Growing your career skills or learning how to end bad habits that affect how you spend your time can enrich your future and open doors to new opportunities. There are many online schools that offer courses to supplement your knowledge, especially if you want to improve certain skills as an adult who works full time. However, these courses can be costly and come with additional fees that can make online learning too expensive. If you are looking for an alternative, Udemy may be the answer. This website offers a variety of free and low-low cost learning programs, and we have gathered the top ten free Udemy courses to help you choose the best path toward improving your career and life skills.
How We Chose Our Ratings
In compiling our list, we looked over several factors, as it is our desire to offer you as much unbiased information about Udemy’s free courses as possible. We included ratings from those who have used the programs, what people are saying about the website’s brand, usability, convenience and their overall experience in regard to the courses they took. After gathering all relevant data, we grade each factor to give each course its overall score. We understand that in choosing a free Udemy course, you are committing to the time and focus your program will require, so we believe it is important to include as much relevant data as possible when it comes to creating our ratings.
Top 10 Best No-Cost Udemy Courses
If you are ready to start choosing from Udemy’s wide variety of free courses, we have ranked our top 10 choices below and reveal why we believe they are well worth looking into. While your core focus will likely be the main factor in the courses you choose, our list may help you decide which ones align with your goals.
If you want to learn how to create amazing graphics and GIFs or how to manipulate existing photos for your blog or design business, this course might be a fine option for you. All you need is a computer and the software, and Udemy provides the rest. This is also a suitable course for beginners who want to learn Photoshop beyond simply resizing or changing the color scale of their graphics. Individuals who used this course enjoyed its simplicity and step-by-step instructions for each tool used. Those who had never used Photoshop in the past found the course highly informative, especially when it came to learning by example.
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Creating a WordPress site can help almost any entrepreneur introduce and market his or her business without the use of HTML or coding. The website’s program allows for easy-to-insert plugins, photos and other interactive media. However, knowing only the basics may not give you the clout you need to stand out among your online competitors. This course will teach you WordPress from A-Z, including how to start from scratch and use all the tools the software offers. We give this course high marks because it is suitable for beginners or for those who have tried to use WordPress in the past but experienced limited success. Some students said that they were able to build a useful and fully-functional website after completing this course.
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Whether you want to write for a living or find yourself struggling with writing courses in high school or college, this program can give you the tools you need to become a better writer. During the course, you will learn the basics of how to form an essay, how to develop a thesis and how to organize your ideas in a way that can help make your writing clear. The course also helps you become adept at self-editing so you catch more spelling and grammar mistakes as you craft your essay. Students who learned English as a second language found this course quite helpful; however, it is recommended that you pass the International English Language Testing System with a 6.0 or above before you enroll in this program.
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If you feel like you could get a lot more done during the day if you stopped procrastinating, then this course may be right up your alley. All you need is an open mind and the desire to quit putting off important tasks. This course may be especially helpful if your job tasks have set deadlines and you want to complete them with more efficiency. You will learn why most people procrastinate, how it affects them daily and what you can do to end your procrastinating habits. While most users found this course helpful, some felt that a few of the ideas presented were simply common-sense tactics and that they did not receive much new information, even if the pace of the program was satisfying.
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Owning a small business can be exciting; however, it is also usually fraught with legal red tape that might ensnare you when you least expect it. Learning about trademark laws and how to avoid mistakes in this area may help you avoid paying court and lawyer fees that can stem from accidental copyright infringement. In this course, you will learn the basics of copyright law, how to search for copyrighted material and corporate logos and be able to refer back to what you have learned when it applies to your business. The highlights of the course include its interactive style and how clearly the instructor lays out the material. A few reviews stated that some of the course’s ideas could have been explained in more detail, especially in the case of how and when to hire an attorney, but overall, we find this to be an excellent course for anyone who is ready to launch their own business.
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If you are struggling with algebra courses in college or want to brush up on the elementals of this type of math for your job, then Algebra Boot Camp may help you enhance your skills. You will learn to approach learning algebra as a language, not a mathematical process, how to use the symbols and how to increase your overall confidence when approaching the problem-solving process. We liked how the instructor broke down the problems and discussed each idea carefully before giving examples we could follow along with. While we do recommend this course, many users found it more useful for beginners and not for those who already understand the basic concept of algebra.
