In this digital era, education knows no boundaries, and virtual classrooms have brought courses to the fingertips.
Whether you’re a career-driven professional seeking to upskill, a passionate learner pursuing a new interest, or a busy individual craving flexibility, here we’ve put together a list of the 18 most popular online college courses that might open doors to many opportunities for you.
All these listed courses come under different categories, Business, Science, Self-help, etc. Go through and pick courses that align with your interests.
Online College Programs You Might Be Interested In
Here, some free college courses, and some are paid. Some give certification and some don’t. Before you pick one, make sure to check all the factors. With that said, let us walk you through…
1. Six Sigma Part 1: Define and Measure
- College: Technical University of Munich
- Duration: 8 weeks (3 – 4 hours a week)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructor: Martin Grunow and Holly Ott
Six Sigma is a bunch of tools and techniques developed for process improvement. The main goal is to enhance the process performance by identifying and removing the cause of defects and variability.
Though it’s named Six Sigma it’s structured into 5 phases which is known as DMAIC. It stands for, Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. As you have already guessed, it’s a step-by-step process. Each of these steps includes some objectives and activities.
From this course, you will be learning to set improvement project goals, calculate the process, and point out some parameters that are critical to quality.
You would also learn how to map a process and use the needed statistical techniques to set a baseline performance for any process.
Course Module
- Week 1: Introduction to Six Sigma
- Week 2: Defining the Problem
- Week 3: Measuring Statistics Review
- Week 4: Measuring Normal Distribution
- Week 5: Measuring Process Mapping
- Week 6: Measurement System Analysis
- Week 7: Measuring Process Capability
- Week 8: Quality Topics and Course Summary
2. Lean Production
- College: Technical University of Munich
- Duration: 6 Weeks (3-4 hours a week)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructor: Martin Grunow and Holly Ott
It’s a customer-centric method that is developed to eliminate waste and focus on value-added tasks to speed up and enhance the overall process. Upon completing the entire course, you should be able to have a good idea of how to analyze process flow to find out the process bottleneck and establish process capacity.
Not only that, you would learn about calculating resource utilization, cycle time, defects batching, and rework on the important performance measures which include flow time, rate, and inventory as well.
And after the course completion, you would get a certificate from TUM university, that’d be paid.
Course Module
- Week 1: Introduction (Identification of Waste)
- Week 2: Understanding Flow (Capacity Analysis)
- Week 3: Continuous Flow (Setup Time Reduction)
- Week 4: Improving Flow (Workplace Organization & Visualization)
- Week 5: Maintaining Flow (Establishing Pull System and Scheduling)
- Week 6: Quality & Continuous Improvement
3. Product Management Fundamentals
- College: University System of Maryland and University of Maryland
- Duration: 4 Weeks ( 2-3 hours a week)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructor: James Green
No doubt that Product management is today one of the most popular courses because people holding product management skills are being offered lucrative jobs. And that is because companies have started to feel that void of a product manager who would develop a product that consumers will accept.
This is a basic-level course for beginners who just have started. In this very course, you’ll be taught the fundamentals of product management and its role.
Course Module
- Week 1: Roles and Responsibilities of a Product Manager
- Week 2: Managing Innovative Product Teams
- Week 3: Market Challenges and Guiding Principles
- Week 4: Customer Development and Crossing the Chasm
4. Financing Innovative Ventures
- College: University System of Maryland and University of Maryland
- Duration: 4 weeks (2-3 hours)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructor: Michael Pratt
Not every entrepreneur and innovator has a good grip on financial concepts, this is why to manage financials they hire individuals possessing that skill. And this course here “Financing Innovating Ventures” will teach you things that will open your door to many opportunities in the future.
Here you will learn about the basics of finance, valuation, dilution, and non-dilutive funding sources. You’d understand a new venture’s capital structure, term sheets, how to negotiate terms sheets, differences between early and later-stage financing, how to examine many financing options and many more. Preparing to Manage Human Resources
Course Module
- Week 1: The Early Stage Investment Landscape
- Week 2: Sources of Capitals for Corporate Ventures and Startups
- Week 3: Getting Funded (Steps of funding process)
- Week 4: Pitching to Investors and Closing a Deal
5. Preparing to Manage Human Resources
- College: University of Minnesota
- Duration: 4 Weeks
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: Coursera
- Instructor: John W. Budd
We all know what the role of HR managers is, mainly managing the employees. However the approach of HR managers in managing employees varies from person to person, manager to manager, and job to job.
