Adult Education
Local Resources
Hudson-Maynard Adult Learning Center
The Hudson-Maynard Adult Learning Center offers free English classes (ESOL) and ABE/GED prep classes to adults.
Acton-Boxboro Community Education
The Acton-Boxborough Community Education Program attempts to involve community members in education and community service activities, leading to individual and community development.
Assabet After Dark is the Adult Continuing Education program located at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Marlborough. Career and Licensing courses include Auto Damage Appraiser, Electrical Code & Theory for the Journeyman's License, Master Electrician, Cosmetology, CNA, EMT, EKG Technician, Real Estate Salesperson's Training, Home Inspection License Prep, and Construction Supervisor Unrestricted License Exam Prep. Additionally, the program offers ESL classes, Welding workshops, Auto Body Repair workshops, career building classes, and much more!
Concord-Carlisle Community Education
Concord-Carlisle Community Education provides opportunities for lifelong learning to the citizens of the school district and surrounding towns. Offers a variety of topics including computer applications, language, writing/publishing, graphic arts, and much more.
Lincoln-Sudbury Community Education
Provides a wide variety of adult education courses as well as an EMT course and a Driver's Education program.
Official Massachusetts High School Equivalency Testing Program
The Massachusetts High School Equivalency credential is accepted by virtually all colleges, universities, and employers in the United States as exactly equivalent to a high school diploma. In order to earn the credential, you must take and pass one of two assessments tests, either the GED test or the HiSET. This page lists all the information on the GED and HiSET exam information including FAQs, testing requirements, and testing center locations.
UMass Lowell Learning in Retirement Association (LIRA)
LIRA is a multi-faceted educational program for the retired and semi-retired, for which there are neither educational nor age requirements. LIRA's philosophy is to provide, at a modest cost, college-level learning experiences for all its members, regardless of previous educational background.
Online Learning Websites
Berklee College of Music offers a collection of individual self-contained music lessons developed by Berklee faculty and alumni, as well as lessons on topics like music production, songwriting & arranging, and improvisation.
Codecademy is the easiest way to learn how to code. It's interactive, fun, and you can do it with your friends. Codecademy is a group of curious hackers working hard to build a better way for anyone to teach and learn.
Coursera
The largest provider of free online courses from colleges and universities. Offers free, unverified certificates of completion and also has a mobile app for users.
EdX
Online courses from top universities that allow you to start at any time. Includes self-paced learning, online discussion groups, wiki-based collaborative learning, assessment of learning as a student progresses through a course, and online laboratories.
GCF Learn Free
Learn computer skills and other basic education topics.
Khan Academy
Over 3,300 videos on everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history, and hundreds of skills to practice. Each video is a digestible chunk, approximately 10 minutes long, and especially purposed for viewing on the computer.
MIT OpenCourseware
Free courses from MIT to take at your own pace.
TED
Fascinating video talks on a wide range of topics.
This free typing tutor teaches you how to touch-type.
On YouTube EDU, you have access to a broad set of educational videos that range from academic lectures to inspirational speeches and everything in between. Come here for quick lessons from top teachers around the world, course lectures from top-tier universities, or inspiring videos to spark your imagination.
Library E-Resources
(from Boston Public Library)
Massachusetts residents are eligible to use the Boston Public Library's online e-resources. You will need a BPL e-card to access these resources. If you do not already have an e-card, you can register for one at:
www.bpl.org/ecard
Access all of BPL's e-resources at:
www.bpl.org/resource
LearningExpress Library
Test preparation materials and practice exams for K-12 subjects, high school equivalency, college and graduate admissions, military, U.S. citizenship, and professional licensing and certification exams. Includes the Job & Career Accelerator to help you achieve your career goals.
LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)
Offers 16,000 video courses in business, software, technology, and creative skills, taught by recognized industry experts. Courses are offered in English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin, and Portuguese.
To use their free collection of LinkedIn Learning courses, do not visit LinkedIn Learning directly. Always follow links from bpl.org to access their subscription portal.
Please note that while our website does contain a small number of outside curated links (primarily to local, governmental, and non-profit sites covering subjects of interest to our patrons), we regret that we are unable to spend the time to fully evaluate unsolicited links that are sent to us for inclusion on our site; therefore we do not act on these recommendations.
Revised 6/23/2023 J.J.R.