10 Free Online Courses for Adults
We’ve selected 10 free online courses for adults that can help you grow professionally and, at the same time, improve the quality of your personal life. Some of the learning courses and topics covered include developing true influence with the people around you, demonstrating a positive attitude, overcoming anxiety and depression, and more. Explore each course in detail below.
Online Courses For Adults #1 - True Influence
Living in a more connected and complex world, more organizations are now embracing a diverse workforce for them to continue thriving. With EdApp's True Influence - Developing Enduring Impact microlearning course, you'll discover how to collaborate effectively with a diverse team and truly influence them to go above and beyond their limits. This course introduces the concept of true influence, as well as the criteria that characterize this trait. It will also explore the 5Cs of True Influence—Credibility, Connections, Concern, Creativity, and Constructiveness—which are essential for having successful, long-lasting relationships and driving ethical influences on people from different cultures.
For this course, expect a total of six lessons, structured into micro modules so that they’re easier to comprehend. Perfect for every busy individual, completing this course will only take a few minutes, not hours or days. Trainers can also track each learners' progress through EdApp's learning management system.
Cost: Free
Scope: The concept of True Influence, the 5C’s of True Influence and how to develop them
Created by EdApp
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Online Courses For Adults #2 - Helping Others to Develop
As an active team player, it’s not enough to simply improve your own skills and talents to do well in your team. Helping your colleagues to also grow and expand their capabilities can help set the entire organization for greater, long-term success, rather than simply focusing on your own improvement. EdApp’s Helping Others to Develop course highlights the what’s, why’s, and how’s of helping other people, and how you can motivate them to become stronger and more passionate members of your team. This course will guide you on how to give developmental feedback and feedforward using the S.T.A.R.S technique—Situation/Time, Action, Result, and Suggestions. It will also introduce you to the 4D model, or the four steps of leading a creative and inspiring conversation.
This free online course for adults is self-paced and can be taken anytime and anywhere using your laptop, tablet, or mobile device.
Cost: Free
Scope: How to help others to develop, giving developmental feedback and feedwork, S.T.A.R.S technique, the 4D model for developmental conversation
Created by EdApp
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Online Courses For Adults #3 - How to Demonstrate a 'Can Do' Attitude
Maintaining a can-do attitude at work will not only help you perform better on your job, but it will also motivate everyone on your team to take on any complicated scenario with passion, discipline, and enthusiasm. In this EdApp course, you will gain a deeper understanding of the 'Can Do' attitude, alongside life lessons and practices to live by to keep your thoughts and spirits positive all the time. As you go through the course, you will also learn how to approach complex and ambiguous problems, and overcome frustrations before they affect your emotions and decisions. This mini training was designed with a lot of engaging elements such as gifs, animations, and short clips that will help you further understand the fundamentals of the can-do attitude. It also contains gamified quizzes between lessons to improve your learning retention.
Cost: Free
Scope: Introduction to ‘Can Do’ Attitude, tackling ambiguous problems, diffusing frustration, positive can-do practices
Created by EdApp
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Online Courses For Adults #4 - Integrating Care: Depression, Anxiety and Physical Illness
This FutureLearn course explores the relationship between depression, anxiety, and physical illness, and why having an in-depth understanding of this connection matters in your everyday life. Here, you’ll learn more about the key risk factors, signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety, and where you can find the right help to manage and overcome them before they lead to suicide risk. It also explores different self-care techniques, treatment options like talking therapies and medication, and sources of support for depression and anxiety.
The lessons in this course are split into weeks of lectures, assignements, and activities, which you can take as quickly or slowly as you like.
Cost: Free for only 5 weeks; upgrade to $89 USD for unlimited access
Scope: Connection between depression, anxiety, and physical illness and their impact to the quality of life, key risk factors, signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety, treatment options, self-care techniques and support
Created by FutureLearn
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Online Courses For Adults #5 - Practical Stress Management for Life & Work
Alison’s course on Practical Stress Management for Life & Work is focused on helping adults manage stress positively, both in personal and professional settings. In this course, you’ll find an introductory discussion about stress, including its symptoms and causes, and how it affects your daily performance and lifestyle. It also lists down a wide range of practical stress management tips and strategies, which you can adopt to effectively reduce and manage your personal and work stress.