“Prepare to Manage Human Resources” isn’t just another average HRM course, this one’s a little different. It aims to teach you the foundation for developing your very own approach to managing human resources. That you can use as an alternative to traditional human resource strategies.
You will also be introduced to the legal context of HRM and things that push employees to work hard. Furthermore, you’ll also know about the conceptual and factual basis for establishing specific HRM skills.
This is not a basic course, if you have no knowledge about HRM, you better start with the basics and then come to this course.
Course Module
- Week 1: Alternative Approaches to Managing Human Resources
- Week 2: What Makes Employees Work
- Week 3: Non-monetary Motivation for Employees
- Week 4: The People Manager as Part of a Complex System
6. Protecting Business Innovations via Patent
- College: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- Duration: 5 Weeks
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: Coursera
- Instructor: Theodore Henry King CLARK
This course falls into two categories, business and law. However, to complete this course you don’t need any prior knowledge. The approach in this course is not theoretical like other courses, rather it’s more practical and commercial.
There are a lot of case studies that will make your journey pretty fun. Upon course completion you would understand what a patent is, how you get it and protect it, how much it would cost, how patents are issued, and how to protect innovations.
Furthermore, you’ll also be introduced to software patents, business process patents, patent trolls, patenting life, etc.
Course Module
- Week 1: Introduction to Patents
- Week 2: Process of Getting A Patent
- Week 3: Utility Patent Requirement
- Week 4: Advanced Patent Topics
- Week 5: Putting Your Knowledge to Work
7. FinTech Ethics and Risks
- College: The University of Hong Kong
- Duration: 6 Weeks (1-5 hours a week)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructor: David L. Bishop and David S. Lee
Fintech has begun a global revolution in the Financial service industry and it’s continuously growing. Therefore, there are a lot of scopes for skilled individuals in Fintech to grow.
This course Fintech Ethics and Risks is a 6 week long course where you will be presented with the full spectrum of finance and technology. You’ll learn what Fintech really is, and how it works. Furthermore, you’ll also learn about how we can use blockchain in Fintech, how we should govern it, how to start a Fintech startup, what are risks associated with it, etc.
If you have no prior knowledge about Fintech, you can still start with this course. However, it would be best if you could gather the basics of Fintech, that’ll help you complete this course faster.
Course Module
- Week 1: Introduction to Ethics of Finance and Emerging Technologies
- Week 2: Blockchain and Its Governance
- Week 3: Cybersecurity and Crimes
- Week 4: Ai & Fintech
- Week 5: Institutionalization Vs Decentralization
- Week 6: Questionnaire related to Introduction to FinTech
8. Becoming a Changemaker: Introduction to Social Innovation
- College: University of Cape Town
- Duration: 6 Weeks
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: Coursera
- Instructor: François Bonnici and Warren Nilsson
Doesn’t matter whether you’re familiar with social innovation and entrepreneurship or not, this course “Introduction to Social Innovation” will give you broad knowledge about social innovation. And how to deal with the problems associated with it.
This course will teach you all the basics and it is filled with different examples of social innovations happening all around the world. Once you complete the course you should be able to form your very own approach to social innovation. And you will be able to build concepts, skills, mindset, relationships, etc. to begin as a social changemaker.
Course Module
- Week 1: Defining the Problems
- Week 2: What do we have to work with?
- Week 3: Getting Out of Comfort Zone
- Week 4: Innovating
- Week 5: Changing the System
- Week 6: What’s the Impact?
9. Legal Foundations for Entrepreneurs
- College: University of Maryland
- Duration: 9 – 10 Weeks
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: Coursera
- Instructor: Wilson L. White and Dr. James V. Green
It is not unknown that a lot of entrepreneurship aspects are touched by the law. Many entrepreneurs lacking legal knowledge get into trouble at a point in time.
However, after completing this course, you would be better equipped to navigate the legal aspects of entrepreneurship, make informed decisions, and take proactive actions to maintain legal compliance and protect the business interest.
