12 Great Online Courses You Can Take Completely for Free
Knowledge is power
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Knowledge is power. Unfortunately, education continues to be something in this country more available to those who can shell out the bucks for it. Seeing as learning doesn’t stop at high school — or even college — we wanted to share some great educational resources and online courses that are completely free.
These online classes offer knowledge on a variety of cool and important topics, such as Latin American history, health, and technology. They are available online and for the most part self-paced, which means you can easily access them when you have the time to.
Isn’t that great that these days, technology has made learning easier than ever? Once you check out these online classes, you will also be able to search for other courses (both free and paid) within educational sites including Skillshare, edX, and Udemy. Go learn something new and share these free online learning resources with your friends and family!
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The Science of Well-Being
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We are taught so many things that we aren’t really going to use, like algebra, but often aren’t taught the things we desperately need to know. Like well-being, how to practice gratitude, and understanding happiness. Yale’s most popular course, The Science of Well-Being, is offered through Coursera for free and tackles all these important topics and more.
wp_*postsRace and Cultural Diversity in American Life and History
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The next great course we found online is Race and Cultural Diversity in American Life and History, offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In it, “learners will deepen their understanding and appreciation of ways in which race, ethnicity, and cultural diversity have shaped American institutions, ideology, law, and social relationships from the colonial era to the present. The primary focus is on the historical and social relationships among European Americans, Native Americans, African Americans, Latino/as, and Asian/Pacific Americans.” And we are all for everyone understanding race and ethnicity, and how it is understood in America.
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Animals and [Essential Oils]: What You Need to Know
Natural health and its benefits can and should extend to our little fur babies. Essential oils can be great for pet health, or toxic, so it’s important to know which ones you can use and how to utilize them. Thankfully, holistic dog groomer and canine therapist Gemma Reid of The Ethical Dog is putting together a free online workshop on October 24, where she will explain all this and more.
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Spanish
With 23.6 million people signing up to learn Spanish on their site, Duolingo is one of the top places to learn another language. They promise a universally accessible, fun, and free educational experience, personalized per user as if each had a personal tutor.
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Coding
Coding shouldn’t be a skill and career only available to a selected few. Whether you want to see if coding is something you’d like to study, or already know and are ready to get started, Codeacademy has courses for you. With 45 million people learning from the site, you know they’re doing something right.
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Latin American History through the Novel
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We already know that we aren’t taught much — if at all — about Latin American history, in the United States. That’s why we take it upon ourselves to learn through great books, documentaries, and other important resources. You can watch lectures from Lois Zamora’s Latin American History Through the Novel course at the University of Houston. Not only do you get to learn about Latinx history, but you do so through the filter of Latinx literature.
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This Is How You Make iPhone Apps iOS Development Course
Have you ever had an idea for the perfect app, but didn’t know how to take that idea and turn it into a possibly lucrative product? On Udemy, The App Dojo has a free tutorial you can take called This Is How You Make iPhone Apps – iOS Development Course. In it, you will learn how to make an app in one day — with no coding experience necessary (although you will also learn how to “write code in Apple’s Objective-C programming language).”
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Managing Stress Through Mindfulness
We are expected to live with constant stress, instead of learning how to manage it and minimize it. That’s why courses like Dr. Rich Fernandez’s Manage Stress Through Mindfulness are so important. It teaches people how to stay centered in the workplace, through “breathing and relaxation techniques, mindful communication practices,” and “strategies for labeling and reframing stress.” This class will stream for free on CreativeLive from October 11th to 12th.
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How to Save Money: Making Smart Financial Decisions
Whether you’re off to college and in charge of your money for the first time, or at any stage of life where you need some solid financial advice and knowledge, How to Save Money: Making Smart Financial Decisions is a great class for you. Available from UCBerkeley, on edX, the course teaches you how about saving and investing, how to improve your credit score, what debts to pay off first, what insurance you really need and which to opt-out of and more.
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Innovation for Entrepreneurs: From Idea to Marketplace
It takes a lot to finally take the plunge and become an entrepreneur. The next step is learning the proper tools, tips, and tricks to making it all work. The University of Maryland offers a course through Coursera, called Innovation for Entrepreneurs: From Idea to Marketplace, that will help you to take those genius ideas and turn them into real, money-making products.
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Maintain Your Body for Long-Lasting Health & Mobility
We are constantly in and with our bodies, yet we don’t know all we can about how to use it correctly and keep it healthy. That’s why we need classes like Kelly Starrett and Jill Miller’s Maintain Your Body for Long-Lasting Health & Mobility. The class, available to stream for free on Creativelive from October 9th to 10th, teaches you tips on “resolving pain, preventing injury, and optimizing athletic performance.” Because we all know our office posture is so not right.
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Productivity Habits That Stick: Using Time Theming
We all want to be more productive, but often don’t know what to change, or what new skills we need to implement into our work and life routine. Skillshare offers a free class with Mike Vardy, Productivity Strategist & Productivityist Founder, called Productivity Habits That Stick: Using Time Theming. In it, you’ll learn how to get more done by theming each day of the week, allowing you to really focus on individual topics per day.
