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I RECENTLY COMPLETED a course called England: From the Fall of Rome to the Norman Conquest. Before that was Books That Matter: The Federalist Papers. Okay, I’m a nerd, I’ll admit it.
Since I retired, I’ve looked for avenues to broaden and deepen my understanding of subjects that I was taught in high school and at the liberal arts college I attended. Back then, there were college courses, like accounting, that I felt I had to take to earn a living. Still, some of my favorite courses were American history, Shakespeare, philosophy and poetry. If I could go back, I might take more of these latter topics—and less accounting.
But wait, I can go back.
For years, retirees interested in learning needed to find a way to take a class at a local college or build their own curriculum with books they borrowed from the library or bought. Later, books on tape and CDs offered a way to bring courses to your dashboard or den.
Now, quality courses can be streamed. While some educational resources are available on a subscription basis, many courses are available free or at a low cost. And those accounting courses taught me that free is good.
My go-to source for serious college content is The Great Courses offered by The Teaching Company. I’ve worked my way through dozens of its courses. The company offers a wide variety of subjects. Some I have no interest in, but many others are on my wish list. The marketing material brags that the company seeks out professors known for their teaching ability. No disagreement here. I’ve yet to come across a dud.
The courses I’ve taken range in length from six to 36 lectures, each 30 minutes long. The longest I’ve seen in the catalog is a 48-lecture course on western civilization. My favorites often derive from the quality of the instructor as much as the course subject. These have included:
Your taste will likely differ from mine. No worries. There’s content that’ll address any interest. I’ve never sought out “how to” courses, but you can learn photography, cooking, gardening and even investing. Art appreciation, music appreciation, philosophy, and many areas of science and math are represented.
Courses are offered on DVDs, CDs or streaming, each with a different price point. If you go to The Great Courses website, you’ll see some eye-popping list prices for its courses. I’ve never paid anything near those list prices. The site is constantly running sales, offering coupon codes or otherwise discounting its courses on a rotating basis.
In many cases, I’ve paid nothing at all by accessing courses through my local library. There are at least three ways this can be done:
Best of all, there are no tests with The Great Courses, and you can choose whether to do the homework. I took a course on The Illiad and read each set of chapters before the lecture that discussed them. No question it added to my appreciation, but no one was checking. Still, with most of the courses, I simply watch and enjoy.
Howard Rohleder, a former chief executive of a community hospital, retired early after more than 30 years in hospital administration. In retirement, he enjoys serving on several nonprofit boards, exploring walking paths with his wife Susan, and visiting their six grandchildren. A little-known fact: In May 1994, Howard was featured—along with five others—on the cover of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance for an article titled “Secrets of My Investment Success.” Check out his previous articles.
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I have taken from free lecture series from both Hillsdale college and Dallas Theological Seminary. Not as extensive as a full college course (usually 6-8 lectures) but very informative. Just finished one on Euclidean geometry
I do believe conventional education as many other usual lifestyles (=married/2kids&pet) will experiance vast changes in the USA shortly.
https://openlearning.mit.edu/news/mit-offers-over-2000-free-online-courses-here-are-13-best-ones
My mother took advantage of a state law that allowed senior citizens to take courses at any public college in the state for $5 per credit hour, if space was available the first day of the semester. She always bought the textbooks and usually shared them with a classmate who couldn’t afford to buy. She enjoyed hearing much younger classmates discuss the course topics. Her GPA was better than my college GPA, although I always assured her that was because she took just one course a semester.
I look forward to taking advantage of that state program in a few years.
Here in Ohio we senior citizens can take courses at the public colleges for free on a space-available, non-credit basis. As long as the classroom is not physically full, we are able to audit the course. Plus we get a discount in the college bookstore — if they still use a book!
