7 Free Online Courses in December

Ready for some winter ho-ho-ho? If yes, let me be a not-so-secret Santa bringing you a ho-ho-wholesome batch of interesting free online courses. This time I’ve got something you can use for your New Year Resolution (gardening or healthy food), something to try with your students (stylistics or songwriting) or something that will make your winter break happier (baking and winemaking!).

I hope you’ll enjoy the courses and have a very merry December!

Healthy House Plants: A Complete Guide to Gardening Indoors by BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine

Start date: now
Duration: 4 weeks
For whom: people who want to learn how to care for houseplants
You will learn:

• how to identify different types of house plants from their appearance
• how to regularly monitor your plants to assess plant health and growth
• how to consider the origins of plants when making an informed selection of what to grow in a particular rooms indoors

Stylistics: Using Linguistics to Explore Texts and Meaning by the University of Huddersfield

Start date: now
Duration: 4 weeks
For whom: people interested in the effects of language choices in different contexts
You will learn:

• how to compare different ways of presenting the speech of other people and the potential effects associated with these techniques
• how to perform simple computer analysis of textual patterns and understand their relation to style
• how to identify foregrounding and explain how language choices attract our attention

Healthy Cooking Made Easy by BBC Good Food

Start date: now
Duration: 5 weeks
For whom: people who want to learn how to regularly cook healthy meals
You will learn:

• how nourishing ingredients will help you to achieve nutritional balance in your meals
• how to identify useful kitchen equipment for easy meal preparation
• how to classify micro- and macronutrients

Story of a Wine: The Importance of Being Prosecco by the University of Padova

Start date: now
Duration: 4 weeks
For whom: people interested in viticulture and wine making
You will learn:

• about the history of Prosecco
• how to identify the key differences between Prosecco and other sparkling wines, as well as between Prosecco DOC and DOCG
• how to explain the characteristics of the terroir and their effect on the Prosecco quality

Learn How to Bake by BBC Good Food

Start date: now
Duration: 5 weeks
For whom: people interested in baking (beginner to intermediate)
You will learn:

• how to interpret or “read” a recipe to see if it is workable, and to annotate it to improve it
• how to research and compare recipes that they want to try, they will learn to evaluate what makes a good set of instructions.
• how to explore new flavours and experiment with different ingredients and be brave when cooking

How to Write Your First Song by the University of Sheffield

Start date: now
Duration: 6 weeks
For whom: people who want to write songs
You will learn:

• how to set words to rhythm using the concepts of metre and scansion
• how to explain the most commonly used song forms and structures
• how to explore how songs can develop when different lines and instruments are added to the accompaniment

Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age by the University of Michigan

Start date: now
Duration: 4 weeks
For whom: people who want to be able to reason better, understand logic and logical errors, and develop a better understanding of how to make good decisions
You will learn:

• how to evaluate and critique reports of scientific findings in the media
• how to reflect on the most pervasive and important cognitive biases
• how to apply basic concepts of statistics, probability theory, the scientific method, psychology and microeconomics to the sorts of judgments and decisions we have to make in everyday life

I hope you’ll find the courses really useful – I guess the ones I’ll share next month will be focused on teaching, but for now go and enjoy the process of learning new things!