Despite regularly increasing life expectancies (WHO) and improving levels of education (UNICEF),the modern world has brought its own unique set of problems: from huge food waste (UN), to climate change (NASA), to an increasing wealth divide (Credit Suisse).
The good news is people the world over are working together to understand these problems, and come up with solutions. You can join them with courses on FutureLearn. Here are four big questions (and courses) to get you started.
1. Are we better together?
2016 saw 51.9% of voters in the UK’s European Union referendum vote to leave, making the UK the first country to try to voluntarily leave the EU. Now, almost a year later, a deal on how the UK works with the EU remains distant (BBC) and it seems likely the UK will suffer financially after Brexit (Bank of England, LSE, IFS, IMF).
Despite the complexities of acts like Brexit the UK isn’t the only country showing signs of isolationism: recent movements in Spain (BBC), the rise of Holland’s ‘Party for Freedom’, and President Trump’s ‘America first’ politics also suggest that globalisation, for some, might have gone too far.
2. Have we made life harder for the next generation?
The western belief in ‘progress’, that each generation will be an improvement on its predecessor, for a long time has held true (WEF). However, it seems this might no longer the case. Housing problems, changing economy policies and political shifts mean the next generation are facing significant financial uncertainty. But the big question is will they be worse off? It’s time to look at the evidence.
Climate change is an inevitable part of our future: 2016 was the warmest year on record (NASA), Arctic sea ice is at a record low (NSIDC) and by the end of this century the oceans could be 150% more acidic (NOAA). The challenge now is how to slow down the progress of climate change and mitigate its effects.
One of the ways we might do that is with smart technology: using data to work out how much energy people use and how to get them to use it more effectively, whether for a whole city or just an office.
The ‘European migrant crisis’ that made headlines in 2015 raised lots of questions about migration and caused ugly bursts of xenophobia (BBC). Migration is now a hot topic for politicians, and some think it may have even been the driving factor for Brexit (Independent). But just 13.5% of the UK population are ‘foreign-born’ (The Migration Observatory, Oxford) and migration has happened for centuries, so why has it only now become such a hot topic?
The theme of World Mental Health Day 2017 is mental health in the workplace. While mental health problems can affect anyone, at any time, today is a time to think about your own wellbeing and that of the people close to you – especially in relation to work.
Here are three simple things you can do to try and make sure you feel mentally well at work.
Make sure you take breaks
A study in 2015 showed that frequent, short breaks can help you improve your energy and concentration at work. Don’t sit at a desk all day; stretch your legs, read a book, take in the sights. Remind yourself there is more to life than work.
Stay active
We know that exercise is critical for physical health, but it can also be important for mental health. Both the NHS and Anxiety UK recommend exercise for people with depression and anxiety. If you can spare some of your lunch break for a walk, or a cycle it can go a long way in helping you destress from work (for more about exercise and mental health see mind.org.uk)
Try new techniques
There are a few different techniques you can try to improve your mental health. After dealing with stress and anxiety at work – and the stigma attached to it – for nearly 40 years, Robert discovered mindfulness on FutureLearn. He says:
“I try hard now not to dwell on the past. And why worry about the future, which hasn’t happened yet? Instead, make the most of the here and now, and enjoy it as a series of positive mindful moments. Thanks to FutureLearn, I now have a much more positive outlook on life. I can warmly recommend the Mindfulness course to anyone who is suffering work-related stress.” (Read Robert’s story.)