This course mainly focuses on the foundations of law. Introduces you to the law and the latest legal sources and systems. The course also includes examples and case studies, and you’ll be required to examine them and address legal issues.
Course Module
- Week 1: Introduction to Legal Foundation
- Week 2: Legal Fundamentals
- Week 3: Mechanics of Business Formation
- Week 4: Organizing your Business
- Week 5: Employee Status
- Week 6: Employment Law and Liability
- Week 7: Entering and Exiting Business
- Week 8 – 10: Examples, Case Studies, Etc.
10. Advanced Leadership for Engineers: Leading Teams, Organizations and Networks
- College: Delft University of Technology
- Duration: 5 Weeks (3-5 hours)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructors: Hans de Bruijn, Gerdien de Vries and Dr. H. G. van der Voort
This isn’t a course for every engineer, it’s for those who are currently at a management position or will be in the future. Those who have a goal to become an effective leader, a leader who has some influence over the team, then this course will be a good fit.
It’s taught by individuals who are experts in that field and is recognized worldwide for their work. Here in this course you would learn developing and applying a new mindset that’s process-based for leadership.
You’ll also learn how to deal with the risk associated with this new mindset type and how to manage them properly.
Course Module
- Week 0: Intro and Alignment
- Week 1: Strategies in Network
- Week 2: Trust in Network
- Week 3: Leading an Organization
- Week 4: Leading a Team
- Week 5: Recap and Final Test
11. Fintech: AI & Machine Learning in the Financial Industry
- College: The University of Texas at Austin
- Duration: 4 Weeks (5-6 hours week)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructor: Cesare Fracassi
If you’ve grown interested in the Fintech industry and want to know the role of AI and machine learning in this industry, this course might be a good start for you. The course is divided into three parts, in the first part, the course focuses on surveying the crowdfunding market, equity crowdfunding, and P2P marketplace lending.
In the second part, you’ll be introduced to artificial intelligence, main machine learning tools, linear/non-linear machine learning models, deep learning and their application, etc.
You’ll also be going through some plans to create algorithms and machines that can imitate human functioning.
In the last part, the course focuses on quantitative investments, finance and robo advising in social platforms.
Course Module
- Week 1: P2P Crowdfunding
- Week 2: Overview of Artificial Intelligence
- Week 3: Machine Learning Models
- Week 4: Investments and Robo Advising
12. The Data Scientist’s Toolbox
- College: Johns Hopkins University
- Duration: 18 Weeks
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: Coursera
- Instructor: Jeff Leek
This is not a course that will teach you how to analyze data, rather it’s a course that will make you familiar with all the tools and things which are an integral part of data analysis.
Along with the tools, this course gives a little touch to the overview of data and questions that usually analysts work with.
This course is divided into two parts, the first one is introduction to turning ideas into actionable data. And the second one is a practical introduction to tools like git, Github, R, RStudio, version control, Markdown, etc.
Course Module
- Data Science Fundamentals
- R & RStudio
- Version COntrol and Github
- R Markdown, Scientific Thinking, and Big Data
13. Developing Data Products
- College: Johns Hopkins University
- Duration: 10 Weeks
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: Coursera
- Instructor: Brian Caffo
The output of a statistical analysis is a data product and this course “Developing Data Products” takes you through the basics of creating data products using different kinds of graphics. The course will also cover the statistical fundamentals of developing data products which can be told as a story to a lot of audience.
Overall, after completing the course you should be able to do data visualization, statistical modeling, data processing, prototyping, etc.
Course Module
- Course Overview
- Shiny, GoogleVis, and Plotly
- R Markdown and Leaflet
- RPackages
- Swirl
- Course Projects
14. Communication Skills and Teamwork
- College: Fullbridge
- Duration: 3 Weeks (3 – 4 hours Week)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructor: Jim Pautz
Good communication is hands down one skill that every individual must have if they want to succeed. And being a good team player is another skill that will help individuals climb high.
This “Communication Skills and Teamwork” is a self-paced career development course which will help you to improve your communication skills and will also help you work properly with a team.
During the course, you’ll be communicating with different people in different contexts and you’ll also be forming a team and there will be projects that teams will complete.
