These free online courses provide you with an affordable and flexible way to learn new skills and new emerging topics. You get to learn from Havard professors and industry experts. All courses are self paced, offered in english and fully free.
1. Resilient Leadership(Free)
In this two-part lesson, you’ll gain insight into leading through adversity through the example of explorer Ernest Shackleton and his historic Endurance expedition. You explore how Shackleton and his crew survived a life-threatening crisis in Antartica by focusing on engagement, positivity, and teamwork. You will also gain leadership insights you can apply to your work.
2. Negotiating Salary(Free)
In this free, 15-minute, Harvard Business School (HBS) Online lesson, you’ll learn how to be a more effective negotiator and improve your bargaining skills through a deal between former professional hockey player Derek Sanderson and the World Hockey Association. You will hone your negotiation skills by looking at the story of Derek Sanderson, former center for the Boston Bruins.
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3. Understanding Customer Needs(Free)
In this free, 15-minute Harvard Business School (HBS) Online lesson, you’ll learn how to identify customer needs through Clayton Christensen’s famed Jobs to be Done theory and CVS Pharmacy’s MinuteClinic. You’ll discover how to build new capabilities within your organization and adapt to meet changing customer needs. And understand why customers make certain purchases, and how you can create products and services that solve the issues they’re trying to address
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4. Strategic Fundraising for Nonprofit Leaders(Free)
Arthur C. Brooks, the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, discusses fundraising and development in this webinar recording, originally hosted by HKS Executive Education. You will learn most effective methods that nonprofit leaders at all levels of experience can start to implement in their own work.
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5. Investing in Private Equity (Free)
In this free, two-part 40-minute Harvard Business School (HBS) Online lesson, you’ll explore how private equity investing is evolving and different approaches for entering this growing alternative investment space through the example of Denmark’s largest private pension fund, PFA Pension. This course will help you understand direct investing and co-investing, and how the private equity landscape is changing.
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5. CS50’s Introduction to Game Development (Free)
In a quest to understand how video games themselves are implemented, you’ll explore the design of such childhood games as: Super Mario Bros., Pong, Flappy Bird, Breakout, Match 3, Legend of Zelda, Angry Birds, Pokémon, 3D Helicopter Game, Dreadhalls, and Portal.
Via lectures and hands-on projects, the course explores principles of 2D and 3D graphics, animation, sound, and collision detection using frameworks like Unity and LÖVE 2D, as well as languages like Lua and C#. By class’s end, you’ll have programmed several of your own games and gained a thorough understanding of the basics of game design and development. You’ll learn principles of 2D and 3D graphics, animation, sound, collision detection, unity, and LÖVE 2D
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6. CS50’s Introduction to Programming with Scratch (Free)
An introduction to programming using Scratch, a visual programming language via which aspiring programmers can write code by dragging and dropping graphical blocks (that resemble puzzle pieces) instead of typing out text. Used at the start of Harvard College’s introductory course in computer science, CS50, Scratch was designed at MIT’s Media Lab, empowering students with no prior programming experience to design their own animations, games, interactive art, and stories. Using Scratch, this course introduces students to fundamentals of programming, found not only in Scratch itself but in traditional text-based languages (like Java and Python) as well. Topics include: functions, which are instructions that perform tasks; return values, which are results that functions provide; conditions, via which programs can decide whether or not to perform some action; loops, via which programs can take action again and again; variables, via which programs can remember information; and more. Ultimately, this course prepares students for subsequent courses in programming. You will be introduced to functions, events, values, conditions, loops, and variables.
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7. CS50: Introduction to Computer Science (Free)
This is CS50x , Harvard University’s introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming for majors and non-majors alike, with or without prior programming experience. An entry-level course taught by David J. Malan, CS50x teaches students how to think algorithmically and solve problems efficiently. Topics include abstraction, algorithms, data structures, encapsulation, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development. Languages include C, Python, SQL, and JavaScript plus CSS and HTML. Problem sets inspired by real-world domains of biology, cryptography, finance, forensics, and gaming. The on-campus version of CS50x , CS50, is Harvard’s largest course.
