In this competitive job market, it is vital that you keep your skills relevant. This means taking classes from time to time to get a refresher on something you haven't done in a while or learning something new to advance your career. It's crucial that you keep growing, honing old skills and developing new ones to become a more well-rounded employee. There is one problem: you aren’t sure where to get started.
Online classes provide you with the freedom and flexibility to continue your education on your own time around your schedule. No more running to class at 1 p.m. or having to cut a vacation short to make it back for an exam. The convenience afforded by online courses allows you to continue growing your skill set long after you're out of college. Perhaps you didn't even get a chance to attend college, and you are just looking for ways to add some verifiable classes to your resume. There are free courses online with a certificate of completion that can aid in your advancement.
Just what is a certificate of completion? In general terms, it is a document that indicates you have finished, in satisfactory standing, a course requiring a certain number of instructional hours and exams. Having it demonstrates to employers, prospective or current, that you have taken it upon yourself to advance your knowledge in a particular area. It shows you are willing to work hard to improve your career and accomplish life goals.
There are myriad opportunities online to build your skills in just about anything. One of the best parts about it is that we found the following courses are all free and offer certificates of completion. Some courses we found offer free classes but charge a nominal fee for the certificate. We decided to discount those even though they were from some of the more well-known programs (Coursera, Udacity, EdX) in what's known as an open-sharing format. What we've put together below is a list of the courses that are free from beginning to end. This offers you a risk-free, no-holds-barred opportunity to improve yourself with no catch involved.
How We Chose Our Rankings
There is an extensive list of companies purporting to offer free skill-building classes. While we found this to be true, they didn't all offer certificates of completion. Some provided certificates of verifiability, meaning they would say you took the class. We decided to discount these as well since certificates of completion are essential to demonstrate your efforts in self-improvement. We did extensive research and concluded the following factors would be the criteria for this list:
- The reputation of the company offering the class
- The variety of courses offered
- The different experience levels dictated by the course
- The type of certificate awarded
- The reviews and feedback from users
After reviewing all of these categories, we supply a final conclusion in the form of an overall rating. Our goal is to give you the best opportunity to find something that works for your desired outcome. We believe something on this list will work for you.
The 4 Best Free Online Courses With a Certificate of Completion
Company reputation:
Open2Study is based in Australia and is supported by the Open Universities of Australia. They strive to educate the public by providing free classes in every major discipline and topic. The classes offered are all free and run, on average, about six weeks. Along with free courses, Open2Study does offer college-credit online courses. These, of course, have an appropriate fee attached. Teachers and students have given the organization high marks. It provides an excellent opportunity for people to try something new before committing to a full career or college course of study change.
Courses offered:
Open2Study offers thousands of classes for free. Some examples are Innovation for Powerful Outcomes, Becoming a Confident Trainer, Early Childhood Education and Emergency Management. We believe the variety of free courses makes this the best site. The classes are not self-paced, and have sessions you must complete weekly during the dedicated time period.
Level of knowledge required:
This varies depending on the classes you want to take. While all the courses have a starting point and explain foundations well, some expect you to have at least a fundamental knowledge of specific concepts. We found this especially true in science- and math-based classes.
Certificate awarded:
All free classes grant a certificate of achievement if you complete and pass the course. Passing grades vary, but are typically 70 percent or higher.
User reviews and feedback:
We found overwhelmingly positive reviews for Open2Study in general and for specific classes. Users feel that the class structure is easy to follow and allows for the maximum amount of information to be conveyed without convoluting it. The only negatives addressed the lack of an instructor to ask questions of; however, the vast network of teachers and students on the site makes it easier to find the answer to anything that might be difficult for you.
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Company reputation:
Saylor Academy has become one of the most well-known and respected online learning academies. It offers over 240 classes in the top areas of study. Their free courses are popular and in depth. When looking through the syllabus and course descriptions, we found that these classes take, on average, 90 hours to complete. These are full college courses offered for free. There is an option to pay for the classes and get college credit for the work completed. We included this on our list because of the variety and depth of material offered. Regardless of your industry, you will be able to find at least one comprehensive course through Saylor Academy that will most definitely boost your skills.
Courses offered:
Saylor Academy offers classes in all major disciplines including, but not limited to, professional development, art history, computer science, English and history. Some subject areas provide multiple lessons while others have only one. We found that the more popular career paths, such as computer science, offered the most learning opportunities.
