Summary

The web content outlines four free online courses from prestigious universities that have significantly enhanced the author's personal development and can potentially benefit others.

Abstract

The article "4 Free Online Courses That Upgraded My Life" presents a selection of free educational resources that have had a transformative impact on the author's life. These courses cover diverse subjects such as microeconomics from MIT, accounting from OpenLearn, blockchain technology from MIT, and human behavioral biology from Stanford. The author emphasizes that these courses are not only informative but also engaging and enjoyable, challenging the notion that education must be expensive or uninteresting. By providing direct links to the courses and related materials, the article encourages readers to take advantage of these opportunities to improve their financial literacy, understanding of emerging technologies, and knowledge of human behavior, all from the comfort of their own homes.

Opinions

The author believes that modern technology has democratized education, making it accessible and free, unlike the past where quality education was exclusive and costly.
They express amazement at the ability to learn from esteemed institutions like MIT, Stanford, and the Open University without incurring debt or geographical constraints.
The author is of the opinion that traditional high school education often leaves students with negative feelings, citing a Yale survey, and suggests that free online courses can offer a more positive learning experience.
They find the accounting course particularly useful for personal business management and interpreting corporate financial statements.
The author is optimistic about the future role of blockchain technology in economics, as evidenced by its growing acceptance and potential to rival traditional stores of value like gold.
Professor Robert Sapolsky's engaging teaching style in the human behavioral biology course is highlighted as a positive factor that contributed to the author's enthusiasm for learning during lockdown.
The article concludes with a strong endorsement of free online education as a means to learn new things conveniently and affordably, suggesting that these courses can lead to life-enhancing knowledge and skills.

4 Free Online Courses That Upgraded My Life

Hopefully, they will do the same for you

You don’t need to drown in $100k of student debt to receive an education in the modern world.

Heck, you don’t even need to pay a cent to watch lectures from some of the world’s most prestigious universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and MIT.

How do I know?

I’ve spent a lot of time watching online courses over the last few years. They’ve improved my finances, mindset, and overall outlook on life. But most importantly, they taught me that learning can be fun, enjoyable, and worthwhile. After all, more than 70% of high school students have negative feelings about the education system, according to a survey published by Yale.

So with all of that in mind, I want to share several free online courses that improved my life. Hopefully, they will do the same for you, too.

1) Principles of Microeconomics (MIT)

I can’t help but feel amazed that it’s possible to take courses from some of the most incredible universities around the world. That would’ve been unthinkable a few decades ago because a good education was only available to those with lots of money who lived in certain areas.

This course is taught by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It’s perfect for anyone looking to understand the basics of microeconomics — the study of what happens when individuals make choices in response to changes in incentives, prices, resources, and production methods.

The first unit discusses supply and demand and how price is influenced by various factors. The second unit dives into budgets, demand curves, and consumer behavior. Other units focus on competition, business monopolies, and healthcare economics.

2) Fundamentals of Accounting (OpenLearn)

The Open University is one of the largest educational institutions in Europe, with over 200,000 students. It awards undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as non-degree qualifications, such as diplomas.

OpenLearn is a project by The Open University to provide free education to anyone who wants to learn something new. It offers hundreds of free online courses that span subjects ranging from History, French, Geology, and Economics.

I found this accounting course to be really interesting. It helped me learn important skills such as preparing a balance sheet for my business and other accounting skills.

Also, since I’m a big fan of personal finance and investing, this course helped me understand companies’ financial statements when they release earnings reports. Put another way, the spreadsheets no longer look like a bunch of jibberish and gobbledegook.

3) Blockchain and Money (MIT)

Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs said Bitcoin will eventually compete with gold as a store of value. Plus, it’s already legal tender in El Salvador. So, regardless of what you think about bitcoin and cryptocurrency, it’s certainly worth learning more about the underlying blockchain technology — as it’s likely to play a massive role in the future of economics.

This course is a great introduction if you don’t know much about blockchain or cryptography. The course starts with an overview of Bitcoin and a foundational knowledge of blockchain technology, distributed ledgers, and smart contracts from a commercial, technical, and public policy standpoint. The course then moves on to blockchain applications in the financial sector, both present, and future.

4) Human Behavioral Biology (Stanford)

A lot of the lectures for this course are available on YouTube. So, you can sit back and learn something while sitting on the couch. For context, that’s exactly what I did during March 2020 when I was forced to stay at home due to UK government guidelines.

The professor, Robert Sapolsky, is extremely engaging and made me excited to learn more about human behavioral biology. He starts by giving a few examples of how changes in genes or even nutrition may affect behavior.

Professor Sapolsky then explains how diet can affect your brain, behavior, and emotional wellbeing. For example, excessive consumption of sugar is associated with higher levels of depression, according to Healthline.

The course explores the relationship between physiology and behavior and how psychological, neurological, and biological factors interact to produce the highly unpredictable phenomenon that is human behavior.

It’s fascinating.

Education doesn’t have to be expensive. Nor does it have to be boring, tiresome, and disengaging.

You can study the above online courses for free. As long as you have an internet connection, you can learn new things from anywhere in the world. Each of the above courses improved my life in one way or another. Hopefully, your life will improve once you take these courses, as well.

Want to be notified whenever I publish a new article? Click here.