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Get a free MIT qualification in electronics

Diploma and degree scams abound on the internet.

For an amount as little as $50, you too can get a university degree without the need for any study or exams -- woohoo!

Unfortunately, as many (including a certain former CEO of Maori TV) have discovered, those degrees are worthless. In fact, if you try to include them in your CV they might end up ankle-tapping your career and job prospects rather than improving them.

However, all is not lost for those who are looking to gain a recognised qualification over the Net.

Right now, you can take a undergraduate course from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- online and for free. If you pass the exams, you'll even get an MIT certificate.

Details of the course (which runs from March 5, 2012 through June 8, 2012) can be found on this website.

Here's a challenge for Aardvark readers -- and geeks in general...

Instead of watching Shorty Street for 30 minutes a day, how about signing up and taking the MIT course?

Okay, I know that it's most unlikely *any* Aardvark readers are avid Shorty Street fans but I'm sure most could squeeze a few hours a week out of their busy schedules to take this course like this.

Even if you don't particularly need to learn about "resistive elements and networks; independent and dependent sources; switches and MOS transistors; digital abstraction; amplifiers; energy storage elements; dynamics of first- and second-order networks; design in the time and frequency domains; and analog and digital circuits and applications" -- I'm sure having a "certificate of accomplishment" from MIT won't hurt your CV at all.

And besides -- I know very few people who don't enjoy learning new things or refreshing existing knowledge.

Imagine next time you're in a job interview saying "yes, the EE certificate in my CV -- is from the Massachusetts Institute, not the Manukau one" :-)

I've written before about the amazing number of university and other educational courses and lectures available online these days. If you're ever at a loss for something to do, having played all your Lady Gaga albums and feel a little "Facebook fatigue" setting in, then seek out some online education and expand your horizons a little.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's taken one of the many online courses. How did it work for you? Did you complete the course? Has the resulting qualification been of value to you in seeking a good job?

Or was it just good fun?

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