Students who earn a satisfactory score on 9 problem sets (i.e., programming assignments) and a final project are eligible for a certificate. This is a self-paced course–you may take CS50x on your own schedule.
You will be equiped with a broad and robust understanding of computer science and programming. How to think algorithmically and solve programming problems efficiently. Concepts like abstraction, algorithms, data structures, encapsulation, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development Familiarity with a number of languages, including C, Python, SQL, and JavaScript plus CSS and HTML. How to engage with a vibrant community of like-minded learners from all levels of experience. And, how to develop and present a final programming project to your peers.
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8. High-Dimensional Data Analysis (Free)
If you’re interested in data analysis and interpretation, then this is the data science course for you. We start by learning the mathematical definition of distance and use this to motivate the use of the singular value decomposition (SVD) for dimension reduction and multi-dimensional scaling and its connection to principal component analysis. We will learn about the batch effect: the most challenging data analytical problem in genomics today and describe how the techniques can be used to detect and adjust for batch effects. Specifically, we will describe the principal component analysis and factor analysis and demonstrate how these concepts are applied to data visualization and data analysis of high-throughput experimental data.
Finally, we give a brief introduction to machine learning and apply it to high-throughput data. We describe the general idea behind clustering analysis and descript K-means and hierarchical clustering and demonstrate how these are used in genomics and describe prediction algorithms such as k-nearest neighbors along with the concepts of training sets, test sets, error rates, and cross-validation.
9. Introduction to Data Wise: A Collaborative Process to Improve Learning & Teaching.
Educators have an ever-increasing stream of data at their fingertips, but knowing how to use this data to improve learning and teaching how to make it less overwhelming, more useful, and part of an effective collaborative process can be challenging.
Based on the book Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning, this course describes a clear, 8-step process for using a wide range of data sources to improve instruction. You will see what this disciplined way of working with colleagues can look and feel like in a school setting. You will also have the opportunity to share insights and experiences about school improvement with educators from around the world. Introduction to Data Wise is open to all, but is especially valuable for teachers and school and district leaders, as well as policymakers, and educational entrepreneurs who are dedicated to improving outcomes for students. There are several ways you could take this course:
Participate on your own. Enroll with a few colleagues as part of a study group. Formally integrate it into professional development in your workplace. It is a self-paced course that can be taken at any time. You can go through the essential materials in a day or take several weeks to allow for reflection. There will be one month of active course facilitation, which will include discussion board moderation, office hours, and other live events.
This course provides an introduction to a rich portfolio of books, resources, training, and support developed by the Data Wise Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The Data Wise Project works in partnership with teachers and school and system leaders to develop and field-test resources that support collaborative school improvement. We encourage you to explore these resources as you chart a course for using data to improve learning and teaching for all students.
HarvardX pursues the science of learning. By registering as an online learner in an HX course, you will also participate in research about learning.
10. New Ideas for Nonprofit Leaders Webinar
The “New Ideas for Nonprofit Leaders” webinar features a presentation from Arthur Brooks, professor of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and professor of management practice at the Harvard Business School. Explore cutting-edge concepts from Professor Brooks that tie tactics of the most effective nonprofit leaders back to the basics of human connection.
Bonus
Crisis Management: Adaptive Recovery, Resiliency, and Moving Forward Webinar
The Crisis Management: Adaptive Recovery, Resiliency, and Moving Forward webinar features a presentation from Harvard Kennedy School Professor Juliette Kayyem. This free webinar relates to concepts covered in the Leadership in Crises: Preparation and Performance executive program. To gain more insights into how to prepare for and respond to crises more effectively, consider applying for the executive program today.
You can find many more courses on the Harvard Website
Limitless Motivation 