8 Free Online Courses for People Who Love to Learn

Bruce Harpham is a Project Management Professional and Founder and CEO of Project Management Hacks.

Learning new skills and knowledge is a great way to advance your career, increase your income, and make sense of the world. Today, you have access to a large number of online courses to help you learn skills in many areas, including preparing for exams, the basics of science, and many business topics. In this article, you will learn about a variety of free online courses and how you can benefit from them.

As you learn through an online course, keep in mind that free online courses require focus. There is no professor, teacher or anybody else expecting you to pay attention or complete homework. That said, you can achieve a great amount through a self-study learning experience.

1. Develop Your Math Skills With Khan Academy

We all know that math skills and reasoning are valuable and well worth developing. Yet, you may feel embarrassed to ask for help or sign up with a tutor. That’s why the Khan Academy free online courses are so helpful.

You can watch the videos multiple times. Even better, there is an online platform where you can practice your math skills with quizzes and get feedback. The best part of Khan Academy courses: each video lesson is short (5-10 minutes), so it is a great approach if you have limited time and want to brush up on the basics.

2. Mastering Data Analysis in Excel (Duke University)

In the corporate world, Microsoft Excel is one of the most popular and powerful business productivity applications. In fact, Excel is so popular that there are dozens of books and courses available on how to make the most of the application. This online Duke University course shows how to generate insights with Excel.

3. Project Management Basics on Coursera

Project management is a great process to turn your ideas into products, services, and other ways to make the world a better place. This free online course will give you an introduction to project management concepts such as planning, scheduling, and leadership.

Tip: To take your project management skills to a professional level, earn the Project Management Professional certification.

4. Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature by Harvard University

While coding, science, and business are the typical go-to courses, don’t underestimate the power of studying culture through literature. In this free online course, you’ll learn how to critically analyze literature and understand the significance of major technological advances in writing. All of this will upgrade your critical thinking and analysis skills, which are incredibly useful in any personal or professional setting.

5. Achieve More in Less Time Using SMART Goals by Udemy

Raw knowledge and skills become truly powerful when you apply those ideas toward important goals. For example, your project management skills may support your goal to be earn more money and get promoted. In this course, you will learn the basic principles of creating effective goals from Dr. Richard Feenstra.

6. Learning How to Learn

Did you know that some study strategies are more effective than others? Finding study methods that suit your goals matter, especially when you are working through free online courses.

This University of California – San Diego course is taught by Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski. For example, this course will teach you manage your memory and break down course material with chunking.

7. Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles by Harvard University

If you’re looking to become a leader in your field, this free online course is for you. Here, you’ll learn how to identify and analyze complex challenges, what role authority places in various environments, how to build trust, and how to approach conflict.

Anyone interested in getting a leg up on their competition will find something useful in this course by Harvard University.

8. Introduction to Programming in Java by MIT

Java is one of the world’s most popular and flexible programming languages. In this free online course from MIT, you will learn how to develop programs using Java. The course includes lecture notes on topics such as loops, arrays, and debugging.

If you find this course structure helpful and valuable, MIT has a wealth of science, engineering and technology courses online at the MIT OpenCourseWare website.

Final Thoughts

Self-education has never been easier with the wealth of information available through free online courses and top universities. Whether you want to learn literature, business, psychology, or computer science, there is a course for you. Any of these will boost your resume and give you an advantage in your career development and personal life.