I’ve spent plenty of time watching viral videos and vlogs, etc. But what if I want to spend my lunch break learning something of value instead?
That’s why I searched online for some places to watch quality video from respected sources. Here’s what I found:
Aggregators:
- Academic Earth
My favorite so far – this site is really well made and has a great interface for viewing actual University Course Lectures on a wide array of topics. There’s a feature that lets you “dim the lights” and make the rest of the window gray when you watch the lectures. - VideoLectures.net
This site has over 2000 videos. If you are into Computer Science then this is a great resource, there are over 1700 CS videos here. Even if you’re not into that, there are hundreds of other videos on business, law, science and more. - The Vega Science Trust
My favorite section of this site is the Nobel Prize interviews, they’re really inspirational. These men are Legendary, and it’s absolutely fascinating listening to them talk about how they got started, the problems they faced in their research, and the reasons they give for their own accomplishments.
You’ll be able to see great innovators like Fred Sanger, the father of DNA sequencing. In one clip, while being taken on a tour of a modern facility, Sanger looks at a computer analyzing reads and jokingly calls it “cheating”.
This site has videos in streaming real media files, so you’ll have to get Real Alternative to view them. - freevideolectures.com
This site doesn’t seem as professionally done as some of the others, but there are some lectures you won’t see elsewhere. There were some from IIT for example, if you want to find out what it’s like to be a student at India’s top technology university. - WGBH Forum Network
WGBH Videos are less technical than those found at course lecture sites. They are mostly talks by professionals given at conferences. Go here if you want to see a wide variety of complex topics nicely packaged into 1 hour videos.
University Courses
- MIT OpenCourseWare
These are full classes from MIT, you’ve probably heard of them already. - UC Berkeley Video and Podcasts
These are full classes from UC Berkeley, you’ll have to navigate to a quarter that’s already completed to see the videos. - Stanford Engineering Everywhere
“SEE programming includes one of Stanford’s most popular engineering sequences: the three-course Introduction to Computer Science taken by the majority of Stanford undergraduates, and seven more advanced courses in artificial intelligence and electrical engineering.” - Open Yale Courses
15 Courses from another Top-Tier University, including Game Theory, Financial Markets, and Frontiers of Biomedical Engineering. - Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences Web Seminars
A lot of deep mathematical concepts are covered here. It’s going to take me a while before I can watch these.
Business Lectures
- Stanford Graduate School of Business Videos
There’s a lot of great business knowledge in here. - Stanford Entrepreneurship Corner
Talks from entrepreneurial thought leaders and innovators from Silicon Valley.