8 Best Interactive Online Courses for Advanced E-Learning
You have probably spent most of the year within the comforts of your home. Plans are changed, put off, or cancelled altogether.
However, that doesn’t mean your personal growth halts there. Thanks to technology, a new way of learning are burgeoning during these difficult times – e-learning.
But with a heap of resources online, what are the best ones to take, you ask? Whether you’re readying for aptitude exams or just a hobbyist, we picked 8 online courses that will be surely worth your time.
#1 Self-paced prep course
If you’re aiming for another degree under your belt, a competent GRE score would be your best bet to get into your dream school. And prep courses will help you seal that deal. But with the current circumstances, your personal life and job likely blurring, it’ll be hard to keep up.
One of the renowned GRE prep courses is Kaplan, also known as Kaptest. Apart from the usual live online classes and self-study materials, they offer customizable plans to fit your own pace. If you want to know its other perks, learn more from this review.
Other institutions also provide GRE prep courses. Check this site for a more detailed look at other available options.
#2 Health and wellness
What’s a more apt subject matter than health and wellness during these times? Sure, everyone is aware of the global pandemic. But knowing the science behind it will guarantee a more resolute grasp of the situation and compassion towards the gravely affected.
And this is what the COVID-19 – A clinical update course exactly aims to do. Offered by the University of Florida under the College of Medicine and Emerging Pathogen institute, this 3-week intermediate level course intends to battle misinformation about the current pandemic. The course breaks down the epidemiology and clinical manifestation of the disease and updates it as new data arrives.
#3 Programming
The uptrend in dependence on technology resulted in more opportunities in this field, with in-demand careers like software engineers and developers. The beauty of some of these is that you don’t need a formal education to be qualified.
If you’re starting from square one, choosing a programming language might be overwhelming. This introductory course, Coding for kids, will help you ease into the discipline. It seeks to fortify the fundamental skills before proceeding with more advanced concepts.
If you’re running on a tight budget, edX offers a free introductory course but the pace might pick up faster. However, you can never go wrong since the 2-part course is offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
#4 Digital marketing
Planning a new business venture? Since physical marketing is currently limited, social media and the online community will work as your best marketing tools.
The Complete Digital Marketing Course from Udemy is a comprehensive program that explores business models for major marketing channels. It’s jam-packed with 12 sub-courses that range from market research to search engine optimization.
#5 Personal branding
Apart from your usual marketing tactics, another practice has been gaining unprecedented traction – personal branding. You would usually associate this with influencers and big personalities. Easy as it sounds, it takes work to curate your brand and attract a dedicated following.
Hence, there are courses made to teach you how to build and maintain your reputation especially in this age of social media. This is what the Introduction to Personal Branding plans to impart, to bring out your authentic identity and effectively portray this to the public.
#6 Graphic design
If you’re a creatively inclined individual, visual communication and graphic design might be a field you want to dip your toes into. This field of expertise is versatile, working both digitally and in print.
CalArts, or the California Institute of the Arts, is a widely known and culturally influential university for artists in different media. They are offering to teach their fundamental principles on graphic design through a specialization course. By the end of the program, a capstone project will revalidate the skills you acquired.
#7 Language courses
Another productive endeavour you might want to consider is learning a new language. Since everyone is socially isolated, learning a new language gives you a good reason to speak. Apart from potential professional opportunities, bilingualism also provides cognitive and neurological benefits, proving to deter age-related decline.
There are quite a number of apps and institutions that offer language services, usually in a game-like interface. But Rosetta Stone is a proficient service made for new language learners with over 28 languages to choose from. It practices speaking, listening, reading, and writing through its daily achievable “bite-sized” lessons.
#8 Online teaching
If you have your own class to teach, adjusting to the current online arrangement might be a struggle. Teaching through a camera is a whole new arena different from the traditional classroom setup. You will need innovative pedagogical methods to ensure students learn effectively.
The online course Learning to Teach Online by The University of New South Wales offers such strategies to optimize the use of educational technology. It explores how to apply these resources to the traditional hallmarks of a class, from student engagement to assessment strategies.
