5 Free Online Courses To Take Your Professional Skills To The Next Level

Instead of dreading your new classes and huge homework load, add valuable skills to your professional resume by taking these helpful, and free, online courses over a number of areas.

1) Google Apps Training

If you’ve never used Google Docs before, prepare for your life to change. Google Apps is a collection of free, online office tools and data storage. Users can create and edit documents, spreadsheets and more while collaborating with other users.

In this course, you’ll learn how to prepare documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Even if you’re a seasoned pro, this course will refresh your memory and introduce you to a few tips on how to use Google Apps effectively. You will need a free Gmail account to access Google Apps.

Time: < 1 hour

2) Duolingo

Whether you want to learn a new language or brush up on your high school Spanish, Duolingo is the place to do that. With courses in over 27 languages available, you’ll be speaking a new language in no time.

Completion length varies by language. Duolingo is most effective when done a little bit at a time. Instead of spending an hour stalking someone on Instagram, spend 20 minutes practicing your French vocabulary. Duolingo is also available as an app for iPhone and Android.

Time: 5-20 minutes a day

3) Marketing on LinkedIn

If you’ve applied for a job in the last five years, chances are that you have a LinkedIn page. LinkedIn is a great tool for connecting and networking with other professionals in your field, as well as following influencers and reading great material.

LinkedIn is also heavily used by hiring managers to scope out interviewees and recruits. It’s important to know how to market yourself and your material. The course has five different sections that cover a basic introduction to growing your LinkedIn presence. Sections include creating your LinkedIn profile and what not to do on LinkedIn.

Time: < 1 hour

4) Speechwriting 101

Writing an essay or article is relatively straightforward compared to drafting a speech. Speeches are meant to be heard once, whereas articles are designed to be read and reread for clarification. Novice speechwriters tend to forget this and make simple mistakes. Correcting these issues can take a speech from mediocre to outstanding.
In this course, you’ll learn from a professional speechwriter through a series of weekly articles sent directly to your email. The articles can be easily read in less than ten minutes each and offer tips you can utilize immediately. Courses touch on material such as fine-tuning your main point and judging audience reaction.

Time: 10-15 minutes/article

5) Intro to Adobe Photoshop

Adobe offers a variety of editing tools for video, documents and photos. Its most famous application, Photoshop, allows you to manipulate images or create a new one from scratch.

The course will demonstrate the different tools available in Adobe Photoshop through a series of instructional videos. If you don’t have Adobe Photoshop, you can download a free trial of different Adobe apps. Bear in mind that it may require a card to work properly, but your information can be removed before the end of the trial to avoid a charge.

Time: < 1 hour