Most popular online courses of 2020
This year may have been a nightmare in most ways, but 2020 has been a banner year for online education. Besides millions of students around the world being forced to study remotely, huge numbers of adults have found themselves stuck at home with time on their hands. No wonder online courses have been so popular this year.
Class Central, a clearinghouse for information on online courses, saw traffic double since the pandemic began. Which classes are all these new students flocking to?
Class Central just released a roundup of the most popular courses of the year. As you’d expect, the complete list of 100 includes lots of courses on Covid-19 topics like contact tracing and moving lessons online. But it also contained some gems well suited to entrepreneurs and other professionals looking to expand their skills and improve their lives in 2021:
How to Learn Online from edX. “Learn essential strategies for successful online learning.”
Excel/VBA for Creative Problem Solving, Part 1 from University of Colorado Boulder. This course is “aimed at learners who are seeking to augment, expand, optimize and increase the efficiency of their Excel spreadsheet skills by tapping into the powerful programming, automation and customization capabilities available with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).”
Crash Course on Python from Google. “This course is designed to teach you the foundations in order to write simple programs in Python using the most common structures.”
Finding Purpose and Meaning In Life: Living for What Matters Most from University of Michigan. The course title pretty much says everything you need to know.
Everyday Excel, Part 1 from University of Colorado Boulder. A more basic Excel class for “learners who are seeking to learn Excel from the ground up.”
Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles from Harvard University. “Mobilize people to tackle tough problems and build the capacity to thrive through the dangers of change.”
Introduction to Business Management from King’s College London. “Discover how to manage people, money and information, and gain confidence and insight into your own management style.”
Computer Programming for Everyone from University of Leeds. “Discover the art of computer programming and learn what code can do.”
Data Analytics for Decision Making: An Introduction to Using Excel from Bond University. Another opportunity to become an Excel master. “It’s not enough to gather information; to stand out you must know how to use data to improve real-life decisions,” insists the course description.
AI for Everyone: Master the Basics from IBM. “Learn what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is by understanding its applications and key concepts, including machine learning, deep learning and neural networks.”
Introduction to Social Media Marketing from Facebook. “This course lays the foundation of social media marketing.”
Introduction to Data Science from IBM. “Learn about the world of data science firsthand from real data scientists.”
Learn to Code for the Web from University of Leeds. “Ever wondered what’s behind your favorite websites and apps? Get to grips with the basics of coding in HTML, CSS and Java Script.”
Understanding Medical Research: Your Facebook Friend is Wrong from Yale University. A timely one that answers an important question: “How can you tell if the bold headlines seen on social media are truly touting the next big thing or if the article isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on?”
Write Your First Novel from Michigan State University. In case you want to unleash your inner author in 2021.
Resilience Skills in a Time of Uncertainty from University of Pennsylvania. Another timely offering.