Education - a $100 genuine Master's Degree?

[IainB]

The biggest constraints to getting an education would probably include:

• access to education - you generally need to go to college.
• money - to fund it. You either need wealthy parents or access to a huge student debt, which will hang over your head for a large part of your working life.
• availability of freely disposable time - you might be too busy earning a living or looking after children to be able to get to a college.

How about a real, potential opportunity to overcome those constraints?
Couple of useful links below, and I have lifted a comment out of another thread (which was about learning Python) to help start this thread off.
I would be very interested to read of any DCF members' experiences of using the innovative UDACITY educational effort.

• On Statistics and Open Education: A Brief Chat with Sebastian Thrun
• The $100 Masters Degree From Udacity

This quote is from @40hz in the thread Re: Book: Learn Python the Hard Way

If you're a rank beginner to Python (and programming) look no further than this free  course offered through Udacity.com.

Intro to Computer Science (cs101)
Building a Search Engine
with Professor David Evans - University of Virginia

Class Summary
In this course you will learn key concepts in computer science and learn how to write your own computer programs in the context of building a web crawler.

What do I need to know?
There is no prior programming knowledge needed for this course. Beginners welcome!

What will I learn?
At the end of this course you will have a rock solid foundation for programming in Python and built a working web crawler. This course will prepare you to take many of Udacity's more advanced courses.

Really quite a step up from many free 'university level' online courses in that they offer an interactive web-based programming environment (no need to install Python so you can use any PC when you want to work on the course); graded exams, live people to ask questions of - and a certificate when you successfully complete the course.
Some other good courses available there as well. Check it out.

[TaoPhoenix]

I Programmer's "midterm report" on that project is that it's showing the nitpicks of an Alpha creation but that it's a neat experience.