Where to find online classes to boost your profile
Learn new skills and make yourself more marketable by taking free or low-cost courses at home.
Looking for online classes to sharpen your skills? You’ve got plenty of company. In late April 2020, online learning platform Udemy reported a 425% increase in enrollments among consumers since the first COVID-19 shelter-in-place requirements began in late March.
Whatever kind of learning experience you’re looking to find online—whether it’s to build your skills, master a new craft, or take advantage of a free massive open online course (MOOC) offered by a top university—chances are there’s a course out there offers such development opportunities. What’s more, many online learning sites are have cut tuition fees or increased the number of free class offerings to make online learning more accessible and affordable to consumers.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most popular online learning communities and a sampling of the online classes they offer:
Udemy
Founded in 2010 with a mission to improve lives through learning, Udemy (the name comes from a merger of “you” and “academy”) has roughly 57,000 instructors and offers more than 150,000 online courses. List prices for courses range from $20 to $200, but the site frequently offers sales, and there are also plenty of free courses.
Popular online classes:
- Practical Leadership Skills
- Learn Linux in 5 Days and Level up Your Career
- Accounting & Financial Statement Analysis: Complete Training
- The Web Developer Bootcamp
- Business Etiquette 101: Social Skills for Success
Coursera
Coursera was founded in 2012 by two computer science professors at Stanford University “with a vision of providing life-transforming learning experiences to anyone, anywhere.” The site offers 4,200+ courses from 200 of the world’s top universities and industry educators. Most courses are free. If you want to earn a course certificate, prices start at around $39 per course.
Popular online classes:
- Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills (University of Michigan)
- Foundations of Psychology Specialization (University of Pennsylvania)
- Economics of Money and Banking (Columbia University)
- The Science of Well-Being (Yale University)
- Introduction to Mathematical Thinking (Stanford)
EdX
Founded in 2012 by Harvard and MIT, the nonprofit online learning platform EdX says it supports learners at every stage, “whether entering the job market, changing fields, seeking a promotion or exploring new interests.” EdX is similar to Coursera in that its 3,500+ courses are offered through many top Universities in the U.S. and around the globe. It’s free to enroll and audit a class, but if you want to earn a verified certificate, there’s a fee that ranges from $50 to $300.
Popular online classes:
- Circuits and Electronics 1: Basic Circuit Analysis (MIT)
- The Architectural Imagination (Harvard)
- Best Practices for Project Management Success (RIT)
- Customer Relationship Management (India Institute of Management Bangalore)
- Effective Decision Making: Dealing with Business Complexity (Delft University of Technology)
CreativeLive
Founded in 2008, Seattle-based CreativeLive offers free live online classes in a wide variety of creative topics, including photography, design, craft & more. There are several free live classes, and others start as low as $19. There’s also an option to purchase a monthly pass for $39, or a yearly pass for $149, if you're really serious about development opportunities.
Popular online classes:
- How to Start a Photography Business
- Workflow, Time Management and Productivity for Creatives
- How to Make a Living Selling What You Make
- Master Your People Skills
- Become a Better and Funnier Speaker
Masterclass
Masterclass, which launched in 2015, bills itself as “an immersive online experience that offers access to genius by allowing anyone to take online classes with the world's best.” The list of instructors is studded with famous names, including Christina Aguilera, Serena Williams, Anna Wintour, Bob Woodward, and Martin Scorsese. Each class includes roughly 2 to 5 hours of pre-recorded video content, a class workbook, interactive assignments, and community activities. Individual courses costs $90, or you can buy an annual membership for $180 and take unlimited courses.
Popular online classes:
- Photography by Annie Leibovitz
- Scientific Thinking and Communication by Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Creativity and Leadership by Anna Wintour
- Business Strategy and Leadership by former Disney CEO Bob Iger
- Filmaking by Jodie Foster
Open Source
Another site where you can find free online courses taught by college and universities is Open Source, which is a content curator with links to more than 1,500 courses from top universities including Stanford, Yale, MIT, Harvard, and Oxford.
Keep learning
Online classes are an excellent way to continue your professional development—especially during periods of unemployment. Show potential employers that you are invested in becoming a stronger and more valuable team member. Want to learn more ways to improve your hiring profile? Join Monster for free today. As a member, you'll get career advice and job search tips sent directly to your inbox. From learning how to craft a stellar cover letter to negotiating a better salary, Monster has lessons worth learning.