7 Free Online Courses in December

It’s just started to snow in my place and I’m absolutely happy. Let it snow, let it snow – and let’s stay home, naturally. Winter break means family time, staying in, eating a lot of food, baking gingerbread and generally relaxing and having fun.

Naturally, relaxing means taking care of one’s body and mind – and what’s better than learning something new? My pro-tip for online courses in December is watching online classes and baking cakes or cookies at the same time. Bliss! If you want to give it a try, I have a batch of seven free online courses to accompany your culinary endeavours.

Conflict Management Specialization by the University of California, Irvine

Start: 2/12/2019

Duration: 4 weeks

For whom: anyone looking for an advantage in the workplace of the future

Conflict management is something crucial in our work as teachers, but it’s useful in various situations. In this course, you’ll learn to strengthen your personal and professional relationships by constructively addressing conflicts. You’ll build skills aimed at managing conflicts, and in the final project, you’ll analyse a specific conflict and outline an approach to management and resolution.

Designing the Future of Work by the University of New South Wales, Sydney

Start: 2/12/2019

Duration: 4 weeks

For whom: anyone looking for an advantage in the workplace of the future

We live in interesting times, that’s for sure. There are so many predictions that soon our workplaces will be completely taken over by the robots and it’s obvious one have to understand how to design a secure future. This course will help you answer the questions about how jobs will change and what challenges employers and employees face.

Testing Times in the Classroom: Challenges of 21st Century Education by the University of Exeter

Start: 9/12/2019

Duration: 4 weeks

For whom: anyone with an interest in education, including teachers, students, and parents

Are schools focused on assessments? Does the classroom affect children’s creativity? We all probably say “yes”. This course will help you look at possible educational alternatives for the future and see whether changes are possible. What’s more, you will look at education from various perspectives, linked to economic progress and business or corporate activity. It may be really interesting for those who are educators and need a fresh perspective on their work.

Explore the British Empire through six controversial themes by the University of Exeter

Start: 9/12/2019

Duration: 6 weeks

For whom: anyone with an interest in imperial history

You can’t understand Brexit without understanding the Empire. This course will take you on the journey to explore the British Empire through six themes – money, violence, race, religion, gender and sex, and propaganda. You’ll get to hear the stories of the fascinating individuals who contributed to both its rise and fall. I would definitely recommend this course not only to teachers, but also to more proficient students who can learn something more than just the language.

Take Your English Communication Skills to the Next Level by Georgia Institute of Technology

Start: 9/12/2019

Duration: 4 weeks

For whom: people interested in successful communication

This course is part of the “Improve Your English Communication Skills” specialization, and it focuses on key cultural influences on communication, email accuracy and style, delivering a successful presentation and maximizing your English communication skills. This course may be really interesting for teachers who work with more advanced students, for students who think of studying abroad, business people and everyone interested in successful communication.

Advanced Grammar & Punctuation Project by the University of California, Irvine

Start: 16/12/2019

Duration: 6 weeks

For whom: advanced students of English interested in grammar

This course is designed for students who are quite proficient in English. In this course, you will create a portfolio of the difficult or interesting English grammatical structures, which will help you review the material you’ve learned and create a memorable project. I think this course may be not only fun for your students, but also a very useful tool and inspiration for a teacher.

Academic writing for clarity and meaning by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Start: self-paced

Duration: 2 weeks

For whom: university students and contributors to academic publications

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you need to write in a complex style to express complex ideas. Ernest Hemingway knew better than that and presto! he received the Nobel Prize. While this course doesn’t aim at creating new Hemingways, it will surely help you to articulate complex ideas with clarity and meaning. I think we all might find this course particularly useful.

I believe these courses will be really useful for us not only as teachers, but also learners – they will help us see various perspectives on the topics we think we know all too well. Learning something new is always like a little miracle for our brain.

Enjoy!