Full name: Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart Occupation: Aristocrat
Also known as: The Young Pretender, The Young Chevalier
Time period: 1720 – 1788
Famous for: trying to reclaim the British throne for his exiled family (the Stuarts) by leading an uprising in 1745, failing and running away to France
Famous for: All sorts. He invented the Davy lamp and an early form of incandescent light bulb, isolated many chemical elements and invented the field of electrochemistry
Also known as: Agrippina Minor, Julia Augusta Agrippina
Occupation: Roman Empress
Time period: AD 49 – AD 54
Famous for: Being part of the Ancient Roman Julio-Claudian dynasty (she was related to five different emperors, and might have poisoned one of them) Quick fire facts:
Exiled at a young age for her involvement in a murder plot
Feuded with Emperor Nero, her son, who may have executed her
Suspected to have been involved in multiple murders to ensure her powerful position as Empress of Rome
“Coding is overwhelming at first, but once you start, it’s like a chain reaction. You want to learn more and more. It makes you question what you can actually do.” – Nicky, coding beginner
Nicky was one of 16 programming novices who dropped by FutureLearn HQ in London this week, for a beginners’ coding class as part of National Coding Week.
Members of the FutureLearn team took them through an interactive, hands-on session, showing them the code behind their favourite websites, and how to manipulate it to create their own webpages. Here’s what happened.
Many attendees were surprised by how simple it was to get started and how interesting programming can be.
“Coding is a good exercise for the mind, but it can also help in your job. Anyone who has the curiosity to learn should do it. You’ll discover more interesting things than you thought possible.” – Giuseppe, coding beginner
“It’s really important to keep doing things, no matter how small they are, to keep your own skills relevant. The big success stories that we’ve seen, in terms of people starting from scratch and then learning a lot of programming, are those who’ve just gone around and tinkered with things.” – Laura, Raspberry Pi educator
If you’ve been inspired to learn to code, read our new career advice on how to become a developer, browse all of our Tech & Coding courses or visit the National Coding Week website for more information about events in your area.
At 13:00 UTC+1 on 18 September 2017, we’ll be running a live coding Q&A on Facebook with the Raspberry Pi Foundation. This UK-based charity provides low-cost, high-performance computers, to help people learn, solve problems and have fun.
Raspberry Pi already offers a range of coding courses on FutureLearn. Educators James and Laura will be on hand to share top tips, answer your questions and chat all things code.
Attend a beginners’ coding class at FutureLearn HQ
If you are over 18, live in London and want to learn to code, come along to FutureLearn HQ in Camden at 18:00 on 18 September 2017 for our beginners’ coding class.
Members of the FutureLearn team will take you through an interactive, hands-on session. You’ll get to see the code behind your favourite websites, find out how it can be manipulated, and create your own webpage using HTML and CSS.
“You can make a fresh start whenever you want. Anytime you feel that you are heading for a wall or a dead-end, all you have to do is turn and start walking.”
Ex-interior designer Dimitra turned over a new leaf after returning from maternity leave. She lives in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece with her seven-year-old son.
For several years I had a career in kitchen design that I loved, and it provided a great salary and a good life for my family. However, when I left for maternity leave, I lost my job when the showroom I was working for shut down. After 11 months of unemployment, I found a job in retail selling women’s accessories, but that was a far cry from what I used to do.
When this happened, Greece was undergoing a financial crisis, and I was earning 1/4th of my previous salary working in retail. I was employed under undesirable conditions with poor management. Retail and sales are a high-stress combination — it just wasn’t for me. Once I quit, I had to take some time to figure out what I wanted to do moving forward. I’m so glad that I did!
During that time, I started taking courses on Coursera for fun. Anything that triggered my curiosity was fair game. That’s when I discovered that I had an interest in the health sector.
My courses on Coursera helped me start a new path in my life. At the end of last year, I graduated as a Nursing Assistant with excellence from the University of Patras in Pharmacy. I have applied for nursing positions at four hospitals in Thessaloniki, and most likely I’ll be starting next year at Ippokrateio Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Northern Greece. I can’t wait to begin practicing!
“I’m very happy with the 180 degree turn my life has taken. Coursera helped me discover what I like to do in life besides design and gave me the push I needed to start over.”
A picture of Dimitra’s time in nursing school illustrated by her son.
Taking courses on Coursera helped me realize that it’s never too late to start something new. Never settle for the wrong job and unhappiness. If I can do it, you can do it too.
