In a recent study from PayScale, one in three companies say that they’re getting rid of degree requirements. Some of those companies, including Google, Tesla, Apple, and many others, say that they’re now more focused on hiring candidates with the necessary skills, whether they have a degree or not. So, coming up, I’ll guide you 10 websites offering high-quality courses where you can learn a new skill for free, many of which are offered by some of the world’s top universities. Let’s get started.
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1. Alison
This one’s been around since 2007. They don’t offer a large number of courses; they’re more focused on providing high-quality courses to learn skills to be used in the workplace. All courses offered are completely free to enroll, study, and complete. Some of the categories include Information Technology, Business Management, Math, Healthcare, Science, and many others. While the assessments for their courses are completely free, you will need to achieve 80% or higher to be eligible for Certification. Depending on the certificate you’ve earned, there is an additional fee.
2. Coursera
Coursera is one of the most well-known in the world of online learning. It launched in 2012 and was founded by two computer science professors from Stanford University. In addition to working with top schools like Duke, Princeton, Yale, and of course, LSU, you’ll also find courses on here that are taught by some of the biggest tech companies, including Amazon, IBM, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. On Coursera, if you want to gain the knowledge and don’t care about the certificates, here’s how to easily find the free courses: Here at the top, click on Explore and select “Take a Free Course” to narrow down the selection of free courses. You’ll find filters here on the left. Some of the more handy filters include Subject, Language, Scroll down here, Level, Duration, and Skills.
3. edX
EdX was founded in 2012 by Harvard and MIT. Their goal was to provide people without the financial means and with location barriers access to high-quality courses from universities and institutions around the world. Now, with more than 4,000 courses, you’ll find courses for just about any topic you can think of. There’s a wide variety of subjects to choose from, including Computer Science, Economics and Finance, History, Business Management, Medicine, and a whole lot more. Other than Harvard and MIT, some of the more than 260 Partners include the University of Oxford, Boston University, and the Linux Foundation. You’ll even find courses on here from companies like Amazon. For example, with this free course, it’s self-paced, lasting 4 weeks. There’s also the option to add a verified certificate for a fee. Adding this is not accreditation; it just proves that you have completed the course.
4. HubSpot Academy
From the makers of popular business software is HubSpot Academy. This site is great for those of you wanting to take quick and easy free courses and offers free certifications to improve your marketing skills. While this one is best for those of you interested in marketing and sales, you’ll also find useful courses on here for web design and web development.
5. Khan Academy
We’ll mention this one briefly. Khan Academy is an awesome educational site founded by Sal Khan way back in 2006 with the goal to create online tools for students. It’s primarily for those in K through 12 to learn Math, Science, and History but does have valuable content for people of any age that want to learn Computer Programming and other subcategories of Computer Science.
6. OpenLearn
OpenLearn is an oldie but goodie from the folks at the Open University. It launched in 1999, long before the most popular sites of today. All of the courses are free for beginners to experts, covering various subjects including Money and Business, Health, Sports and Psychology, Science, Maths, and Technology, and many others. Upon completion of any of their courses, they’ll give you a free Statement of Participation. While this is not the same as accreditation, it at least provides proof to prospective employers of your interest in learning a new subject having completed the course.
7. Open Learning Initiative
Not to be confused with our previous site, OpenLearn, the Open Learning Initiative is from the folks at Carnegie Mellon University. While they don’t have a large database of free courses, what they do have is top-notch. To find them, here at the top, go to Courses and select Student Courses. Scroll down and select Independent Learners. Let’s go down to the Categories. There’s many to choose from. Let’s go with Computer Science and Programming. Courses that are completely free are clearly labeled as you can see.
8. Stanford Online
Stanford University also has their own online learning platform they call Stanford Online. This user-friendly site makes it easy to find the free courses you’re looking for. At the top, go to Free Content and select Free Online Courses. You’ll see some of the categories available. If you don’t see yours listed, click Browse All. Along the top, you’ll see various filters to help narrow down your selection. Just make sure that in Free Paid, Free is selected.
9. Udacity
If you’re looking to acquire a skill to be used in the technology sector, Udacity is the first one I’d recommend that you check out. Founded in 2012, they offer Nanodegree programs that are recognized by top companies like Facebook, Google, AT&T, and many others. While the degrees are not free, they are a fraction of the cost of a traditional degree. If you’re just looking to acquire the knowledge for free, here is where you can access the free courses to audit. At the top, click on Catalog. In the Filters along the left, go to Price and select Free. Unlike most of the other courses on Udacity that require you to start and go at the same pace as everyone else, the free courses are more casual, letting you go at your own pace.
10. Udemy
Udemy, which launched back in 2010, has a primary focus of providing courses to improve job-related skills. On this site, they have the largest selection of courses with more than 150,000 available, most of which are not free. To find the free stuff, at the top, go to Categories and select your category. For this one, I’ll go with Development Programming Languages. Scroll down the page until you see the filters. Go to the Price filter here on the left and select Free. If needed, use the other filter to narrow down the selection of courses. Just like many of the sites mentioned so far, only the paid courses will offer any type of accreditation or certification.
