Free online courses, programs

We've all thought about how much more we'd learn if we got a chance to go to college again as mature adults. One of the best places to be a student again is at iTunes U, which provides free access to thousands of audio and video files from some of the world's top universities.

The service also provides free access to public radio and TV programs, and this summer the Library of Congress began participating. You can listen to American Public Media's "Marketplace" or watch PBS programs, all free and at your own convenience.

You can watch and listen on your iPod or your home computer, using the iTunes program you use to buy music. Apple offers a guided tour of iTunes U to help you get started.

The Learn-Gasm blog has listed 50 terrific lectures to get you through the economic crisis, including a 13-part podcost by Dan Ariely of Duke University called Predictably Irrational, on how to control your behavior and make smart decisions even during a crisis.

Dara at The Do It Yourself Scholar offers a guide to iTunes U and says the best course collections are from Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Trent Hamm of partner blog The Simple Dollar finds good personal finance podcasts through iTunes' podcast section. He was even inspired to start his own free podcasts.

If you're home schooling or looking for good material for your elementary and high school-age children, you can find good K-12 material and teacher development resources, notes Maya Payne Smart at Edutopia.