Course Module
- Course Introduction
- Fundamentals of Communication
- Communication Strategies
- Effective Teamwork and Project Planning
- Final Assessment and Course recap
15. Startup Success: How to Launch a Technology Company in 6 Steps
- College: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Duration: 4 Weeks (2 – 3 hours week)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructor: Michael Stonebraker, Andy Palmer, Saman P. Amarasinghe and Stelios Sidiroglou-Douskos, Daniela Rus, Charles E. Leiserson
Though it seems like an easy task to launch a tech company, it’s not. From hiring right teammates to marketing the company, launching a successful tech company requires a lot of things. And having all those factors organized in a single course, wouldn’t that be a life saver?
This “Startup Success’ ‘ course is taught by a bunch of individuals who are great at this field. Generating ideas, building prototypes, hiring talented individuals, closing the first financial round, etc. this course covers all the major aspects required to launch a successful startup.
Course Module
- Introduction
- Idea generation
- Building Team and Prototype
- Presenting the Idea
- Negotiation
- Case Studies
- Preparing the Launch
16. Editing and Proofreading Masterclass
- Platform: Skillshare
- Duration: 3 – 4 hours
- Certification: free
- Instructor: Nitay L
If you’re an English content writer, having the skill of editing and proofreading content will give you an edge over the competition. Furthermore, proofreading is a needed skill in various industries and you can make a living doing just that.
To become a good proofreader you need to have a good grip on English, without that the road would be very harsh. In this course, you’ll be introduced to many advanced tools that usually proofreaders use.
You’d be able to track changes in Word files and recognize different types of errors such as grammatical, punctuational, and language errors. Your copy editing and creative writing skills will be enhanced.
Course Module
- Introduction to Proofreading
- 7 tips for proofreading better
- Spotting most kinds of errors
- Introduction to Editing
- Fact-Checking
- Introduction to Upwork
17. Social Media and Digital Marketing Fundamentals
- College: Digital Marketing Institute
- Duration: 10 hours
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: Coursera
- Instructor: Cathal Melinn
This is the era of technology and almost every industry is shifting towards digitalization. And that increases the need for skilled digital marketers. Doesn’t matter whether you’re a newbie or at an intermediate level, this course has something for everyone.
The main goal of this course is to teach how to come up with effective content marketing strategies to create content that hooks the audience. Throughout the journey, students will be taken through cores of digital marketing.
Course Module
- Introduction to Digital Marketing Landscape
- Digital Marketing Principles
- Content Marketing for Social
18. Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies
- College: Harvard University and Harvard Business School
- Duration: 6 Weeks (3 – 5 hours)
- Certification: Paid
- Platform: edX
- Instructor: Sue J. Goldie and Tarun Khanna
The goal of this course is to teach students how to take an approach to understand and solve critical social issues. It teaches how you can address these issues across the emerging market, identify scopes of opportunity, and develop your own strategy to cope with the problems.
Furthermore, this course also gives you knowledge about the problems that usually arise when financing, scaling up operations, managing property rights, creating matrices, branding, etc.
Related: Online Courses that Offer College Credit
Questions to Ask Before Signing Up for Online Learning
Embarking on an online learning journey is an exciting prospect, but before you dive in, it’s crucial to ask yourself the right questions to ensure you choose the perfect program for your needs.
Consider these essential points: align your goals with the program’s objectives and understand program structure and format, including time commitment and instruction methods.
Assess the faculty’s qualifications and inquire about support services. Research accreditation and recognition to ensure the program’s legitimacy and value. Examine the cost and financial aid options available. Evaluate technology requirements and support to ensure smooth participation.
Explore the learning community and support offered to foster engagement and inclusivity. Investigate the institution’s reputation and reviews from students.
Look for free trial or preview options to experience the program firsthand. Finally, understand the exit strategy and career support provided to help you land your desired job. By asking these crucial questions and actively researching, you can confidently choose an online learning program that sets you up for success.
Final Thoughts: Online College Degrees & Programs
In this digital age, you can find almost every course online. With thousands of free and paid online college courses available on various platforms, you can embark on a lifelong learning adventure online without stepping outside your home. Define your goal, choose a course that aligns with it, and start your journey today!
