The Great Courses

The Great Courses

The Great Courses is an audio and video lecture series covering a wide variety of academic subjects. Experts in each field present video lectures designed to engage lifelong learners.
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lectures academic-subjects video audio

The Great Courses: Expert-led Audio & Video Lectures

Explore a vast range of academic subjects through engaging audio and video lectures by renowned experts, designed for lifelong learning.

What is The Great Courses?

The Great Courses is a series of college-level audio and video courses produced by The Teaching Company. The courses are lectures presented by experts in various academic fields and are designed to engage lifelong learners.

The Great Courses library contains over 550 courses covering subjects in science, mathematics, history, religion, literature, fine arts, music, and more. Courses are produced with the goal of creating engaging content for people looking to learn more about academic topics out of personal interest rather than for college credit.

The typical Great Courses lecture series contains 12-24 thirty-minute video lectures delivered by a professor. Courses are available on DVD, audio download, video streaming, and The Great Courses Plus subscription streaming service. Subjects covered range from narrow topics like the Symphony to broad surveys of entire fields such as biology or world history.

The Great Courses company works with university professors from top schools like Stanford, Yale, and UCLA to produce each lecture series. Courses emphasize clear explanations, visual aids, and enthusiasm for the subject matter with the goal of making each series informative, engaging, and enjoyable for lifelong learners.

The Great Courses Features

Features

  1. Video lectures by university professors and experts
  2. Wide variety of academic subjects covered
  3. Engaging presentation style for lifelong learning
  4. Mobile app allows lectures on the go
  5. Closed captioning for accessibility

Pricing

  • Subscription-Based
  • One-time Purchase

Pros

High quality content from leading experts

Convenient learning on your own schedule

Large catalog of courses to choose from

Good value compared to cost of college courses

Lifetime access to purchased courses

Cons

Can feel impersonal compared to in-person classes

No student-instructor interaction

Requires self-motivation to complete courses

No credentials offered upon course completion

Some courses may feel outdated over time


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