General Education Resources
-- Free Online Courses
Coursera is a massive open online course website with courses designed by real professors of accredited universities. Learn a variety of skills from top professors. Learn and connect with thousands of other students.
As a non-profit organization, Khan Academy is dedicated to providing world-class courses for anyone, anywhere in the world.
Udacity is a growing team of educators and engineers on a mission to change the future of education. By making high-quality classes affordable and accessible for students across the globe: Udacity is democratizing education.
Udemy is another massive open online course offering courses from top instructors. They are based in San Francisco, California. Udemy offers both free and paid courses.
The Faculty Project from Udemy
The Faculty Project brings academia's most outstanding professors to the computers, tablets and smartphones of people all over the world. All courses are free with open enrollment for anyone with an Internet connection.
EdX is a not-for-profit enterprise of its founding partners Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that features learning designed specifically for interactive study via the web. EdX is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is governed by MIT and Harvard.
Venture Lab is one of the primary platforms used by Stanford University to offer free online courses. Venture Lab's philosophy is to make online courses more fun and engaging by making them more experiential, interactive, and collaborative.
Engage in learning with MIT's OpenCourseWare platform. Look up subjects and browse their catalog of course materials.
Free courses in more than 15 subjects.
Livemocha is committed to creating a world in which every human being is fluent in multiple languages. As the world's largest online language learning community, Livemocha fuses traditional learning methods with online practice and interaction with native language speakers from around the world.
-- Paid Online Courses
Lynda is one of the oldest online course libraries. Learn subjects from computer programming to business administration.
Want to learn programming and design with the help of a mentor? Bloc teams up students and mentors on a learning journey.
Like Bloc.io, Thinkful pairs you up with a mentor to learn programming and design.
-- Recommended Reading
Stop Stealing Dreams by Seth Godin
"Those kids lean forward and begin to play. They play as if they care, because they do." In Stop Stealing Dreams, Seth Godin argues against traditional education and what it has become in the 21st century.
Hacking Your Education by Dale J Stephens
Hacking Your Education offers valuable advice to current students as well as those who decided to skip college. Stephens teaches you to create opportunities for yourself and design your curriculum - inside or outside the classroom. Whether your dream is to travel the world, build a startup, or climb the corporate ladder, Stephens proves you can do it now, rather than waiting for life to start after "graduation" day.
Social Resources
The largest social network in the world.
The social network for professionals.
Reddit is a social news network platform.
LetsLunch.com uses the time you have at lunch to have you meet other professionals, using a unique algorithm that finds relevant people you don't know yet.
An online community of like-minded self-directed learners.
The Uncollege Network is a Facebook group dedicated to connecting self-directed learners on the social network.
Technology Resources
Learn to code interactively, for free. Get started right as you enter the page, or create an account to keep track of your learning.
Learnable SUBSCRIPTION-BASED PAYMENT PLAN
Learnable is a growing library of online books and online courses tailored to the specific needs of web designers and developers.
Browse through lists of university and Google courses to learn various tech skills.
Access tutorials and other courses through P2PU for web development and design. Multi-lingual!
Volunteer Resources
Find volunteer opportunities in your neighborhood.
Skills-based volunteer matching. Offer your skills to non-profit organizations for free.
This is your starting place for learning more about and finding great volunteer opportunities around the globe - whether you're looking to get involved in your own neighborhood or thousands of miles (or kilometers) away.
Personal & Professional Development Resources
MindTools SUBSCRIPTION-BASED PAYMENT PLAN
MindTools offers important professional advice for your career. Their expansive library of career advice touches on issues like how to deal with feelings of insecurity, work burnout, time management and leadership. In my opinion, it is well worth the subscription plan cost. With paid plans you get access to a community of mentors and much more.
99U delivers the action-oriented insights that you didn't get in school, highlighting real-world best practices for making ideas happen. Part of the Behance network, there are insights on topics from professional development to time management to simply feeling better.
Inc Magazine's website focuses on articles for entrepreneurs and business professionals.
Career Realism was founded with the purpose of helping people solve their career and job search problems. It's mainly geared towards job-searchers, but offers sound career advice for the employed, too.
Career advice and tools for building an attractive resume.
CBSNews Moneywatch Management & Leadership
Articles on professional development, leadership and management.
Pick The Brain is a feel-good site focused on helping you become a better person. It's a website dedicated to self improvement with a focus on personal productivity, motivation, and self-education. Visit this website if you like warm and fuzzy advice.
Tools
Diigo is two services in one -- it is a research and collaborative research tool on the one hand, and a knowledge-sharing community and social content site on the other. Socialize your bookmarks and share them with friends! Don't miss Laura's Diigo.
Degreed offers you a way to keep track of your learning in a unique and fun way. Get credit for attending traditional college or for browsing the web and reading articles. The service organizes your learning and validates your lifelong learning achievements.
BaseCamp SUBSCRIPTION-BASED PAYMENT PLAN
Basecamp lets you keep track of your projects and add others to collaborate on projects. It includes an intuitive interface to store your various projects, add to-do lists, start discussions and keep track of deadlines with a calender.
Recommended Blogs
UnCollege is changing the notion that college equals success.