MOOCs, massive open online courses, help journalists all over the world improve their skills and learn from the best without leaving their computer desk. That’s a great opportunity, especially for reporters from developing countries. In this post, we’ll explain how e-learning has evolved and where you can find free journalism-related courses.

E-learning has been around for several years. Many universities offer their lectures and study plans online. For example, e-learning platform edX offers free courses from several universities, however, the courses are not that numerous and are mostly technical. Harvard Open Courses offers courses on journalism, but the enrollment process is lengthy and, moreover, there’s a tuition fee, which means the courses are not really for the masses. Berkeley University,Yale University and Massachusets Institute of Technology also put their courses online, which are basically recorded class sessions.

Stanford University is doing something different by offering customized online sessions via the iTunes, but there’s still a heavy element of lecturing and no interaction with the instructor and other students.

These are all great opportunities for journalists to learn more about their profession without having to attend whole courses. But watching or listening to recorded classroom presentations is a rather one dimensional model.

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