Even this kid could tap into the wealth of information.

An increasing number of colleges have started using technology to distribute audio and video of college lectures, class notes, and otherwise previously unavailable content to the masses, via the internet. And the price of all this valuable college-level content? Absolutely free, aside from the basic costs of internet access itself, but since you’re presumably reading this blog online right now, probably not a problem. All of this is outlined in this Washington Post article, published today.

“Berkeley’s on YouTube. American University’s hoping to get on iTunes. George Mason professors have created an online research tool, a virtual filing cabinet for scholars. And with a few clicks on Yale’s Web site, anyone can watch one of the school’s most popular philosophy professors sitting cross-legged on his desk, talking about death.”

These are pretty big universities, expensive tuitions, why are they making all these college classes free? Well there are a few benefits for educational institutions: attracting potential students to apply, spreading the name of the university (as if Berkley and AU aren’t well-known enough), impressing donors, among others.

Some institutions are trying to do this gradually, maybe uploading a few videos to YouTube or Apple’s iTunes U, others take the bull by the horns. MIT, for example, has made 1,800 classes freely available on an online database. Pretty much their full curriculum. Steve Carson of MIT OpenCourseWare said that nearly 35 million people have tried their online courses. Nearly half of those people weren’t even affiliated with the school, just curious people who wanted to learn and get a taste of what a college lecture there is really like.

Yale has a similar set up of open courses on their website. Instead of using their own site, Berkley uses YouTube to host their videos.

Sure, you’re not going to earn a college degree from watching a bunch of YouTube videos and downloading segments from iTunes U. Most will agree however this was a step, if not a leap, in spreading education to all, especially those that can’t afford it.