WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saylor.org, the free education initiative of the Saylor Foundation, is on track to make its entire catalog of free online courses available to students who use iTunes U. The Washington, D.C.-based non-profit will do so by posting one of its self-paced college-level courses per week on iTunes U until its entire catalog of courses -- now totaling 271 -- is available to users of Apple's popular service.
The 23 courses now available include offerings in Art History, Biology, Business Administration, Chemistry, Computer Science, Education, History, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Political Science, and Professional Development.
Three courses were added to Saylor.org's iTunes U channel in November and four additional courses are slated through the end of December 2012; all of these courses are already available at any time through a web browser at Saylor.org:
- BUS210: Corporate Communication - 11/13/12
- PSYCH101: Introduction to Psychology - 11/20/12
- ECON101: Principles of Microeconomics - 11/27/12
- Common Core 101 - forthcoming - 12/04/12
- MA103: Multi-variable Calculus - forthcoming - 12/11/12
- PRDV101: Job Search Skills - forthcoming - 12/18/12
- BUS203: Principles of Marketing - forthcoming - 12/26/12
By the end of 2012, Saylor.org will have posted 10% of its present courses to the iTunes U platform, and will continue to post one course a week to iTunes U in 2013 and subsequent years, to catch up to and keep pace with the Foundation's large and expanding catalog.
Meets students where they study; part of a much larger program of study
The iTunes U service has rapidly become a favorite place for free online learning, offering students access to lectures, readings, and assignments, all presented with instructional context.
Since launching within the iTunes U community in May 2012, Saylor.org courses have received 1.25 million visits and garnered 350,000 subscribers, who have made 750,000 downloads. The Saylor Foundation believes these numbers will scale upward with an ever-greater diversity of course offerings presented to iTunes U students.
Fulfilling its commitment to meet students wherever they may be (and on whatever device they may be using), the Saylor Foundation continues to expand its free education program on its main site Saylor.org -- currently 271 online courses in 17 areas of study. As on iTunes U, these courses are completely free, self-paced, and available any time through a web browser.
About the Saylor Foundation
The Saylor Foundation (under its legal name, The Constitution Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Foundation was established in 1999 by Michael Saylor, the Chairman and CEO of the business intelligence company MicroStrategy. Mr. Saylor serves as the Foundation's sole trustee. Since 2008, the Foundation's Free Education Initiative (www.saylor.org) has focused on using technology to drive the cost of education to zero. Saylor.org serves as a zero-cost alternative for individuals who lack the resources to attend traditional brick-and-mortar institutions and as a complement to mainstream education providers. Saylor expects free, self-paced, automated online learning opportunities to motivate people to pursue personal growth and career ambitions as well as to lead to institutional change among education providers everywhere.
The Saylor Foundation logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=13180
