Free Online Classes, Courses, and Learning Resources

To keep you busy during the quarantine, we’ve gathered a list of free online classes, eBooks, learning tools, and things to do.

As many of us settle into mandatory quarantine or are embracing responsible self-isolation, the question of ‘what should I do with all this time?’ is on many of our minds. Although there seem there are fewer options available, there are countless free online courses and learning resources at our fingertips.

We’ve gathered this list of available online resources to help our community through these times. Hopefully, when this is all over, we can feel proud of how we took advantage of this time at home.

The list below is meant to be a starting point. Some of the resources are for professional development, others for fun to keep you entertained. If you have any resources you’d like to share please let us know at team@dynamitejobs.co.

By the end of this quarantine, hopefully, we’ll have learned some new skills, gained new interests, and perhaps know some new card games.

If you’re looking for resources specifically for students who are not in school we recommend this guide: Amazing Educational Resources.

Not all of the resources are 100% free. Many are, but others offer free trials.

Included here are resources for:

• Platforms to Browse
• Resources from Your Local Library
• University and Professional Courses
• Business and Professional Skills Development
• Coding / Programming Courses
• Books and Audiobooks
• Crafts, DIY, and Home Projects
• Learn a New Language
• Learn a New Game
• Culture, History, and Science
• Learn a New Instrument
• Exercise Classes
• Streaming Services

Platforms to Browse

Looking for ideas for projects, hobbies, or things to learn? Browse through these resources to get started:

Skillshare – 2-month free trial
YouTube Learning Channel – Free
Take Lessons  – Free YouTube Channel
WikiHow – Free
Howcast– Free
eHow – Free
HowStuffWorks – Free

Resources from Your Local Library

Most likely your local library does not just offer in-person resources. Many libraries have extensive online content and partnerships with other platforms. To find out what’s available, check out your local library’s website.

If you’re not a library member or if your local library has limited resources, check out this list of non-resident library cards.

These are some examples of partnerships that many libraries have established:
Overdrive – Ebooks and audiobooks
Hoopla – Movies, music, and ebooks
Mango Languages – Language Learning
RB Digital – Magazines and Newspapers
Creativebug – Craft lessons

University and Professional Courses

These platforms feature a variety of subjects and courses, many of which are from accredited universities. The websites are either completely free or have free courses with an option to pay for certifications.

edX – Free classes
OpenLearn – Free classes
MIT OpenCourseWare – Free
Khan Academy – Free classes
Oxford Home Study – Free classes
Academic Earth – Free classes
University of Edinburgh – Free short online classes
Coursera – Free and paid classes
Reed.co – Free and paid classes
Class Central – Free and paid classes
Harvard – Free and paid classes
Elektev – Find and compare online courses

Business and Professional Skills Development

These platforms mainly feature courses for career advancement and professional skill development.

Lynda – Variety of courses, 30-day trial,
ALISON – Variety of courses, Free
Hubspot’s Classes– Marketing, Free
ClickMinded YouTube Channel – Marketing, Free
Vimeo’s Video School – Multimedia production, Free
EDUCBA – Free Tutorials

These are stand-alone business courses currently available for free.

Remote Working: Setting Yourself and Your Teams Up for Success – From Linkedin Learning
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing – Google Learning
Blogging for Business – From Ahrefs
Start from Scratch course – From Pat Flynn of SPI
Build Your Own Brand course – From Pat Flynn of SPI
Go From 0 to 100 Email Subscribers in 3 Days course – From Pat Flynn of SPI

Free Coding / Programming Courses

These platforms offer self-guided courses and resources. They include both free and paid resources. Many are centered around coding. Some of the bigger educational platforms (i.e. Lynda, edX, ALISON) listed above also feature programming classes.

Khan Academy – Free
Free Code Camp – Free
W3Schools – Free
SkillCrush – Free and paid resources
Code.org – Free
Microsoft Learn – Free
Web Fundamentals by Google – Free
Android Development by Google – Free
Dash by General Assembly – Free intro course
OneMonth – 3-day trial
Codecademy – 7-day free trial
Pluralsight – 10-day free trial

Books and Audiobooks

Beyond the free books and audiobooks offered in-person and online from your local library, there are many platforms with free and discounted access to literature to expand your digital library.

Kindle Unlimited – Two-month free trial
Kindle Books – Many free ebooks
Audible – 30-day free trial
Scribd – 30-day free trial
Blinkist – 7-day free trial
Bookboon – 30-day free trial
Kobo – Free and discounted ebooks and audiobooks
BookBub – Free and discounted ebooks
Librivox – Free audiobooks in the public domain
ManyBooks – 100% free books. These are classics from Mark Twain, Jack London, H.G. Wells, Henry David Thoreau and many more.
Project Gutenberg – Over 60,000 free ebooks. Mostly literature with expired copyrights.

Crafts, DIY, and Home Projects

These websites are great to browse and give you ideas to spice up your home office, and fun projects to do with the family.

Instructables – Free
WikiHow – Free
HowStuffWorks – Free
DIY Science and Technology – Free

Learn a New Language

There are countless resources available to get you started with learning a new language. Depending on your preferred learning style, there are various options to help you.

Guided Courses through Online Platform and Apps
Mango – Free through many libraries
Duolingo – Free and paid versions
Busuu – Free
Babble – 20 Day Money-back guarantee

Instruction on YouTube
There are countless channels on YouTube devoted to language learning. Many teachers share classroom-style videos that help, with self-guided instructions, as well as ‘quick tip’ videos with fun animation. Here are some examples of where this can be found on YouTube:

Spanish – Butterfly Spanish
French – Learn French with Alexa
German – Get Germanized
Esperanto – The American Esperantist
American Sign Language – ASL Rochelle

Self-Learning
Here are some resources that let you explore language learning and begin to dabble on your own.

Fluent in 3 Months
Foreign Service Institute
Open Culture

Find Tutors
A step beyond learning on your own is actually talking with native speakers. These platforms connect you with tutors for one-on-one lessons, or other language learners to practice with.

Verbling – Free Trial
iTalki – Discounted Trial
LiveLingua – Free lesson
Tandem – Free and pro version
Conversation Exchange – Free
HelloTalk – Free

Learn a New Game

Who doesn’t like games? Games bring us together, challenge us, and are fun. Here are some resources to teach you games to play with friends and family.

Chess.com – Play online and learn strategies with chess.com
Playing Card Decks – Great resource for quickly browsing lots of different card games. Once you find a game of interest, sometimes it’s best to learn the games with a visual demonstration on YouTube.
GatherTogetherGames – This YouTube channel teaches common board games as well as card and hand-drawn games that can be done on the back of a napkin.
The Card Tricks – After playing with a deck of cards for a while you may want to try something new. This YouTube Channel teaches its viewers magic card tricks and better ways to shuffle cards.
Dice Game Depot – The good thing about dice games is that you usually don’t need more than some dice and a pen and paper.

Culture, History, and Science

Just because you may not be able to visit a museum doesn’t mean you can’t have access to their knowledge and exhibits. The resources below feature fun lessons and interactive tours in history, culture, science, and more.

CrashCourse YouTube Channel – Free
Open Culture – Free
TED-Ed – Free
Explore with Google – Free
The Great Courses Plus – 14-day free trial
Library of Congress – Various digital collections

Learn a New Instrument

There are countless resources online for learning a new instrument. Here is a small sample of what’s available. YouTube has many free videos and there are many online classes with free trials available. Not sure where to learn? Browse the lessons on Lynda.com.

Piano
Flowkey – Free Trial
PianoLessons.com – Free Beginner Course

Guitar
TrueFire – 30-day free trial
GuitarTricks – 14-day free trial

Voice Lessons
30 Day Singer – 14-day free trial

Exercise Classes

There are many exercise apps offering free trials and websites streaming free classes. Here are some suggestions to get started on your workout journey.

DailyBurn – 60-day free trial
Open Fit – 14-day free trial
ClassPass – 30-day free trial
Barre3 – 15-day free trial
Caliber – 14-day free trial
Orange Theory Fitness – Free on their YouTube Channel
Core Power Yoga – Free lessons on their website

Streaming Services

We can’t be studying all the time… right? In case you need a break and would like some downtime, here’s a list of the free trials being offered by some of the most popular streaming services.

Hulu – 30-day free trial
Netflix – 30-day free trial
Sundance Now – 30-day trial
YouTube Premium – 30-day free trial
Amazon Prime Video – 30-day free trial
Disney+ – 7-day trial
Apple TV – 7-day free trial
HBO Now – 7-day free trial
Showtime Anytime – 7-day free trial
CBS All Access – 7-day free trial
Sling TV – Free for many live channels

What do you think of the list? Are we missing anything? Let us know what you think and how you’re spending this extra time at home. Email us at team@dynamitejobs.co

Yours,

Dino the Dynamite Alpaca