Free Online Courses

Course / Program Name: Spanish for Kids

Hosted by / Sponsored by: Learn4Good.com

Course of Study: Foreign Languages: Spanish

Course Link: Take this course

Description: Here’s a fun website that’s really good for kids. But, that doesn’t mean parents can’t have fun learning too. Learn4Good.com offers free lessons to help kids learn Spanish with easy interactive learning. Take advantage of the simple browsing that includes clear audio and translations to assist you through each word and sentence.

Select free lessons are available in Colors, Numbers, Verbs and more. You can even get a CD with additional lessons for free. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the website for all the free Spanish lessons and resources. Go ahead and make this an activity that everyone can enjoy.

Course / Program Name: Start Writing Fiction

Hosted by / Sponsored by: The Open University

Course of Study: Writing / Literature

Course Link: Take This Course

Description: Whilst everyone has an imagination, not everyone can write what’s in their mind and this course aims to help those wanting to start writing fiction for the first time.

Split into three topics; character, setting and genre, each goes into a sufficient amount of detail to be able to provide a beginner to fictional writing with enough information to understand everything from how to create characters through to the use of suspense.

Lasting for a planned 12 hours, this course is ideal for both those with only minimal writing experience who want to begin writing fiction or for commercial writers who want to deviate into a different style.

Course / Program Name: Approaching Plays

Hosted by / Sponsored by: The Open University

Course of Study: Theater Arts: Plays

Course Link: Take this Course

Description: This unit is an in-depth intermediate study of literary plays. Available through The Open University, the course provides a deeper understanding of basic technical terms and methods for approaching and interpreting text and performance of plays.

There are several pieces to the course:

• Approaching Plays: How the text of a performance play differs from a poem, short story or novel.
• Dialogue: Tension and structure of dialogue.
• Stage directions: Interpreting the possibilities of stage direction in a text.
• Blank verse: Analyzing and marking up a text to recognize patterns, rhythms and themes in blank verse.
• Play Structure: Understanding exposition, climax and denouement along with other modern structural theory. Examines delivery, movement and  staging in relation to audience.
• From Text to Performance: Looks at possibilities of translating dramatic language to stage, as well as spatial relationships with audience.
• Dramatic Conventions: Soliloquy, Asides, Masks and Disguises, and Doubling of actors.

The self-paced fifteen-hour course is designed with readings, recommended texts and resources, activities, lecture discussions  and discussion forums.

Course / Program Name: Small Business Success

Hosted by / Sponsored by: About.com

Course of Study: Business organizational skills

Course Link: Take this course.

This free business course helps you hone your organizational skills, which leads to more free time to engage in the activities you truly enjoy.  To do this, you will acquire ways to relax and re-energize yourself.  So by incorporating these life skills into your daily routine, you’ll then be able to get more done and market your business better.

This type of business success course is geared toward small business people, in particular. Every week, you will be provided with with teachings that unpack the specific success goal for that week, along with a task for you to complete. Also, you will be given additional resources to read regarding that week’s goal.

Course / Program Name: Beginner’s Japanese Lessons

Hosted by / Sponsored by: Japanese-Online.com

Course of Study: Foreign Languages: Japanese

Course Link: Take this course

Description: Interested in Japanese? Try a free online course complete with a family cast of characters. The beginner’s course is divided into 4 lessons that guide you as you follow high school student, Jason Miller, and his family in Tokyo where they learn about the life, culture and history of Japan.

The website provides an online dictionary and other useful links.  Additional lessons are available in grammar and math once you’ve registered.

Registration and all lessons are free.

Course / Program Name: Essay And Report Writing Skills

Hosted by / Sponsored by: The Open University

Course of Study: Writing / Literature

Course Link: Take This Course

Description: Provided by The Open University, Essay And Report Writing Skills is a free online course aimed at helping those in an academic setting to be able to effectively and competently produce essays and reports.

Understanding the importance of being able to properly create an essay or report, this course is made up of 12 individual units, including a complete conclusion and links to a wider range of further reading materials and resources.

Throughout the 15 hours that it is expected to take to complete, the course covers a range of different topics, from understanding the importance of complete planning and preparation to being able to confidently hand in the essay or report.

Course / Program Name:  Writing What You Know

Hosted by / Sponsored by:  The Open University

Course of Study:  Writing / Literature

Course Link:  Take This Course

Description:  This free online course is provided by The Open University and acts as an introductory course for, among others, creative and descriptive writing students.

Explaining not only the importance of writing what you already know, what you are familiar with and what you are aware of, this free course also provides detailed information on how to become more attentive to your surroundings and events that happen around you on a daily basis, providing you with more subject matter to write on.

Consisting of five overall units, these are broken down into a further nine individual topics and the entire syllabus should take approximately eight hours to complete.

Course / Program Name: European Civilization from the Renaissance to the Present

Hosted by / Sponsored by: UC Berkeley

Course of Study: History (European)

Course Link: Take this course.

Description: This free online course is actually a webcast lecture series from UC Berkeley’s Carla Hesse.

The free online history course consists of 30 audio lectures, allowing online students to hear the very same lectures given to on-campus students during the Fall 2008 semester.

In this course you will learn about the history of European civilization and how it led to the European landscape and political climate we know today.

Course / Program Name: Finding Your Ancestors

Hosted by / Sponsored by: Brigham Young University

Course of Study: Genealogy

Course Link: Take this course.

Description: This free online course from Brigham Young University is for anyone who is interested in researching their family history, but who doesn’t know how to start.

Students can choose between a flash-navigated  course and a text-navigated course, both of which require free registration.

After you register, you will be able to access the two free online lessons. Lesson one teaches you what kind of information you should look for about your ancestors and where you can find genealogical information online. Lesson two shows you how to go beyond the research itself to record family history information using genealogy software and more.

Course / Program Name: American Sign Language Browser

Hosted by / Sponsored by: Michigan State University

Course of Study: Language / Sign Language

Course Link: Take this course.

Description: This free online course from Michigan State University is an interactive approach to learning American sign language.

The ASL browser offers a list of common English words that the student can click on to then see the proper corresponding sign.

Signs are shown via videos, and Quicktime is required to view them.