Best Free Online Courses On EdX
EdX is an online learning platform and massive open online course (MOOC) provider founded in 2012 by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The learning destination aims to provide online university-level courses in a broad range of disciplines to everyone regardless of their location.
The courses listed in this article are offered for free. However, to get a verified certificate, you will need to pay a small fee.
If you wish to get certified in any of these courses, there is an option designed to enable you to apply for financial assistance, which when approved, will qualify you for 90 percent discount provided you pay before the deadline.
Some of the best courses you can offer for free on edX include:
1. Course: Big Data Analysis with Apache Spark
School: University of California Berkeley
Instructor(s): Anthony D. Joseph
Course description: This data analysis and statistics course teaches you how to perform data analysis using Apache Spark, how you can use parallel programming to analyze data sets, as well as how you can apply log mining, collaborative filtering techniques, and textual entity recognition to real-world data questions.
2. Course: Circuits and Electronics 1: Basic Circuit Analysis
School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Instructor(s): Anan Agarwal, Gerald Sussman, Piotr Mitros, Chris Terman, and Bonnie Lam
Course description: This course aims to equip you with knowledge of techniques that are fundamental to the design of microchips used in computers, smartphones, as well as the internet.
3. Course: The science of Everyday Thinking
School: The University of Queensland
Instructor(s): Jason Tangen, Matthew Thompson, and Emma Mackenzie
Course description: This course outlines positive ways of understanding and looking at the psychology of our everyday thinking. What you will learn include how to improve your everyday thinking, tips and tricks to making convincing arguments, and how you can make rational decisions, among others.
4. Course: Introduction to Biology – the Secret of Life
School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Instructor(s): Eric S. Lander, Graham Walker, Michelle Mischke, Brian White, and Mary Ellen Wiltrout
Course description: This course will teach you about life by exploring the key aspects of genetics, biochemistry, recombinant DNA, genomics, molecular biology and rational medicine.
5. Course: From Poverty to Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development
School: University of Oxford
Instructor(s): Paul Collier
Course description: Instructed by one of the world’s leading scholars in development economics in Sir Paul Collier, this course offers you the opportunity to learn about the role of government, as well as the major social, political, and economic factors that affect development. Also, you will learn about the roles these factors play in lifting any society from poverty to prosperity.
6. Course: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI)
School: Microsoft
Instructor(s): Graeme Malcolm
Course description: This course offers advanced study of Artificial Intelligence, enabling you to learn how you can better apply cognitive services in your applications.
7. Course: Entrepreneurship 101
School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Instructor(s): Bill Aulet
Course description: This introductory business and management course will help you to understand how to start a business effectively, change the way you make and manage money, how to use leverage to maximize your success, as well as how to go on and become a successful entrepreneur.
8. Course: Introduction to Computer Science
School: Harvard University
Instructor(s): David J. Malan, Bob Bowden, Zamyla Chan, and Doug Lloyd
Course description: This course aims to help you understand the intellectual enterprises of computer science as well as the art of programming.
9. Course: The Engineering of Structures Around Us
School: Dartmouth College
Instructor(s): Vicki May, Jay Beaudoin, Sawyer Broadley, Jenny Seong, Jared Benedict, Michael Goudzwaard, Petra Bonfert-Taylor, and Piper Curtis “17
Course description: This course will teach you all the secrets about how engineers design buildings, bridges and the very famous structures in human society.