Best Free Online Courses that Won’t Consume too Much of Your Time

Continuing your education is something that all professionals should care about. The problem many professionals face is investing time to be sure to get the most out of a course. Luckily, there are plenty of free online courses that take up no time at all. They are meant to be refreshers and tips to utilize in your day-to-day life. Curious about where to find these courses? Take a look at the ones we’ve compiled below that won’t consume too much of your workweek.

Entrepreneurship

How to Build a Startup, Udacity

If it is your dream to start your own business, take it from Steve Blank. Blank is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur known for his customer develop method. The method goes like this. Many startups fail because of not paying attention to customer and marketplace feedback. With this course, you can find out how to build a suitable business model in about a month or less.

New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs, Coursera

The hardest part of starting a business? Funding. Rather than going blindly into the venture of finding investors or doing a Kickstarter campaign, get the basic understanding of how to secure that funding. New Venture Finance takes around 14-hours to complete and is excellent for financial advisors, economists, marketers, and indeed anyone interested in learning how to find capital for a business.

Programming

Harvard University’s Introduction to Computer Science, edX

Did you know you can skip the tuition and take a free course from Harvard? It’s true! Get a basic overview of computer science and the art of programming. The course takes roughly 180-hours. In that period, you’ll become familiar with several languages and be able to program problems efficiently. If you really enjoy it, you can pay an extra fee to have access to more courses.

Dash, General Assembly

After you have your site up and running, you’ll probably run into a few issues from time to time. Rather than hiring a web developer to fix these minor issues, learn how to solve these code errors on your own. Dash is a fun website where you learn by developing a project through your browser. They have courses to learn Javascript, CSS3, and HTML.

Online marketing

Email Marketing Crash Course, HubSpot

Hubspot, infamous for their inbound marketing and sales products, offers a free email marketing course. Their “crash course” has videos that demonstrate growing more effective organic email lists, avoid spam filters, and strengthening your lead nurturing. 

Getting Started With Google Analytics, Udemy

Whether you’re a blogger or a company looking to drive traffic to your website, you need to have a basic understanding of Google Analytics. After taking this quick course, you’ll understand what the raw data means and how you can use that information to your benefit.

Language

Duolingo

For a fun and interactive way to learn a new language, sign up for a free account with Duolingo. They have languages like Spanish, Welsh, French, and even Klingon! Not that you’ll be speaking to Star Trek fans anytime soon, but you never know. It could help close a sale!

Talk Italian, BBC

The BBC is here to help you on your next trip overseas to Italy. In this short course, you’ll learn the basics like how to check into a hotel, order food and drinks, and ask for directions. 

German Course for Beginners, Deutsch-Lernen.com

In ten lessons, you can learn basic grammar and phrases in German. Deutsch-Lernen also has a well-written blog that offers even more direction. Signing up is easy; all you have to do is create an account to have access to lessons. But if you aren’t sure whether this is the right course for you, Deutsch-Lernen has three lessons and a test available before making any commitments to creating an account.

Writing

Secret Sauce of Great Writing, Udemy

Get free writing tips from a former Wall Street Journal editor. Shani Raja has four “ingredients” that make for the perfect copy: simplicity, clarity, elegance, and evocativeness. By the end of this 45-minute course, you’ll have the skills to write a persuasive article that is sure to impress anyone.

High-Impact Business Writing, Coursera

To keep your business writing sharp, consider signing up for Coursera’s six-hour class, High-Impact Business writing. Here you’ll get a refresher on creating business reports and press releases, proofreading documents, and writing more effective presentations and emails. All skills that will help you in your profession.

Public speaking

Introduction to Public Speaking, edX

To get a head start on the principles of public speaking, check out the University of Washington’s introduction to public speaking course. Through interactive practice, you’ll learn more about your speaking skills as well as others. The course takes about ten weeks to complete and has a three to five-hour commitment. 

TOEFL Speaking Success in 90 Minutes, Udemy

A great free course for those who want a lot of direction about how to become a better public speaker. More specifically, a public speaker who can answer any question an audience member asks. In this 90-minute class, you’ll learn how to organize and structure responses clearly and speak as a college professor would. 

It may come as a surprise to you, but speed reading is the foundation for all of these skills you wish to learn. Investing in one of our courses saves you time as well as the headache from having to sign up for multiple courses all over the web. Contact us today to find out how speed reading can help you in all aspects of your career.