Free online coursework offered by 5 top colleges - Stephanie Simon, Reuters

Five prestigious U.S. universities will create free online courses for students worldwide through a new interactive education platform dubbed Coursera, the founders said. The two professors of computer science at Stan-ford University also announced that they had received $16 million in financing from two Silicon Valley venture-capital firms. Coursera will offer more than three dozen college courses in the coming year through its website at coursera.org. Courses will cover topics such as Greek mythology, neurology, calculus and contemporary American poetry. The classes are designed and taught by professors at Stanford, Princeton, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan.