7 Free Online Courses in January

New Year, old me 🙂 Yeah, I’m not going to pretend I’ve changed in the past two weeks… apart from gaining weight and a short-term dislike to alcohol – but I’m still ready to start a new course or two!

This month I’ve found some really classy courses that will definitely help you start the year with a boom:

E-Learning Ecologies: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning for the Digital Age by the University of Illinois

Start: 06/01/2020
Duration: 6 weeks
For whom: educators interested in using technology

One of the most common questions among teachers is how we can use technologies to innovate education. It turns out technology does not necessarily bring significant change, and the results sometimes seem disappointing. This course explores seven affordances of e-learning ecologies, which open up genuine possibilities for what we call New Learning – transformative, 21st century learning:

• Ubiquitous Learning
• Active Knowledge Making
• Multimodal Meaning
• Recursive Feedback
• Collaborative Intelligence
• Metacognition
• Differentiated Learning

I believe this course may offer a new perspective on the topic!

Teaching Primary Science: Getting Started by National STEM Learning Centre

Start: 06/01/2020
Duration: 3 weeks
For whom: primary school teachers who are new to teaching or would like to develop their skills in science teaching.

With this course you will develop your confidence in doing practical science in the primary classroom. You will explore a range of practical science techniques and activities, and think about the impact they have upon the learning of your pupils. Even if you teach EFL, including some science experiments may bring a lot of fun to your classroom!

Orchestrating Whole Classroom Discussion by the University of Pennsylvania

Start: 06/01/2020
Duration: 4 weeks
For whom: teachers who want to include more whole-class discussion in their lessons

We all know the pain of trying to involve all our students into a lively discussion – and failing. This course focuses on how teachers – based on these goals, norms, texts, and questions – prepare students for the whole-class discussion and make it an enjoyable experience. I believe this course may be really useful especially for those who teach teenagers, as they’re not always eager to discuss things.

Europeana in your classroom: building 21st-century competences with digital cultural heritage by the European Schoolnet Academy

Start: 13/01/2020
Duration: 6-7 weeks
For whom: teachers from Europe and beyond who would like to learn more about digital cultural heritage in education

This is one of those courses that look really interesting to take if only for personal development! Digital cultural heritage can be used not only while teaching but it may help us understand our common European history. This course will introduce participants to the Europeana platform, where they will find different resources for educators such as pictures, videos, texts and various tools that they can easily integrate in their lessons.

Multimodal Literacies: Communication and Learning in the Era of Digital Media by the University of Illinois

Start: 13/01/2020
Duration: 4 weeks
For whom: educators interested in including e-learning and social web technologies in their classes

Yet another course that focuses on technology – the authors of the course state that the tools for communication and representation have been widely expanded by digital tools. That’s why we need to extend our literacy pedagogy to encompass literacies in the plural, including a wider range of modes of meaning than alphabetic text alone. The course focuses on spatial, tactile, gestural, audio, and oral meanings – all today part of a wider term, namely “multiliteracies.” I think this course may be a good idea for all those teachers whose students struggle with reading comprehension activities.

Exploring English: Language and Culture by the British Council

Start: 20/01/2020
Duration: 4 weeks
For whom: non-native English speakers who have studied English to around B1 level

As usual, I’ve found something useful not only for teachers, but also for students, as I believe a great way to learn a language is using it to learn something else. In this case – you will not only learn about British life and culture, but also improve your English language skills and knowledge. If you’re thinking of introducing something new to your classroom, try this course as a whole-class experience!

Compassionate Leadership Through Service Learning with Jane Goodall and Roots & Shoots by Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots and University of Colorado Boulder

Start: 20/02/2020
Duration: 6 weeks
For whom: people interested in service-learning and community service

Now, this is the course where you may learn something from Jane Goodall herself! The course is focused on mentoring young people to lead change in their communities using community mapping, collaborating with stakeholders, and designing practical solutions in the form of campaigns. With more and more teenagers interested in community life, this course may be a great idea for an ambitious teacher!

See? Quite a lot of nice courses – and the year has only started! May it be full of great ideas, opportunities and adventures.

Enjoy!