Great suggestions Howard. I’ve done a number of free classes on Coursera, including an introductory course on Financial Markets by Nobel Prize winner Robert Schiller. If you have any interest in Climate, and the Science of Climate modeling (science geek alert) this course is worthwhile.
https://www.coursera.org/learn/global-warming
I tried an Introduction to Mathematical Thinking by Keith Devlin at Stanford. It was vey challenging for a dumb engineer.
Thanks for an enjoyable article.
I live a few blocks from my alma mater, NC State University. The craft center on campus provides classes and facilities for photography, pottery, jewelry, woodworking, and many other hobbies/lifestyles. In retirement I’ve taken furniture woodworking and woodturning/bowl classes. Class registration for the public only happens if space remains after students enroll, but I log on frequently to check on class status. After each class I’ve had a really good “I made that” feeling. I’m sure you get the same feeling from your literature classes.
Great suggestion re: finding local resources. I would probably take off a finger if I did what you have done! That is why the variety of opportunities for personal enrichment during retirement is so important.
Isn’t it great that learning is so accessible and can be such a pleasure in retirement?
For me, its the rare week that goes by that I don’t “attend” an academic talk online (taking notes and formulating questions, to stay engaged), study books related to my hobbies (currently, color theory for painting), participate in citizen science (Firefly Watch, this summer), or read to fill the large gaps in my knowledge of literature. The privilege to do this now was worth every penny saved in my working years.
I’ve been using Great Courses for some time. One thing you don’t mention is Wondrium, formerly Great Courses Plus. I pay by the quarter and can access any course I choose whenever I choose. See here for current prices. There might be a cheaper price when the big catalog goes out in January and I see it’s even cheaper annually.
Another option is OLLI, or your local equivalent. These are non-credit classes for over 50s at universities. Some universities also let seniors audit for-credit courses for free.
Very appropriate suggestion but I’m in the mode of doing it cheaper than paying for a subscription…. it’s those accounting courses I took!
Lol. I’m paying $30/quarter and I think it’s worth it for the convenience. BTW, I recently finished the “From the Fall of Rome” course and I recommend anything by Garland, Allit or Dorsey Armstrong.
I started viewing courses from the “Teaching Company”, later “Great Courses”, back when they were on VHS tape! Eventually they switched to DVD. And now, for convenience, I subscribe to “Wondrium”. And as you and others have mentioned, a variety of high quality lectures and courses can be accessed, often for free, from other sources too.
Thanks for the article. We used The Great Courses for a few years when we homeschooled our daughter and found them to be high quality. I may look into them again, for myself, once I am retired.
I guess I’m a geek as well. For me, a significant pleasure of retirement is being able to have the time to read up on whatever catches my attention.
Thinking and learning generally cost very little, which appeals to the inner cheapskate in me, and because nowadays I get to chose what to think about, doing so is really a kind of freedom from boredom.
I live close to the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. I grew up here. I finally asked myself questions like, Why are those mountains here? How old are they? Why is the valley I live in here? How did it form? Why is the valley I live in to the west of the Cascades more than 3,000 feet lower in elevation than towns like Bend and Burns east of the Cascades? Where’d 3,000 feet of rock come from?
Seems like I should know stuff about the world I wake up in every day. Mountains are pretty big. A little embarrasing to live next to something that big and never ask yourself anything about it.
Once I started noticing how many things around me I’m ignorant of, I realized that I have a banquet of choices of things to learn about.
I share your interests, especially in history of all types. My go to source is YouTube. There are many documentaries, a series on archeology, especially in the UK, but elsewhere too. I also follow a channel called this house that visits historical homes around the country and gives their history and that of their owners long gone.
The access to information is endless and easy these days.
The Great Courses are vetted. YouTube isn’t. In my professional field, there are truly outstanding videos on YouTube, but very few of them. There is a plethora of videos that won’t harm anyone, but are a waste of time. And there are a lot that are wrong. How is a novice to know?
Howard, my wife and I have thumbed through those catalogs of courses, but have yet to commit the time. Sounds like a good retirement schedule item.
Use your library to “test drive” a few courses to see if you like them… and can maintain the commitment to complete them.