This June, HEC Paris, one of Europe’s top business schools, will celebrate its first graduates of the MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MSIE). The fully online program, launched on Coursera in September 2017, equips current and aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders with skills to develop business ideas, drive product innovation, or launch new ventures.
On the heels of this graduation milestone, we’re thrilled to introduce a unique stackable format for the MSIE with a new Specialization from HEC Paris: Innovation Management and Design Thinking. This is the first time HEC Paris has announced a stackable program format, which allows learners to start their degree learning with an open course or Specialization that can count toward the degree upon acceptance to the full program. This will bring access to top-quality business education from HEC Paris to even more learners around the world.
Design thinking is a particularly exciting topic for today’s business leaders. This new Specialization will help learners apply creativity and design thinking to drive innovation, whether they’re executing an idea, managing a project, or leading a company. Courses include:
Boosting Creativity for Innovation
Strategic Management of Innovation
Organizational Design and Management
Design Thinking
Now more than ever, learners need flexible, affordable ways to obtain advanced credentials that improve their career prospects. We look forward to seeing how this new pathway to a degree helps even more learners transform their lives.
Online courses are, without a doubt, provides a great opportunity to learn anything, anywhere & anytime. There are plenty of course providers like Udemy, edX, Coursera, Udacity, Linux Foundation, FutureLearn, Skillshare, etc… As the number of these provider grow, so is confusion on which one to choose, here is a simple guide on how to choose online courses.
It is not feasible for everyone to join a top university like Harvard, MIT, IIT’s, Stanford etc. in terms of both economically & physically. Online courses make it possible. Quality courses to everyone at fraction of the actual cost with certification.
Most of the online course providers can be categorized into three different types.
By Universities or organizations on platforms like NPTEL, edX, Coursera, Udacity & FutureLearn by Harvard, MIT, Stanford University, Michigan university, IIT’s, IIM’s and organizations like Facebook, Google & Microsoft.
By training companies or individual trainers on platforms like Udemy, Skillshare, Plural insight, Masterclass etc…
By training companies like intellipaat, simplilearn, edureka, TreeHousee tc..
Coursera, edX, Udacity and FutureLearn:
Whereas courses on edX, Coursera, FutureLearn are developed by various universities like Harvard, Stanford and Big corporate giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft.
These courses are delivered by university professors, who usually teaches in-depth basics to build a solid foundation towards research & development and less of job oriented. Course contains recorded video tutorials to watch & learn at your speed.
Though most of the course material is free to access, you are asked to pay some fee to gain access to exercises, practice quizzes & for certifications; Paid Students are given access to discussion forum to discussion with other students.
Few universities are accepting these courses are part of their regular college courses for credits as well. Ex: American Public university gives credits to students who takes the below coursera or Udacity courses.
Trainers on these websites are individuals who mastered a skill or an art, providing lessons on how they mastered it & how you can apply the same tips, techniques.
Udemy is one of the oldest of these, providing lot of quality courses at really low-cost. Cost that is less than a meal, no matter which part of the world you are from these courses are affordable !!
These courses are more of getting you ready for the job. Making you from beginners to Advanced what you need to know, understand & teach & start working, nothing more.
These providers will have forums where learners can post a doubts/queries to trainers and to discuss among themselves. You will not have immediate access to trainer.
Courses contains pre-recorded video lectures/tutorials to learn at your own pace & convenient time.
intellipaat, simplilearn, edureka:
These are privately owned organizations/companies, who choose few trainers and offer courses. They offer both LIVE classes & self-paced courses.
Courses are little expensive compared to other course providers but few of them organizations provide Job guarantee, virtual lab access, 24×7 support, lot of mock interview practice sessions etc..
Most of the courses offered by these organisations are completely job oriented programs, which helps you get a job quicker, perform better at your current job.
