Got some free time on your hands? Now is the perfect time to upskill or master a new subject. Fortunately there's a slew of awesome free online courses worth getting around right now. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill classes either. Think: how to create your own start-up, become a Photoshop whiz, an epic public speaker and even courses on philosophy and psychology.
Take note, these are the best free online courses to get into right now.
Sustainable Business Through Green HR
Sustainability should be at the core of any business, whether you’re freelance, working for a startup or are even part of a corporation. Environmental and sustainable practices usually become an HR matter but this course is a win to expand your knowledge on Green HR and identify various types of sustainability models. You’ll get to look at Green HR in the fashion industry (and how to balance sustainable values and business viability), how to change mindsets to balance self-interest and social responsibility, how to be a driver of cultural change and how to achieve true transparency and authenticity. Join the course here.
Instagram Marketing: Instagram Essentials And Content Creation
We mean, this one is pretty relevant for everyone. This course is designed to take you throgh how to rapidly scale your followers, maximise engagement and generate income through direct-sales and collaborations (perfect for any side hustles out there). At the heart of this free online course is a big focus on building a branded Instagram account directly and organically, plus a whole heap of useful hacks and strategies that make all the difference. Join the course here.
Data Representation In Computing: Bring Data To Life
In an increasingly visual world, learning how to present data in a digestible way is key. Supported by Google, this online course from the Raspberry Pi Foundation explores how computers do interesting things with data. You’ll get to discover how to represent and manipulate text, images and sound and compression and other algorithms. Join the course here.
Become A Successful Baker With BBC
If you’re all about improving your home baking skills, this fun course will be your absolute jam. Loaded with techniques to master tasty recipes and understand the science behind baking, this course is designed to help you conquer different baking methods. As for what you’ll be making, think sweet and savoury pastries and macarons. This free online course will also teach you how to read and amend recipes to suit your own style of baking, how to pick the right ingredients and all the basic equipment all kitchens should have. Join the course here.
MoMA Art Courses
Forget your passport, you can travel to New York virtually to the city’s cultural hub MoMa. The museum is offering a series of free online courses for all the culture buffs out there. In MoMA’s free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), you’ll hear directly from artists and designers, while getting the chance to check out collections and exhibitions. Courses include ‘Fashion as Design’, ‘Seeing through Photographs’ and ‘Reimagining Blackness and Architecture’. You can enroll at any time and complete the course at your own pace (they range from 16-27 hours to complete, and are angled at beginners).
Master The Art Of Calling Bullshit Course
Now more than ever before, we find ourselves constantly bombarded with "news" from all angles. 'Calling Bullshit' aims to teach you how to think critically about data and models to constitute as evidence in social and natural sciences. Sounds like something you’d like to master? You'll be surprised at how handy a "no-bullshit" approach to data reasoning in a digital world really is. For the free version of this one, head over and binge through this course’s YouTube videos.
How To Build A Start-Up Course
This ripper of a free online course will give you the complete lowdown on the key steps needed to build a successful start-up. The main idea in this course is learning how to rapidly develop and test ideas by gathering massive amounts of customer feedback, with the entire course spanning around one month (which means you’ll be start-up savvy in no time).
Overcome And Develop Any Habit Course
Whether you’re a habitual procrastinator or just can’t seem to kickstart that daily run we’ve found the perfect course for you. This workshop is all about schooling you on how to eliminate poor habits from your life and develop healthy ones so you can achieve any goals you set and you know, just live your best damn life. On top of this, you’ll actually get the easy know-how on how to maintain these habits (win) so you can start being productive, learn a new skill or language or just improve your wellbeing in general.
Learn To Code Course
Starting out as a co-working space, General Assembly is now a global learning biz that runs a bunch of uber helpful online courses. Whilst most of the long-form courses will cost you, General Assembly is now offering a free 'learn how to code' course that covers: how to design beautifully modern sites, balance layout for content and navigation, create your first fully styled landing page with CSS and tackle Javascript.
Photoshop Courses
Whether you’re in publishing, design or the tech world (or just want to create some super slick images and logos in your free time) doing a Photoshop course is always a good idea. Fortunately the possibilities are endless when it comes to the number of free classes on offer. There’s everything from learning about photoshop filters and basic editing to learning how to design for UI/UX development and everything you need to know about layers. Classes run from 45 minutes to four hours and are perfect for beginners or those looking to add to their skill set.
Ivy League Courses
Make like Rihanna and get into an Ivy League school sans actually getting into an Ivy League school. There are a tonne of free online courses available (around 450) from Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale. Some of these require as little as an hours commitment each week (over a number of weeks) and span subjects including 'The Science Of Wellbeing', 'Understanding Medical Research: Your Facebook Friend is Wrong' (that one feels particularly poignant right now), Buddhism and Modern Psychology' and 'The Age of Sustainable Development'.
Public Speaking Course
There’s no better time than now to work on your public speaking skills (whether that’s on zoom or not). This course is all about getting over any anxiety you might have talking in front of a crowd while giving you tips on what to do before and during a speech. And the best part is the techniques used are really damn simple and will make you go from a mediocre speaker to an absolutely awesome one in a short amount of time. And just 38 minutes long, this short course can equal big rewards for you.
Next, check out these epic masterclasses.
Image Credit: Urban List