is there any Podcasting learning resourses available helping towards the better understanding of these standerds?

I am an older person who used to be fascinated by science and technology but who is just now coming out of a 5 year long crisis during which I had minimal exposure to new developments in the internet and new technology such as text messaging podcasting etc. So what I need are free educational websites..eg. there used to be (still is) a website called “How stuff works ” which I had found v useful. Also, I had heard that teh Brittanica and or Harvard or MIT were going to make a lot of their course material available free on the web? Hard to believe I guess…
I want to extend the xpiry but can’t find out how…