Live Vs Recorded (Self-Paced ) Courses:
Great advantage with most of the online courses (Self-paced) is opportunity to learn anywhere & any time. The main disadvantage is lack of immediate access to instructor/trainer to get your doubts clarified. This can be surmounted by joining LIVE training courses, where instructor teaches courses live, you can immediately ask a doubt.
With self-paced courses there is always a chance of procrastination to learn but this is not possible with LIVE courses. LIVE courses pushes you to take courses on time every session as per the planned scheduled time, helps you stick to your learning goals.
Assuming you have chosen one of the course provider with the information above. Now lets look into how to identify a suitable course for you.
Course Contents/Syllabus
The first thing you need to look at is what are the topics covered in that particular course. Course description & table of contents give you complete idea of what is going to be covered.
Ratings & Reviews
Ratings are something we always looks for while purchasing something online, online courses are no exception. But how reliable are these ratings ??
I request you to choose online courses with more numbers enrollment and ratings. Also read couple of reviews of previous students. This give you a lot of information.
Quality (Money back Guarantee )/Trial periods
Next thing you need to check is if the course provider offers any trial period or money back guarantee !! This is extremely important because if the course doesn’t add any value to you, you can ask for refund !!
Udemy offers 30-day money back guarantee ! No matter the reason
Coursera offers 7-day free trial
SkillShare offers 30-day free trial
TreeHouse offers 14-day trail period.
Some other course providers offer partial payment back. You can check it while enrolling !!
Cost: Free Vs Paid courses
With so many FREE courses available, why should someone join a PAID course?
Free courses are usually mainly targeted for beginners, who would like to know what is this topic is all about. With free courses, students would not have access to quizzes, assignments, discussion forums or any other technical support.
Free Courses do not help intermediate or Advanced learners who knows basics of the topic & looking to go next level. You might find few new concepts, they are not really worth your time.
So if you are a beginner go for FREE courses else go for PAID courses.
Certification Vs No certification
On your resume, certification conveys a little more information than your knowledge.
Certification not only indicates about new skills you learned, it also tells your commitment I completing a course in-time i.e. sticking to the course deadlines to complete assignments for the entire course duration & getting enough marks to get a grade or certification.
Mere joining a course and going through course material is not enough to master a skill or to crack an interview. I always recommend you to go for certification. Most of these are really low-cost.
Things to Remember:
Finally, please keep these two points in mind before you commit to a course.
Time Vs Money :
It is not money that you would lose, you will lose time if the course is not opt for you. If you are in Intermediate or Advanced stage learner, joining FREE courses might result in losing your valuable time. Time wise be-wise.
Do NOT join same course across multiple platforms. It would only waste your time.
You need a Mentor :
Every champion or every great leader had a mentor at some point of time in their life. Mentor-ship speeds up your learning, helps you in making fewer mistakes, keeps you stay focused & on your track. Learning on your own is also a good way, but that takes a lot of time.
Video tutorial on Tips to choose online courses
if we miss any points please feel free to drop a comment below.
We have selected 101 FREE online courses with certificates to learn in 2018. These are all top rated courses from Udemy, Coursera, edX & other course providers. Though Coursera & edX charges for certification, course material is absolutely free for all.
Does Online certification by Udemy, edX or Coursera has any significance or value ?
Yes, Certification is extremely helpful when you are applying for jobs & higher education.
Getting certified either online or offline involves going through course material, tutorials, quizzes and submitting assignments in time. Completing assignments & getting them verified to meet the pass criteria is an indication of your level of learning.
This also shows your willingness to learn new things and commitment to complete the courses though there are no academic grades here.
When it comes to the case of job interviews, certification gets you a good impression in the eyes of interviewer. If they have to choose one among two equally qualifies candidates, one with certification and other candidate without any certification, there is a high chance that the person with certification get priority.
Merely enrolling a course and reviewing the course contents is not enough. It doesn’t really indicate anything.
Improve English & Communication Skills
Communication skills plays an crucial role in understanding & presenting your views. No matter how good you are, there is always room for improving communication skills.
