Whether you are a high-school graduate or a Ph.D. holder, the learning never stops. To further cultivate your knowledge and diversify your CV, we have curated this article focusing primarily on Harvard’s free course offerings. Harvard University, known for its competitive nature when it comes to studying there as a full-time student, is dedicated to providing knowledge at the cost of nothing. As of today, Harvard offers 139 free courses in collaboration with edX that can be completed in the comfort of your own house. Generally called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), these range from Computer Programming to the History of China. Here are a few reasons why you should utilize Harvard’s free course offerings. Let the learning begin!
Source: www.press.edx.org
1. Vast Range of subjects
One thing that would be assured when you venture into this world of free courses is that you are going to find something that suits your taste. The sheer amount of content you will find here may even be overwhelming. Here are a few subjects that the free courses cover:
- Art and Design: From music to Shakespeare to museums, these courses make you crave the past and history.
- Business: Financial management, entrepreneurship, economics, and other courses help you gain insightful knowledge on running a business or just using money-managing tips for everyday life.
- Computer Science: Programming, data science, and artificial intelligence are a few topics that they cover. There are courses for beginners as well as experts.
- Education and Teaching: Although limited, there are a few courses focusing on child psychology and educator-family collaborations.
- Science: From biology to chemistry and physics, all major categories of science are covered.
- Humanities and Social Sciences: This category has the most number of courses under it and it also covers a wide range of topics. A lot of history along with current political ideologies are listed here.
- Mathematics: This category includes the application of mathematics in all fields of science as well as social sciences.
Although we have listed categories above, you will find that many of these courses are interdisciplinary and therefore don’t just fit into one category.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/
2. Learning paths that fit your lifestyle
These courses aren’t just 3 hours of endless talking. To make things more engaging and fun, they have included exercises, quizzes, and assignments to help you retain the things you’ve learned, as well as apply them. And since all of these courses are online, they can be taken at any time of the day or any day of the week, so you can chill and focus on other things.
3. Certificate of Completion
Not only are they free, but some courses even offer a certification of completion (you may have to pay) which could act as motivation for those wanting to enhance their CV. You would feel a sense of accomplishment after completing a course. Keep in mind that they are NOT the same as acquiring a degree at Harvard. Regardless, they act as an invaluable addition to your resume, which helps you diversify your resume.
4. World-renowned teachers
Harvard, which is known for its excellence ensures that only the top instructors create this free content for education. They are here to impart their knowledge to all who take up their course. This means that you can sit back and enjoy content that is highly filtered and monitored to make sure that the information is accurate!
5. Psst.. They are free!
This one is sure to convince you. The course contents listed are absolutely free and can be accessed from any part of the world as long as you have an internet connection! This is done in part as an effort to demonetize education and tackle geographical barriers.
6. Education isn’t a one-time event
In today’s fast-paced world, we often forget that learning doesn’t just end at school. We learn, unlearn, and relearn things constantly throughout life. These free courses are a reminder that you shouldn’t just stop learning at some point in life. Learning isn’t always just to pass tests and exams. To apply concepts in real life- that is the real examination. They also teach you to always be on the lookout for learning something new.
7. The best of Harvard’s free course offerings
We’ve selected 5 of the best among the plethora of free courses offered by Harvard:
- Principles of Biochemistry
- Entropy and Equilibria
- Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature
- Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python
- Leaders of Learning
Although some of these courses require prior knowledge of a few topics, they can still be enrolled by beginners.
Still here?
To learn is to open up new horizons for yourself. Education is your key to making the world move at your feet. Harvard’s free course offerings are readily available to anyone who wants to improve their lives. What makes them stand out from other free courses is that they are specially curated by one of the most prestigious institutions in the world. Not to mention that there are courses being created and uploaded constantly and the older ones are also updated. So, you don’t have to worry about learning outdated information. Now go on, put on your smart hat, and start learning. Harvard’s got your back.