Free Online Courses

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by TCord1964, Oct 8, 2005.

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Page 17 of 24
  1. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    eriehiker, Jun 17, 2020
    #321
  2. Mac Juli

    Mac Juli Well-Known Member

    Mac Juli, Jun 17, 2020
    #322
    eriehiker likes this.
  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Here's a private (non-degree) distance college in UK offering about a dozen free courses with certs- disciplines from construction, project mgmt and various business subjects.
    https://www.bolc.co.uk/free-online-courses-with-certificate

    This school was mentioned ONCE on DI in another thread. Somebody who should have known better wrote it off as "bogus" without even looking. It's not. It's not Oxbridge obviously, but its paid courses will get you awards at levels OK'd by Ofqual. No "stupid degree tricks" as Dave Letterman might have called them. That should at least take it out of the nonsense category. Plus, like I said - this page is free. Have a look.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2020
    Johann, Jun 18, 2020
    #323
  4. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I should amend this. OfQual doesn't OK the awards. Ofqual publishes the standards for each level and two awarding firms dictate the award level, consistent with OfQual's numbers.
    So - I should say "...courses will get you awards at levels standardized by OfQual." For every course, the school clearly shows the level - and the firm(s) making the award. British educrats (is that a word?) love to make complicated systems - but they also like to deter fraud.

    And if you'll need further training / experience before you can work or be licensed in the field you study - they tell you in the blurb for the course. They probably have to - and that's good.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2020
    Johann, Jun 18, 2020
    #324
  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I should add one cautionary note - an organization called EBMA (not AMBA - the well-known primarily Euro. biz-program accreditor) may be associated with Brentwood - I'm not sure. They do have a link on the Brentwood website. EBMA advertises that its (not Brentwood's) various diplomas can get grads a leg-up into advanced standing in Bachelor's and MBA top-up programs at various British Unis. There's also some mention of Doctorates and Master's available via Azteca U. (Mexico) and Universidad Central de Nicaragua. We've expended giga-tons of bandwidth discussing these institutions and their 60 or more validation schemes. Please - not this thread!

    My blurb is about Brentwood - not EBMA and its affiliations.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2020
    Johann, Jun 18, 2020
    #325
  6. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    nanoHUB-U offers a very impressive list of online science and engineering courses. It is affiliated with Purdue University and looks to me like the place to go for free online classes in these subject areas:

    https://nanohub.org/groups/u
     
    eriehiker, Jun 20, 2020
    #326
    asianphd likes this.
  7. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    eriehiker, Jun 21, 2020
    #327
  8. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    eriehiker, Jun 24, 2020
    #328
  9. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    eriehiker, Jun 24, 2020
    #329
  10. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    eriehiker, Jun 24, 2020
    #330
    Mac Juli likes this.
  11. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    eriehiker, Jun 26, 2020
    #331
  12. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    eriehiker, Jun 26, 2020
    #332
  13. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Ed2go has been offering a handful of free certificates that are set to no longer be free after June 30 (we'll see if they extend that or not). You get to pick between several different schools to award the certificates, though they're the same courses no matter who you pick. Since several members have been interested in FIU's lately, I've chosen to link their page here:

    https://www.ed2go.com/fiu/SearchResults.aspx?SearchTerms=Free

    ...but if you search through ed2go, you'll find the other schools offering them, too. They seem pretty basic, but the customer service one looks a bit interesting to me.
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2020
    Maniac Craniac, Jun 29, 2020
    #333
  14. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Quick update: as of today, past the originally posted deadline, I was still able to enroll in the Managing Customer Service course. I chose Central Michigan University, so as to make my resume look even more like an aimless tour around the country :)
     
    Maniac Craniac, Jul 1, 2020
    #334
  15. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I was going to wait a month or so before I started, but had some trouble sleeping a couple nights ago and figured that a course in customer service might be the best hypnotic available.

    I still couldn't sleep, but I was able to finish the course in about 5 hours of study time (compare that to the 24 hours of training the course advertise s itself to be). Mind you, I deliberately slowed myself down so that I could actually learn a thing or two. For a free course, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't something I'll be bragging about. It was similar to getting a certificate from ALISON.

    Speaking of certificates, the pdf you get at the end of the course is pretty lame. Yes, it does have the name of the school you choose, but it's so generic that it looks fake and it outright says in the certificate that the course was online, self-paced and FREE! Since all that information is accurate, I guess I shouldn't complain that it's on the certificate, but it's like they went well out of their way to make sure that the certificate comes off as underwhelming as possible to anyone who wants to actually look at it to verify one's learning.

    For the fun of it, I'll edit this post when I have a chance and upload a copy of the certificate here.

    [Edit: I took out this paragraph for brevity's sake.]

    Final thoughts: I'm happy I did the course, I did learn a few things, but it's a free certificate and I definitely got what I paid for :emoji_grin:
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2020
    Maniac Craniac, Jul 5, 2020
    #335
  16. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Before you edit your post - why don't you fire up your PDF program and edit the certificate. With your imagination, it could go from awful to awesome in about 60 seconds. Tip: How about using some of the Latin on your sister's Boston College diploma? :)
     
    Johann, Jul 6, 2020
    #336
    Maniac Craniac likes this.
  17. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    https://www.campbellsville.edu/academics/technology-training-center/cu-expand-certificates/

    The three certificates are at the bottom of the list. Most of the other certificates cost hundreds, so free is a great deal!

    I started the Creativity in Teams and Organizations. I think it would look quite good on a resume, if the quality turns out to be better than a certain other free certificate I reviewed on another thread.

    So far, I'm happy with what I see. There are texts to read, videos to watch, checkpoint questions to make sure you're really reading and watching, quizzes to take and a final exam. It's all self-paced, but you have access to course tutors to answer questions you may have along the way.

    Now, I can't wait to see what the certificate actually looks like. I can't find any examples online, but I've seen what Campellsville University diplomas and awards look like, and they're all gorgeous.
     
    Maniac Craniac, Jul 6, 2020
    #337
    MaceWindu likes this.
  18. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    It's very tempting to enroll other people in Introduction to Critical Thinking...
     
    Neuhaus, Jul 6, 2020
    #338
    SpoonyNix, MaceWindu, SteveFoerster and 1 other person like this.
  19. MaceWindu

    MaceWindu New Member

    Thanks for posting this.
     
    MaceWindu, Jul 7, 2020
    #339
  20. Daniel Jones

    Daniel Jones New Member

    Hey!

    So my younger brother just graduated high school and managed to get himself into a good university. He struggled a lot but here are the course specific resources that helped hem graduate, get a good score on the SATs, and pass the aptitude test for his career of choice .

    Khan Academy SATs material prep

    Course Hero Accounting courses:https://www.coursehero.com/sg/managerial-accounting/ I especially recommend this for anyone interested in accounting or business degree
     
    Daniel Jones, Jul 8, 2020
    #340
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