These courses helps you in improving your oral, written (including grammar), business English.
Having sound technical knowledge is only one part of securing a good job. Presenting your skills in the resume, presenting yourself in front of interview panel is another you should focus while you are looking for jobs. Below courses helps in this part.
We have tried to cover every area/subject, if you need some more free courses, please let us know in the comment section.
Hope these free online courses with certificates benefits you in upgrading your skill, knowledge and intern results in getting a job, promotion or admission in good universities.
Online courses are designed in such a way that their knowledge sharing is profitable, desirable, significant, relevant, and meritorious to students. But there are courses online which, though have significance, are surprising and weird. They are subjects which you would not have even thought of getting trained on. Now check these weird online courses
Antiquities trafficking and Art Crime: The University of Glasgow has developed this course and is available free online. You will learn the social, political, and moral issues associated with the trafficking of antiques and what is the idea and criminological aspect behind the crime. The tutor is none other than Donna Yates, an Archaeologist in criminology.
Why We Post-The Anthropology of Social Media: Social media is the talk of the century, but ever thought what their impacts are and why do we post on social media. Find out the same in this free online course, which basically teaches you on the various uses and its consequences of social media. Duration of the course is five weeks and is developed by UCL.
Babies in Mind- Why the Parent’s Mind Matters: This free online course designed by the University of Warwick, and taught by Jane Barlow- Director of Warwick Infant and Family Wellbeing Unit, and Dawn Cannon- Course Director for Infant Mental Health Online is based on why and what are the influence of parent’s thoughts and minds during pregnancy, on the unborn baby. The course elaborates the concepts of the psychology related to the infant and how parents influence that.
Lottery of Birth: Study as to where, when, and to whom you were born has affected or can affect the course of your life. How you are being born at a particular time, place, location. Society, community, gender and nation can influence your life? The duration of the course is four weeks and is developed by the Open University UK.
Death: The philosophy of the truth of life- Death is being transformed into a free online course by Yale University and is very fascinatingly presented by Professor Shelly Kagan. He, in a very philosophical manner, takes the twice a week, 50 minute class and throws light on subjects like immortality, attitudes towards death, death and evil and much more.
Music as Biology: Created by the Duke University with Daul Purves this free online course defines in detail how sound, its tone can trigger human emotions? Which tone sets the positive emotions and which are the causes of mind diverting in the not so positive frame? How the mechanics of sound get correlated with the biological sensory stimulus? The perception of sound and its tonalities are discussed in this course and explanations on why we like certain scales and not others? The effect of socioeconomic cultures of music and human emotions are described in the course.
Terrorism and Counterterrorism: The twenty-two weeks-long free online course is developed by the Georgetown University and is being created by Jonathan Brown and Daniel Byman. It primarily explores the differentiation of defining terrorism, different philosophies followed by terrorist groups like – Al Qaeda, the ISIS, the Hamas and much The course allows takes you through the technology used by the terrorist, their recruitment process, and how counterterrorism under the rule of law is undertaken.
Understanding the Origins of Crime: The course deals with the selection of crime as a profession or by chance or may a natural process, by an individual. It discusses the reason as to how criminals take crime as a natural selection? It deals with the process of this selection and what is the behavior of the criminal and how you can predict that. The four-week long course is developed by the Griffith University with Aaron Sell and is available as a free online course.
Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data: This astoundingly weird course is designed by the University of Washington and has Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin West as the instructors. The objective of the course is to recognize bullshit and deactivate it. The basis that the world is full of bullshit and you must be armed accordingly to fight them back. You must be in a position to figure out what kind of bullshit you are encountering and why the same is bullshit. Once done, you must frame a satisfactory explanation to counter it.
The need of all these online courses can only be justified when the benefits are reaped by the students. Nevertheless, everything has a flip side to it and its utility can only decide the significance. Any course taken with a target, a positive attitude and learned properly will surely provide dividends.
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