7 Free Online Courses in February

We’re back to normal… I mean new-normal, pandemic-normal, not-normal-normal. February marks the official end of New Year Resolutions: if you’ve sticked to them, you can actually succeed, if you were to fail, you’ve probably already failed. I’m proud of myself as I kept all my January resolutions, so I’m quite motivated to continue. Go me!

Naturally, I’ve also thought of exercising the most demanding organ in our bodies – the brain! Traditionally, I found a batch of seven free online courses you may find particularly interesting:

30 Days to Learn English Pronunciation by Sara Dasko

Start: self-paced
Duration: 2hrs
Recommended for: students who want to practise their pronunciation (you can use the material as a part of your course!)
You will learn:

• how to pronounce the evil “th”
• how to pronounce nasal sounds
• how to have fun and improve your English speaking

Teaching English Online by Cambridge English Language Assessment

Start: self-paced
Duration: 3 weeks
Recommended for: teachers who want to adapt face-to-face teaching skills to an online environment
You will learn:

• all about online teaching
• how to develop listening and reading skills
• how to teach English speaking, pronunciation and writing skills

English for the Workplace by the British Council

Start: self-paced
Duration: 4 weeks
Recommended for: students who think of working abroad
You will learn:

• some key business English vocabulary
• how to improve skills in English at work
• how to become successful in applications and interviews

The Online Educator: People and Pedagogy by the Open University

Start: 8/2/2021
Duration: 4 weeks
Recommended for: anyone involved in online education or training, including teachers, trainers, course designers and researchers
You will learn:

• how to apply accessibility guidelines to online teaching contexts
• how to explore ways of shaping a digital identity as an online educator
• about the relationship between technology, content, people and pedagogy in online courses

Design a World-Class Course by Melinda Garcia

Start: self-paced
Duration: depends on a student
Recommended for: people who want to create an effective MOOC using best practice instructional design and tools within the OpenLearning Platform
You will learn:

• how to design an online course structure
• how to design creative, authentic and meaningful activities that align with learning outcomes
• how to manage, run and promote an online course

Resilient Teaching Through Times of Crisis and Change by the University of Michigan

Start: 8/02/2021
Duration: 4 weeks
Recommended for: educators in a wide variety of instructional environments
You will learn:

• about the principles of Resilient Design for Learning
• how technology and tools can be used to facilitate interactions in support of learning
• how to apply guiding principles of resilient design for learning to develop a course plan

Motivation and Engagement in an Uncertain World by Coventry University

Start: self-paced
Duration: 2 weeks
Recommended for:  people who wish to discover the importance of motivation and engagement in the workplace
You will learn:

• how to explore the key changes affecting today’s organisations
• how to understand what these changes mean for teams, groups and the employment relationship
• how to explore methods which may help organisations to sustain employee motivation and engagement in the future

I hope you’ll like the courses I found – I’m planning to try the one on creating own courses and maybe one day I’ll make my own!

Enjoy!