8 Places to Find Free Educational Videos

Khan Academy

Created by Sal Khan to help his cousin with math, the videos focus on Khan's screen, not his face, so there are no distractions. You never see his face. His writing and drawings are neat, and the man knows what he's talking about. He's a good teacher, an accidental teacher who just may change the face of education in the U.S.

At Khan Academy, you can learn math, humanities, finance and economics, history, all the sciences, even test prep, and his team is adding more all the time.

MIT Open Courseware

From the Massachusetts Institute of Technology comes open courseware that will knock your socks off. While you don't get a certificate and can't claim that you have an MIT education, you do get free access to virtually all MIT course content. The courses are too numerous to list here, but you'll find all the audio/video courses listed here: Audio/Video Courses. There are even more lecture notes, so poke around.

PBS

The Public Broadcasting System is just that, public, which means its resources, including videos, are free. This is one of the few unbiased sources of journalism left in the world, so while its educational videos are free, they would really appreciate you becoming a member or at least donating a little something.

At PBS, you'll find videos on arts and entertainment, culture and society, health, history, home and how-to, news, public affairs, parenting, science, nature, and technology.

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YouTube EDU

Our list would not be complete, even a shortlist, without YouTube's Education site. The videos you'll find here range from academic lectures to professional development classes and speeches from teachers around the world.

You can even contribute your own educational videos.

LearnersTV

As of May 2012, LearnersTV has nearly 23,000 video lectures available for students of biology, physics, chemistry, maths and statistics, computer science, medical science, dentistry, engineering, accounting, and management. The site also offers science animations, lecture notes, a live medical test, and free magazines.

TeachingChannel

You have to register to use TeachingChannel.org, but registration is free. Click on the Video tab and you'll have access to more than 400 videos on topics in English language arts, math, science, history/social sciences, and the arts.

It's designed for primary and secondary school, but sometimes reviewing the basics is just what we need. Don't pass up this site just because it's not college level.

SnagLearning

SnagLearning offers free documentaries on arts and music, foreign languages, history, math and sciences, political science and civics, world culture, and geography. Many are produced by PBS and National Geographic, so we're talking high quality here.

The site states: "The goal of this site is to highlight documentaries that make for engaging educational tools. We will also feature guest teacher bloggers as well as special programming stunts like Q&As with the filmmakers."

SnagLearning adds new films every week, so check back often.

Howcast

If you want to watch educational videos on your mobile device, Howcast might be the site for you. It offers short videos on just about anything you want to know about, including style, food, technology, recreation, fitness, health, home, family, money, education, and even relationships.