!

20+ Free Math Worksheet Sites for Teachers

In a recent blog post, I put out a call for recommendations of sites to include in my resource for math worksheets that I hoped to create.  I had several people respond to me, either by commenting here on my blog, through my new Facebook site, or through Twitter.  Thank you to everyone who contributed!  I don't know if this will ever be known as "THE math worksheets site," (though that would be nice!) but if anyone gains any benefit from it whatsoever in the months and years ahead, I will consider this a successful project.  I will certainly be monitoring its popularity and traffic to see how it goes!

What follows is a compilation of sites that I feel are a good resource that can be used by teachers, parents, students and homeschooler alike to help teach and practice math concepts.  None of them are my sites, though some have been kind enough to link back to me!  If anyone objects to any sites that I've included, please don't hesitate to contact me and I will remove it from my database.  READ MORE...