Where the Free Things Are
UPDATED!
I am a big believer of open online education. As a child, I was fascinated by the vast amount of information I can freely acquire from the internet and the wide range of creative and nerdy things I can accomplish through it. Here is a list of websites, apps, and other interesting things for the learning-obsessed nerds like me who love free stuff. Happy (free) learning!
Higher Education
A non-profit online initiative created by Harvard and MIT where you can take free courses on a wide range of topics from MITx, HarvardX, BerkeleyX, UTx and many other universities
An education platform where you can take free online courses from top universities and organizations around the world
OLI is a group funded by the Carnegie Mellon University offering high-quality courses which seek to innovate learning and higher education
An open educational platform that offers at-your-own-pace courses on various fields such as business and computer science, curated by academic professionals
Offers online journalism and media training programs such as free self-directed courses, webinars, and others
Provides free open-source statistics textbooks supplemented with educational videos and other instructional materials for R and SAS programming
Take open courses from Stanford University
Take free online courses taught by Yale’s distinguished professors
Provides free educational resources from the University of Michigan
Provides more than 2,200 open courses including free educational materials used in teaching almost all of MIT’s subjects
Take free online courses on sociology, economics, statistics, calculus, and others
Take free courses taught distinguished professors from top universities and collaborate with fellow students from around the world
Take free classes from UK’s best universities and cultural institutions
Explore Oxford’s open content
Take free courses from the best universities in Australia
A European platform for online learning enabling students from around the world to take free courses
Other Online Learning Platforms
Learn coding for free
Learn R programming and data science
Test Prep
SAT
An interactive website that offers a comprehensive collection of instructional videos and practice exercises about math, science, history, computer programming, and more
A non-profit website established by WFP that lets you get involved in their donation program; for every correct answer that you get, they will donate 10 grains of rice
ACT
Access free ACT practice tests and educational resources for both students and teachers
General
Enhance your math and science skills by answering challenging questions
College Admission (Philippines)
Access free practice tests for UPCAT and ACET plus tips and articles on college entrance exams, college survival, and scholarships
Technology Tools and Resources
Programming
Make your own apps and websites while learning new skills
Write and edit HTML and CSS in your web browser
Allows you to see the code behind any webpage and remix the content
Allows you to remix multimedia content and embed it in other websites
Free tool that will let you create mobile apps even if you don’t know how to code
Create your own interactive games, stories, and animations
Presentation
Create animated presentations and videos for class
Create stunning presentations with beautiful photos and typography
Create presentations with cool infographics
Make presentations that “zooms into your story” and collaborate with co-workers or classmates
A new Microsoft app that lets you present ideas in a creative way
Create cool minimalist presentations
Easily collaborate with classmates in creating presentations
Design
Access thousands of free vector arts and photos
Don’t know how to use InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator? Design your own posters and cards here for free
Create your own infographics for free
Inspirations for the design enthusiasts + freebies!
Access a large collection of free vector icons
Learn typography for free
Handpicked free fonts for designers
For your daily dose of creativity
A website about logo design and brand identity
Explore creative work and portfolios
Animation and video post-processing
Download free stock music for your video post-processing
Create a stunning video through their free trial
Make an animated video through their free trial
Free version of Lightworks (a professional video-editing software) is available here supplemented with tutorial videos and demos
Learning Music
Music Theory
A full and in-depth music theory course in Youtube
Free Music Theory ebook by Jonathan Harnum
General Sheet Music Collection (Wide range of instruments, Public Domain Music)
Free music resources for teachers and kids
Access public domain music
Access thousands of classical sheet music
Anime Sheet Music Collection (Piano, Violin, etc.)
Download anime sheet music transcribed by Josh Agarrado
One of the largest collections of free anime sheet music for piano, violin, voice, and others
Download sheet music of popular songs and learn how to play it through Youtube tutorials
Ukulele
Free ukulele tabs and sheet music
Free ukulele chords
Learn to play popular songs in the ukulele through this Youtube channel
Learn how to play the ukulele + free tips and tabs!
Learning Foreign Languages
Learn Spanish, French, German, and others for free
Get free lesson on Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, and others
A comprehensive list of where to learn 48 languages online for free
Public domain courses developed by the US government
A library of foreign language content
Ebooks
Classics and Public Domain
Read and download public domain ebooks in various formats:
General
Borrow Adobe DRM ebooks for free and read it in Adobe Digital Editions software or in your browser
Textbooks
Free textbooks on a wide range of topics
Download free textbooks on PHP, Ruby, Python, C++, Java, etc.
A student-run site dedicated to free educational resources
Other
Read the illustrated books of Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr
Audiobooks
Free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers from around the world
Softwares and Apps
PC/Mac
Access an advanced statistical software for free
Free software for statistical computing and graphics
A free desktop sticky notes app that lets you customize the color and font of your notes
Free source code editor and notepad replacement
Free office suite alternative to MS Office
Listen to music online for free
Organize your ebook collection: convert ebooks to various formats, sync to devices, and read in your computer
The most popular comic book reader
Read ebooks in your PC or Mac, download, buy, or borrow ebooks
Open source cross-platform multimedia player that plays most file formats as well as DVDs and CDs
The ultimate researcher toolkit: manage articles, cite references, get recommendations, and more!
Free Nintendo DS emulator
Web
A visual way to organize to-do lists for both personal and organizational purposes
Create your online travel bucket list, share it to the world, and be inspired by others
A free to-do list and productivity app that makes your life like a game
Free grammar checker
Search for what you want to calculate and know about
Create a customized 2048 game
2048 merged with Flappy Bird game
Create your own color palette and export it to Adobe Photoshop
Find the perfect font combo for your next project
The title says it
Cool interactive generative art
Another cool interactive generative art
Free strategic browser game
Android
Play a trivia game with Facebook friends or with random strangers from the internet
Read ebooks in your Android device, highlight text, create notes, and search definitions in the built-in dictionary
Enhance your photos with real-time filters
Save articles for later reading
Addicting elements puzzle game (also available for iOS)
iOS
Games for your brain for free
Websites
Inspiration
A weekly “interestingness” digest by Maria Popova
A non-profit which aims to spread ideas; watch TED talks, read about ideas, and be inspired
Get insights on making ideas happen
An inspirational book blog for book lovers
Online publication for introverts
Fun
Fun Youtube videos by a 24-year old animator from Toronto
Discover something of your interest
Learn
Science project ideas
Learn with John Green, Hank Green, Phil Plait, and Craig Benzine through their awesome videos
Personality Tests
Discover your love language and understand your relationships better
Take the Big Five Personality Test, Personal Archetype Test, and many more
Discover your MBTI personality type
Another MBTI personality test with detailed explanations and cool graphics
Access your own personality radar and know your motivations
