Massive open online courses offer IT professionals the opportunity to learn about some of the tech industry’s most in-demand and current topics for free. Available to anyone with a Web connection, MOOCs cover a range of hot tech topics including software defined networking, cloud computing, security, drone development, artificial intelligence and mobile programming.

Popular MOOC platforms include edX, a venture developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, and Coursera, which was founded by two Stanford University professors. Course material mostly comes from academic institutions that adapt the material taught in classrooms for online learning. Cornell University, the University of California Berkeley and Caltech are just some of the schools that have made content available on MOOC platforms.

Read more at Network World.