Top 6 Free Online Courses You Should Take In April 2023

Desktop computer and iPad sitting on a brown desk

Do you know that you can access high-quality education from some of the top colleges and universities? Colleges including Yale, Stanford, MIT, Harvard, UC Davis, and more have free online courses. The best part is you don’t have to go through the rigorous and sometimes challenging admission process to take these courses.

Education has the power to change and unlock your potential. A few classes can change your life. Therefore, I can’t recommend free online courses enough. They are the perfect way to learn about a specific subject or gain a new skill. Whether it’s for your career or academic interests it will look great on your resume. 

The online courses below are not for college credit and to receive a certificate you would need to enroll in the paid version of the course which is not necessary. These courses, regardless of whether you receive a certificate or not, can be put on your resume to demonstrate your specialized knowledge.

Taking a few free online courses may be the edge you need to get noticed in the workforce. These classes can also give you a new skill that will help you land the job. Free online classes are one of my recommendations in  How To Get An Entry-Level Job With No Experience,

How To Take Free Online Courses is a great guide if you are not familiar with taking online classes.

Free Courses That You Can Start in April 2023

Below are 6 free online courses that start in April 2023. They are great options for students to expand their skill base and test out different subjects before changing their major or career path. I am not recommending that you take all 6 courses. Instead, look through your options, read the course description and reviews, pick one and get studying.

1. Introduction to Statistics:

Coursera online course by Stanford University. Starts on Mondays in April. Learn statistical thinking concepts that are essential for learning from data and communicating insights. By the end of the course, you will be able to perform exploratory data analysis, understand key principles of sampling, and select appropriate tests of significance for multiple contexts. You will gain the foundational skills that prepare you to pursue more advanced topics in statistical thinking and machine learning.

2. The Strategy of Content Marketing:

Coursera online course by UC Davis. Starts on Mondays in April. This course is a partnership between the leading content marketing authority, Copyblogger, and UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education. In this course, you will learn the core strategies content marketers use to acquire and retain customers profitably. Specifically, you will learn how to develop, organize and implement a content marketing strategy, analyze and measure the effectiveness of content marketing, write compelling copy, use a strategic framework when writing, and build your professional brand and authority through content marketing. You will also learn how to put the ideas presented to you into action and build your own personal brand through content marketing.

3. How to Manage a Remote Team:

Coursera online course by GitHub. Starts Mondays in April. In this course, you’ll learn and apply remote work best practices, build your remote work policy, and prepare your team for success. This course is ideal for current managers, executives, and human resources professionals who want to learn how to lead and support a high-functioning, scalable remote team. Learn to lead in a remote environment and build a remote organizational culture and practices. Create a foundational strategy for executing a remote transformation and be able to assess teams’ and managers’ readiness and preparation for remote work.

Four people sitting in a room with virtual reality headset on.

4. Introduction to Augmented Reality and ARCore:

Coursera online course by Daydream. Starts on Mondays in April. This class will teach you the fundamentals of augmented reality (AR), and how to build an AR experience using ARCore. Learn how to identify different types of AR experiences and how AR experiences work. This course will break down complex AR concepts to make them easy to understand, while also sharing expert tips and knowledge from Daydream’s ARCore team.

5. Financial Accounting:

edX online course by MIT. Starts on April 5, 2023. Accounting is the language of business. It is difficult to understand business without knowing some accounting. Knowing accounting will help learners better understand and contribute to their own companies and better understand business around them. This course also helps students use financial statements to gather inputs to valuation models and for corporate finance decisions.

6. Data Science: Machine Learning:

edX online course by Harvard University. Starts on April 19, 2023. Build a movie recommendation system and learn the science behind one of the most popular and successful data science techniques.

You can effectively expand your skillset making you a well-rounded student and employee. Free courses are also great for testing out different subjects if you are considering what to study during college or considering a career change. Start out by browsing through free online courses in April and see if anything interests you. If none of the above courses are interesting to you or applicable to your academic or career pursuits, then there are many other free online courses available to students. However, you need to know where to find these free online courses. First, start by learning How To Take Free Online Courses and Certificates from Top Universities. Then browse through the different options and topics available for free.

—Sensei