Khan Academy Explores Free, Open Lectures On YouTube

The idea that lectures and online classes can succeed is nothing new. E-learning is actually big business, and large universities such as U.C. Berkeley are investing in technology and teams to take lectures and classes online. There are also free, open source platforms, such as Moodle, that make it easy for anyone to deliver a lecture or class online. Still, the common denominator for broadcasting online remains YouTube, and that's why it's not surprising to see a successful, free and open series of lectures taking shape there.

As Physorg.com reports, California-based Sal Khan already has over 1,500 lectures on YouTube, and you can find out more about the Khan Academy lectures here.

Of course, educators may balk at Khan's offerings. He provides most of the lectures himself, and they range in topics from differential equations to physics to biology, but they are high-quality lectures, and Khan's audience is growing.

All of Khan's lectures are offered for free under a Creative Commons license, and Khan has stated that he is committed to a free model and to openness. While it may be easy to criticize a lone wolf delivering lectures on all types of topics on YouTube, it is still worth noting that Khan gets more viewers for his lectures every day than there are students at almost any American university.