Free Online Courses in Response to Coronavirus

Online courses are offered by hundreds of colleges worldwide — for credit, not for credit, or just for fun. There are more than 5,000 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that are always free, but in response to the COVID-19 crisis, some online providers are offering additional free courses.

Now could be the perfect time to enroll in a free online course. You can take your career in a new direction by learning to code, improve your communication skills at work, or even enrich evening hours with a cooking course. MOOCs are great for learning specific skills, but some of the most popular online courses aim to be more mind-opening.

Consider Yale’s popular happiness course, titled the Science of Well-Being, which was an on-campus favorite before moving online. Or the reigning champ of MOOCs, Learning How To Learn, which teaches study and memory tools borrowed from neuroscience.

The economic repercussions of coronavirus could pose real career challenges. Whether you’re working from home or searching for a new job, you can enroll in free online courses to enhance your resume and build skills that are in demand.

If you’re interested in enrolling in a MOOC, check out Coursera’s list of online courses they’ve made free in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can also read on to discover some of the most popular free online courses available today.

A little over five years ago, MOOCs were the big education buzz. Back then, mass online education felt like a loss for traditional higher education, but a win for access. Now, we are seeing a gradual merging of traditional and online higher education. And while professors experience a diverse MOOC user-base, the majority of MOOC learners are college-degree holders.

Dr. Michael Webber, a UT-Austin professor who taught Energy 101 to over 44,000 enrollees worldwide in fall 2013, says that MOOC students represent “all society.” High schoolers can use MOOCs to prepare for college, college students can use the free credits to reduce the price of their degree, and working professionals can groom themselves for a promotion or new career.

The quality of MOOCs, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce, reflect the quality of institutions backing them. The first MOOC provider, Coursera, was launched in 2012 by Stanford professors. EdX, which hosted Dr. Webber’s Energy 101, is the joint creation of Harvard and MIT scientists.

Those prestigious universities admit under 10% of applicants per year. Meanwhile, MOOCs have been accessed by 100 million learners and counting.

Learning How to Learn is the most popular MOOC of all time with total enrollment above 2 million. The class doesn’t just describe how the brain best learns; it leverages this science to enhance its own course materials.

Many of the course’s features, starting with the lecture graphics, align with the focus and memory “hacks” it teaches. Because our danger-sensing brains are alerted by quickly approaching objects, visuals include dynamic graphics. Because we digest information best in portions, lessons can be paused and reviewed. And because the instructors have been able to finetune their lectures, you are getting them at their best.

Of course, these advantages are now common to all MOOCs. That’s why Dr. Barbara Oakley, co-creator of Learning How to Learn, says that online classes are better suited to the brain.

With campuses nationwide slated for closure at least through spring term, college courses are being taken straight from the classroom to the Zoom meeting. But the best online courses do more than digitize the brick-and-mortar experience.

The online format helps educators put into practice what they know about learning. For example, we know that metaphors help explain the abstract. Now, detailed graphics can bring these metaphors to life.

Self-paced instruction allows students to take class for as long as they are engaged. Enhanced quizzing tailors students’ next lessons to the results of their last test, so everyone learns at their own pace. Thanks to the scale of MOOC student data and feedback, online courses are also able to adapt and improve more quickly.

Self-quarantine measures in response to coronavirus have sped up what had previously been a more gradual shift online. As of fall 2017, one-third of students enrolled at degree-granting institutions participated in online education. Now, effectively all students are online students.

In the aftermath of coronavirus, we may see an enduring leap in both remote learning and remote employment. In addition to the subject matter of whatever MOOC you might choose to take, you’ll also be adapting to a digital-first work life.