We’re afraid that on-line courses will never help you recapture the magic of Hazing Week at your old I Tappa Keg fraternity, but if you’re serious about “getting your learn on” this time, the Internet can be a great place to, uh, “matriculate.”

Of course, if your idea of college courses includes face time with professors and other students, there isn’t a good substitute for showing up to a classroom. But if you’ll settle for on-line access to assignments and lectures from prestigious institutions like MIT and UC Berkeley, then you’re in luck!

MIT announced an on-line initiative in 2001 called OpenCourseWare (ocw.mit.edu), to “advance knowledge and educate students […] to best serve the world.” Seven years and 1800 courses later, anyone with an Internet connection can download syllabi, quizzes, and video lectures for courses ranging from Aerospace Engineering to World Literature.

The idea of getting edumacated without paying tuition proved popular, prompting other universities to follow suit. There’s now an OpenCourseWare Consortium (ocwconsortium.org) of schools from around the world, from Australia to Vietnam. American participants include Notre Dame, Tufts University, and Johns Hopkins, among others.

Other institutions provide similar resources. The University of California at Berkeley has an entire YouTube channel at youtube.com/ucberkeley, and is one of many schools that offer audio and video recordings of lectures on-line for free. Apple’s iTunes University (apple.com/education/itunesu) has more.

Free access to raw course materials is great, but Carnegie Mellon is exploring more interactive methods of teaching over the web. Their Open Learning Initiative (cmu.edu/oli) offers only ten courses, but employs “innovative online instructional components” like virtual laboratories and group experiments.

MIT and others are quick to stress that – while great resources for “self-learners” – these sites do not provide a college education. In particular, no degrees, certificates, or continuing education credits are awarded based on the use of OpenCourseWare materials.

Participation also does not include access to faculty, so don’t expect a virtual Mr. Peabody as part of the deal. In addition, many instructors do not post all of their material on-line, leaving you to fill in some of the gaps yourself. But you really can’t complain since it’s free – Wossamotta U?

Looking for something more formal, like paying tuition and getting a degree? Then you’ll want to check out on-line universities. Some good places to start include elearners.com, collegedegree.com, and adultlearn.com, which allow you to browse a list of schools or search by academic subjects and degrees.

So people looking for a convenient, flexible, and inexpensive – if not quite perfect – way to continue their education need only a web browser and some free time. Nothing on the Internet will bring back those glorious college days of partying at the I Phelta Thi house or witnessing a sorority pillow fight, but there are probably other web sites for that kind of thing. In the meantime, enjoy your free Introduction to Computational Neuroscience class.