Your Career Prospects boosted For Free
By Jasmine Birtles | Submitted On March 13, 2021
The BBC offers free online courses on a broad range of subjects including languages, media and first aid which you can follow at your own speed.
Their language section includes games, videos, dictionaries and online tests to help you gauge how much you know and where you can improve. You can even follow the BBC’s own online soap operas in different languages.
For many of their courses the BBC provides extensive links to its news, documentaries and radio programs to help you on your way.
To see the full range of courses, click on the ‘More’ tab on the BBC’s homepage and select ‘Learning’.
This site offers over 20 courses including computer skills, sports coaching, money skills and business skills and can lead to a recognised NVQ qualification.
Vision2Learn courses are funded by the Learning and Skills Council which means that the courses are normally free of charge to anyone who:
- Is over the age of 16
- Currently lives in England
- Has been ordinarily resident in the EU/UK for 3 years or more, as long as this residency has been for purposes other than full-time study
You’ll also receive help from an online tutor employed by a college in your local area; once you have logged on to your study area, you can contact your tutor by using V-mail – vision2Learn’s own internal messaging system.
Run by the Open University, OpenLearn is a free online learning site which uses materials taken from Open University courses, at both undergraduate and graduate level – and you don’t have to be or become an Open University student to access it.
These materials do not count towards an Open University qualification, but are pretty useful if you want to enhance your current learning or if you just want to get an insight into the type and range of things the OU has to offer.
You do not have to register, but doing so will allow you to tailor your learning to your needs. Courses covered include the arts, law, business, languages, IT and science and are set at four levels – beginner, intermediate, advanced and masters.
The courses don’t come with access to a tutor, but each unit has a discussion forum which you can use to chat with others on the course and ask questions.
Other websites
Home and Learn offer free online computer courses in Word, Excel, Powerpoint and web design. Tuition is free and you can register to take online tests. They’ll even send you a framed certificate if you pass!
IT website Beginners charges for most of its courses and course materials, but helpfully they also have links to many free online IT tutorials. These range from Microsoft Word to Java programming.Their ‘free tutorials page’ allows you to enter your chosen IT topic in the box marked ‘Search Our Other Tutorials’. The results will display lots of links at the bottom of the page to free online tutorials.
Lastly, the Email College offers access to over 200 free online courses covering business, personal development, information skills, health and writing.
Not many of us can attend (or afford to attend) lectures at prestigious universities. The good news, however, is that many of them are now broadcasting their lectures as podcasts and mp3 recordings and allowing anyone to download and listen to them – for free.
These universities use something called OpenCourseWare (OCW) to allow access to lectures and learning materials to anyone with an internet connection. Sharing podcasts is not only a big advantage to those who want to learn; it builds global awareness of separate institutions and potentially improves the recruitment of students into these universities.
There are no course credits provided and you won’t be able to ask any questions but it’s still a great way to expand your knowledge in your chosen field or supplement your existing course. The courses cover both undergraduate and graduate level.
So, now you can hear what professors at Oxford, Harvard and Yale have to say about everything from political philosophy to genetics – all for free.
Tutored courses
For more go to justpractice
Happy learning!
