Chances are you were done with school when you finally got your degree. Nowadays, however, it’s so easy to keep learning and developing that a lot of people actually decide to go back to school. Whether this is to an actual school building (a lot of universities offer separate courses you can enroll in) or through one of the millions of online courses available worldwide. This week I give you a roundup of the best free online courses and educators. All so that you can stay a true student of life.
THE BENEFITS OF CONTINUOUS LEARNING
With every industry around us developing at a fast pace, employers have started to ask a lot more from their employees. To stay relevant and up to date in your own field, you are almost obliged to expand upon the knowledge you have in order to follow along with and jump-start innovations in the workplace. In addition, continuous learning gives us higher mobility within our workplaces.
Whereas a couple of decades ago it was quite difficult to switch jobs within a company (without having to go back to school or just being really lucky), the possibilities are now endless. If you want to grow within your current field, but would like to do something else, you are very likely to achieve your goals by following online courses. These will qualify you for your dream job by adding to the knowledge you already have.
From a personal standpoint, we are now capable of learning about everything that interests us with just a mouse-click. The lawyer who has always been interested in architecture can follow an online course and be certified at the end of it. This also opens up a lot of possibilities for everyone who wants to break out of the workforce and be self-employed. You can now start your own company by diving into courses and classes that will provide you with the knowledge you need to jumpstart your dream. If you’re not sure about a certain topic or field, enrolling in a free course is also a great way to find out if something really interests you before you throw your hard-earned money at it.
A QUICK ROUNDUP: THE BEST FREE ONLINE COURSES OUT THERE
I have personally followed a couple of online courses when I decided to pursue a career as a writer and content creator. These include courses in Design, Business Writing, Copywriting and SEO. Now, I am putting the skills I’ve learned to the test to see if I can make a viable business for myself. With a couple of free resources, I’m sure that you can do the same.
COURSERA
Coursera offers university courses from some of the best universities from across the globe. While a lot of them require you to pay a monthly fee, they also have an entire section of free courses you can enroll in today. This includes Becoming A Changemaker: Introduction To Social Innovation, Script Writing and Introduction To Economic Theories. There is also a possibility to start a 7-day free trial. If you end your subscription before the trial ends you are not obliged to pay for the course. After the free trial, you will be billed a monthly fee (for me that was €43,- but that obviously depends on where you’re from and what currency you use). You can also apply for financial aid, this option will pop up next to every course.
OPEN2STUDY
This is another great source for free learning. Open2Study is a community that offers free online courses in fields such as Astronomy, Anthropology, Game Development and many more. Every course comes with a list of skills you will learn and knowledge you will gain throughout. They also tell you the career options every course opens up and offer a list of additional accredited courses for when you want to take your studies further. Here’s a complete list of all the free courses at Open2Study.
ALISON
I stumbled upon Alison a couple of weeks ago when I was lost in the depths of Youtube (you know how it goes). They offer an extensive list of free training courses on their website ranging anywhere from technology to language acquisition and everything in between. You pass a course when you have an 80% score or higher and official certificates of completion can be purchased afterward. The website offers different Diploma and Certificate Courses. The Diploma Courses being 2-3 hour courses that allow you to grasp easier subjects within a short period of time. The Certificate Courses go a lot more in-depth and can generally be completed within 8-10 hours.
OPEN LEARN
Open Learn offers another wide variety of subjects to study. For example, you can enroll in courses like The African Diaspora: An Archaeological Perspective and Creativity and Innovation. On completing a course you receive a free Statement Of Participation. This is really handy for when you want to add your new skills to a platform like LinkedIn so that future employers can see how multi-faceted you are. A certificate outside of your formal education also shows that you are eager to learn and like a challenge.
NOW GET OUT THERE AND KICK SOME ACADEMIC BUTT!
There you go! These are the best free online courses I could find. If you have any suggestions or would like me to do a follow up (maybe an article about the best free sources for personal development?) just let me know in the comments and keep an eye on the Education section of SlightCHOP! For now, I hope this helped you out and that you have a lovely day.