Level of knowledge required:
These classes all build off each other. If you have no background in computer science, start with CS101: Introduction to Computer Science I. This will give you the basis on which to build. Saylor Academy is meant for all skill levels.
Certificate awarded:
At the completion of the full course with a score of 70 percent or better, a certificate of completion is awarded. The certificate only comes in digital form through a third-party vendor, Accredible. The document is personalized with your name and the full course title completed. The digital format makes it easy to post to your online resume through LinkedIn.
User reviews and feedback:
Saylor Academy gets high marks overall in the scope and depth of material presented. People enjoy learning basic concepts in areas they are not necessarily familiar with. Still others value the advanced coursework available for refreshing and furthering their current career and college work. The only negative reviews we found had to do with issues regarding college credit. Since we aren't focusing on that aspect of the program, we didn't include more details about it.
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Company reputation:
If you are looking to punch up your computer design or web design skills, Aquent Gymnasium has your kind of program. The company is based in the United Kingdom and features many online courses dealing strictly with technology-based skills. Coding, design and creative computer modeling are all avenues that Aquent Gymnasium explores. It is considered the top free, online-only, open-course model for this type of skill. It also helps to find jobs in these fields through use of the career search feature on the website’s main page. We included this company on our list since computer coding and technological advancement is proving to be the fastest-growing industry.
Courses offered:
The classes offered by Aquent Gymnasium run the gamut of computer design and innovation. Some examples are Information Design and Visualization Fundamentals, Writing for Web & Mobile, Responsive Web Design Fundamentals, and JavaScript & JQuery Survival Guide. Courses are usually about six hours long although they do offer shorter alternatives they call "Gym Shorts." These are mini versions of some of their more extended classes, and each takes under an hour to complete. Industry experts teach all courses.
Level of knowledge required:
Each course lists the appropriate education and/or experience requirements. This makes it easy to find the lessons that will give you the most benefit. Within each session are also computer requirements that must be mastered, which makes sense since it is about computer design and coding. We found this classification system the best out of all the companies we researched.
Certificate awarded:
If you complete the class and pass the exam, you get a certification of completion. This is a digital copy that can be downloaded and printed, or you can link it to your online resume or profile.
User reviews and feedback:
People who have taken these courses all have positive reviews posted. Most found the work to be relevant, enlightening and helpful in furthering career aspirations. Some indicated they took the classes to brush up on skills that haven't been used in a while. The certificate is also mentioned as an asset when building a resume and trying to find work in the freelance programming field. Since the school has such a high reputation in the computer design community, we didn't come across any negative experiences.
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Company reputation:
Brentwood Open Learning College is another institution based out of the United Kingdom. It offers a large variety of free online classes across all significant disciplines from business to academics. Their courses are self-paced and can be accessed at any time from anywhere. You don't have to be based in Europe for these skills to enhance your resume; they are relevant in any country around the world. Brentwood Open Learning Center also offers accredited courses which you can pay to take if you want to earn college credit. They provide numerous accredited career paths.
Courses offered:
Brentwood Open Learning College provides an excellent variety of fields of study. Some of the classes offered are Business Management Short Course, How to Start and Run an Online Business Short Course, Internet Marketing Short Course and Supply Chain Management Short Course. Upon further review, all free classes are denoted with the classification "Short Course." These are all offered as full courses as well and confer college credit upon payment of fees.
Level of knowledge required:
Each short course denotes the suggested level of expertise. We found that most of the classes could be described as fundamental and could be most beneficial for those looking to refresh a skill not used or add something new to a resume.
Certificate awarded:
You can get an achievement certificate which indicates you've completed and passed the course. Each course is a minimum of five hours and has an exam.
User reviews and feedback:
People who chose Brentwood Open Learning College seemed to enjoy the classes. The material was easy to understand and the certificate helped to raise their profiles at work or on a resume. The drawbacks are that the classes are limited and somewhat basic. Some users asked for more challenging coursework and were never answered. Instructors are not available at any time unless you pay for the full college course.
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Buyer's Guide
The above list was designed to help you navigate some pretty convoluted and misleading online options. If you search for the term "free online courses with a certificate of completion," you will wind up with many search results that don't fall within those parameters. Many open-source programs such as the ones mentioned in the introductory information do indicate that the courses are free, and they are. However, if you want to get a valid certificate of completion, you have to pay for it. We also found articles claiming to list free courses with certificates, but these articles appear to be outdated as some of the examples they listed charge fees. When trying to improve your skills to improve your life, many viable online options can help.
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