This course wraps up with a course assessment to check your overall blended learning progress. Once you enroll and pass the test, you may opt for a paid certificate, which you can include in your CV or job applications.
Cost: Free
Scope: Introduction to stress, symptoms and causes of stress, practical stress management tips and strategies
Created by Alison
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Online Courses For Adults #6 - Stepping into Team Leadership
Available in EdApp's course catalog, Stepping into Team Leadership aims to help improve the skills and confidence of adults aspiring to become team leaders or managers. This 4-part course illustrates the expectations of a team leader to prepare them for the role. It then demonstrates the relevance of scoping work and setting expectations. It also includes best practices on team time management and communication with teams. By stepping into a new role with the right knowledge, you’re able to successfully set goals and perform your role as a driving force among your team and inspire them as a leader.
Cost: Free
Scope: Expectations of a team leader, scoping work and setting expectations, team time management, communication with teams
Created by EdApp
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Online Courses For Adults #7 - Productivity Masterclass
If you’re aiming to boost your personal and professional productivity, to no longer procrastinate, and enhance the way you manage your everyday life, then you’re at the right place. This SkillShare course touches on the productivity equation and how you can optimize and apply them into practice. It will also walk you through the common myths and issues hindering productivity, and the key laws that you can usefully adapt, so you can work towards living a happier, healthier life. This course comes with a series of pre-recorded video learning lessons that last over an hour. At the end of each video clip, there will be quick coursework activities and practices that will help you further understand the fundamental concepts of productivity.
Cost: Free for only 7 days
Scope: The productivity equation, myths and laws surrounding productivity
Created by SkillShare
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Online Courses For Adults #8 - How To Create A Productivity System
Highbrow's How To Create A Productivity System online-learning course is also a great resource for better time management and getting more done with less stress. In this course, you can start learning how to create a productivity system, like setting your goals, arranging and organizing tasks, prioritizing work, and planning your time to combat procrastination. This course will also guide you step-by-step on using different tools and apps to help you manage your time more efficiently and effectively.
Not your usual online elearning course, Highbrow’s lessons will be sent to your inbox one by one, every morning for 10 days.All of the course materials are also followed by fun quizzes, which will only take at least 5 minutes to complete.
Cost: Free for only 30 days
Scope: Productivity system, goal setting, setting up and organizing tasks, prioritizing work, planning your time, tools and apps for better productivity
Created by Highbrow
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Online Courses For Adults #9 - Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Personal & Professional Productivity
This free online course for adults is designed by University of California, Irvine, and deployed through Coursera. It explores the various hindrances to effective time management and how to overcome them through proper time and work planning, prioritizing tasks, and mapping progress. It also discusses and debunks the myth of multitasking through an easy-to-understand example of how assembly lines work vs. the old way of assembling products. It also tackles how time tracking can help in maintaining a work/life balance. This course takes some time to complete which is around 10 hours and you’ll need the paid subscription to earn a certificate.
Cost: Free
Scope: Time planning, hindrances to effective time management, time and work planning, prioritizing tasks, mapping progress, the myths of multitasking, time tracking
Created by Coursera
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Online Courses For Adults #10 - The Ultimate Guide to Personal Productivity
We all aspire to become the best version of ourselves so we can work towards our goals and accomplish even more. But where do we begin? This free online course for adults by EdApp teaches us that productivity starts by recognizing our personal work style and habits and using them to our advantage. This interactive course also puts importance in developing your time management skills and paying attention to detail, which helps you identify the techniques you should use to help get more things done.
This free course contains 3 lessons and uses a microlearning design model that ensures learner engagement so it’s guaranteed to be easy to follow and finish.
Cost: Free
Scope: Personal work productivity, style and habits and how to use them to your advantage
Created by EdApp
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