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If you are a manager, then one issue you might face daily is how to get your team members to cooperate and understand each other. While teambuilding can be challenging, this course can make it easier for you by teaching you about what drives your team members’ motivation, what to focus on, how to improve team dynamics and how to improve your team’s relations to create a more diverse and effective group. You can take this course individually or as a team, and all you need is a computer or other device to access the classes. Users appreciated the simplicity of this course, although a few felt that it only skimmed the surface of what truly drives a successful team.
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Many individuals are forsaking everyday jobs and making the best use of their talents in the freelancing world. While this is not a simple endeavor to break into, the rewards can be well worth the effort. This course provides you with the basics of freelancing, how to find clients and customers, how to create different payment options, such as direct deposit and PayPal, and points on how to market your new business. Many users found the teacher’s lectures enjoyable and packed with information despite their briefness. If you are ready to take the plunge as a freelancer, this may be the ideal free Udemy course for you.
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This course might be helpful if you are planning to change jobs or add supplemental income to your budget by working in the real estate sector part time. This program offers information about the licensing exam, how to choose a broker and the basics of how to break into the world of real estate. Many students appreciated how concise the information is and that they were able to learn a great deal from the tips and advice offers, especially for those who are new to the field.
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If you work in the database field and want to start creating your own, then this course may help supplement what you already know. It is geared toward beginners who want to learn more about Structured Query Language and who want to create and manipulate databases. In this course, you will learn how to build, organize and delete database information, how to query your data and how SQL relates to different data systems. It is not meant for those who already know how to program databases, and some felt the lectures could have benefitted with some examples of SQL in use.
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Buyer’s Guide
By now, you may be familiar with some of the best free Udemy courses available and how they might help you enhance your job and personal skills. However, you may not be sure which best suit your needs, especially when the site offers such a wide variety of programs. If you are ready to choose a few courses, here are a few factors that may help you decide.
Simplicity
If you are ready to launch a business, start a college course or change your career path, it may be helpful to browse Udemy and find some beginner’s classes. Programs that lay out the basics can give you the confidence you need to create a solid foundation for future learning. For example, if you want to build your own business blog, consider a 101 or introduction to blogging so you can learn the steps to creating a successful site. A free program like this can complement a paid course that gives you a more in-depth look into how to create content that gets you noticed.
Course Content
Since all of the above programs are free, it can be challenging to choose ones that give you the most information for your money. However, you can narrow down your choices by replacing affordability with how much content you will get for your time. For example, if you have a tight schedule but want to improve your accounting skills, look for classes that fit in a wealth of information into four or five minutes per topic. This can help you learn as much as possible about a given topic without spending weeks watching the lessons.
Ease of Curriculum
It is wise to review the curriculum of each course before you choose so you do not waste time with topics or issues you have already mastered. For example, if you are an experienced content writer and want to find a course that helps you clarify your writing, you may want to choose a blog program instead of one that simply helps you brush up on grammar or spelling skills. The more you know about a course, the less disappointed you might be when you discover the program is too simple for your level of skill.
Ease of Curriculum
It is wise to review the curriculum of each course before you choose so you do not waste time with topics or issues you have already mastered. For example, if you are an experienced content writer and want to find a course that helps you clarify your writing, you may want to choose a blog program instead of one that simply helps you brush up on grammar or spelling skills. The more you know about a course, the less disappointed you might be when you discover the program is too simple for your level of skill.
Supplemental Resources
Not all free Udemy courses are the same, and while most might offer on-demand learning, some come with a variety of supplemental resources that can enhance your learning experience. These might include articles, graphs or bonus lectures. These resources might help give you clarity on some ideas that were not completely clear or help you think of the content in a new or different light. As you browse the courses, note those that include more than a few resources.
Our Final Thoughts on Udemy’s Free Courses
We understand that your learning needs are unique. However, we hope the information provided here will help you choose the right free Udemy courses to suit your career or personal goals. As you choose classes, it is helpful to gauge how much time and effort you can put toward each and consider which are best suited for your learning speed. In the end, it is your desire to learn that will put you on the best path to success.
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