It is easier than ever for anyone in the world to get a good education. Many top universities are placing their course content online, for free. There are also other educational resources put online by universities and organizations (like podcasts from NASA).
For many of the courses, not only do you get the syllabus for the course, but lecture notes, assignments, and sometimes even audio and video of the lectures!
Popsci.com recently posted a survey of many of the online resources, and I have included some below, including one that popsci missed.
- UC Berkeley Webcasts
- MIT OpenCourseWare
- Stanford Center for Professional Development
- University of Illinois' NetMath
- NASA Podcasts
- AstronomyCast
- Quirks and Quarks
- The Naked Scientists
- Harvard Extension School
So now it is easier to realize your dream, learn something new, or chart a new career. Best of all, you do not even have to get off your couch to take a class, since everything is online. Why wait until tomorrow to learn that language, write that book, solve that problem, or write that code?