Free Online Courses and Classes to Get Involved in During Lockdown

As the UK enters its third week in lockdown 2.0, the majority of the UK are still working from home and trying to stay in doors as much as possible. If you find yourself with extra time on your hands, you have been furloughed or you aren’t currently working, there has never been a better time to focus on your personal and professional development, learn a new skill or hobby or to brush up on your knowledge of a certain topic or subject area. However, if you are lucky enough to still be working full-time and are just simply looking for fun and different ways to utilise any free time you have at home, then some of these courses and classes will also be appropriate for you!

We have put together some examples of courses that will help you with your personal and professional development and those classes which will allow you to learn a new fun skill or take part in activities to keep you entertained during lockdown!

Personal and Professional Development Courses

The Oxford Home Study Centre are currently offering over 40 different online courses for free, with online certifications upon completion of the course. There is a wide selection of courses available and they are all open to anyone regardless of age, location and educational background. The courses are all designed to be easily accessible and beneficial. An example of just some of the courses on offer are, Business Management, Human Resources Management, Project Management, Accounting and Finance and Administrative Skills. There are so many to choose from, so we recommend having a look at their website and seeing what course(s) take your fancy!  

Recognised as being one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, Harvard University are offering a range of courses for free during these unprecedented times. There are around 75 free courses available on their website spanning subjects such as Health and Medicine, Business, Science, Education and Teaching, Humanities, Social Sciences, Mathematics and more. Courses differ in length from one week to 15 weeks so there is plenty to keep you going. Have a browse and see what interests you the most.

Another extremely respected university in America, Yale University, are offering their world-famous happiness course – The Science of Well-Being, for free online. This course aims to increase individuals' happiness and help them to build and implement productive and healthy habits into their everyday lives. This course has been extremely popular, with over 2 million people signing up, and has received brilliant reviews: 4.9 stars out of five based on over 2,000 reviews. If you are looking for a way to make lockdown happier, healthier and more positive then this might be the course for you!

Future Learn offer engaging and hands-on courses designed with universities across the world, such as King's College London and the University of Oslo. This company has a range of over 400 free short courses for you to get your teeth into, covering a wide variety of subject matter from Business and Management, Psychology and Mental Health to IT and Computer Science. Future Learn offer a more structured approach to the course, with new content being released weekly to keep you going. Make sure you check that the course is free before you sign up by clicking ‘read more’.

OpenLearn, brought to you by the Open University have more than 1,000 courses available, so there should be a topic to suit everyone’s interests! They offer three different levels to choose from on their courses ranging from introductory, intermediate to advanced, which allows you to learn at your own pace. Topics span different subjects such as History, Politics, Environment, Art to name but a few!

HubSpot Academy are currently offering a free Inbound Marketing Certification course on their website. A huge amount of businesses utilise inbound marketing strategies in order to attract new customers so many employers will see this course and knowledge as an asset, especially if you are working within a company that is growing or looking to scale up. The course will help you to learn about inbound marketing techniques, how to create content through blogs or social media, social promotion, converting and nurturing leads, as well as developing the customer journey. The course consists of short video lectures, quizzes and a final exam. This particular course would be a great addition to your CV and could also help you in an interview setting having learnt relevant business terminology.

Social media has become an extremely important and valuable skill within many jobs, spanning all industries, but especially within SMEs where people may work across several different departments within a business. Alison are offering a free course on Social Media Strategy for those who work within small businesses. The course will allow you to learn how to make a social media plan in order to increase revenue for your business. The course only takes between 2-3 hours to complete and will help set you apart from the crowd when interviewing. Please note, however, although the course is free to enrol in and complete, you do have to pay for the certification upon completion.

Other Free Courses, Classes And Activities

If you are missing going to the gym for your workout fix, or are just looking to try a different type of exercise whilst in lockdown, then why not finally learn to love yoga! Yoga with Adriene offers various beginners’ classes for those who are completely new to yoga or have only done a few classes previously, as well as medium level classes for those who attend regular yoga classes and expert guides for experienced yogis! She also has classes focusing on energy and calming practices and dealing with back pain and weight loss. Whether you just want a quick 10-minute calming stretch or a longer workout, Adriene has a number of different classes to suit your needs.

If you are bored of cooking the same meals week in week out and you are missing those delicious, restaurant style Asian-fusion dishes, then look no further than beloved Wagamama's Wok From Home classes! Hosted on their social media platforms during the first lockdown, all of the episodes are available on Wagamama’s YouTube channel – join Executive Chef Steve Mangleshot as he walks you through how to make a number of the restaurant’s favourite dishes. Mix up your week and treat your family or housemate(s) to something a bit different!

Forensic Psychology: Witness Investigation – For those with an interest in forensic psychology and criminology, this eight-week course investigates how forensic psychology helps to unpick evidence from eyewitnesses and prevents misidentification or miscarriages of justice. Course participants use witness statements in order to try and solve a fictitious crime!

Coding can seem like a foreign language, but Codeacademy: Learn to Code are here to help even the technophobes amongst us! Codeacademy have set up a free resource in order for people to embrace a new coding frontier, with free classes that breakdown the basics of coding, step-by-step guides and interactive training screens so that you can put what you have learnt into practice!

We encourage you to take advantage of the many free online courses and classes on offer whilst you have the chance, as they will only be available for a limited time!

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash