Check Out These Free Online Courses Starting This September
Whether you’re looking to brush up on your skills, learn something new, or add a little spice to your intellectual life, there are a whole host of free MOOCs (Massively Open Online) courses you might want to check out this month. out.
If you’re unfamiliar, MOOCs are online courses offered by reputable universities for free (although you may need to pay a fee if you need a certificate to prove successful completion of the course). According to Open Culture, MOOCs are held periodically throughout the year, but over 3,700 of them start this month.
If you like the idea of taking a free college course just for fun, but aren’t sure where to start, here are a few to look out for:
- Chinese for Beginners from Peking University
- Children Naturally Acquiring Literacy from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
- Age of Jefferson from University of Virginia
- Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot from Wesleyan University
- Successful Job: Get a Job or Promote in 3 Steps from State University of New York
- Corruption from the University of Pennsylvania
- Improving Communication Skills from University of Pennsylvania.
- Facing Big Questions: Highlights of Modern Astronomy from University of Rochester
- Guitar for beginners from Berkeley College of Music.
- Ruby on Rails: An Introduction from Johns Hopkins University
- Sharpened Visions: Poetry Workshop from California Institute of the Arts
- Scriptwriting: Write a Pilot Episode for a TV Series or Web Series (Project Oriented Course) from Michigan State University
- Bonds and Shares from University of Michigan
- Major Depression in the Population: An Approach to Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
- How to create a website for the weekend! (Project Oriented Course) from State University of New York
I could go on and on. There are courses on a wide range of topics – science, health, business, communication, music, technology, language, etc. If there is a specific topic that interests you, try searching the full list for keywords (I searched for “letter” and got 39 views).
Keep in mind that for the most part, these courses do not count towards a college degree. They are more like people who want to learn all their lives.