Although you’ll be absorbing a lot of new information during your time at University and at this time of year I’m sure your head feels like its going to explode with revision, but when you do have some free time why not expand your skill set further. This is great for both padding out your CV, as well as making you a more rounded and interesting individual and to stop yourself going out all the time?! You can learn to do pretty much anything online for free these days, but here’s a pick of some of our favourites.
Coding
An invaluable skill for the digital world that we now live in. Even if you’re not a computer geek, you can easily pick up some basics.
Codecademy https://www.codecademy.com/ is one of the most popular free online courses. Or if you still feel a little nervous try some coding games designed for kids, although nothing beats the good old days of gaming on Miniclip.
https://educators.brainpop.com/2014/09/26/6-free-games-teaching-computer-programming-kids/ How can it be scary when there’s a puppy involved?
Learn a Language
If you didn’t pick to study a language at school or university, but you are now regretting it, do not fear here is your chance!
Duolingo https://www.duolingo.com/ is a free website and app that will make learning super fun. Just think how useful some Spanish could be when you’re interrailing or travelling around South America! Businesses also love it if you have a second language, gives you that edge.
Dapple in Philosophy
For fancy dinner table chat to make yourself sound a bit more intelligent, even if you don’t know what you’re on about.. check out Academic Earth where you can take a General Philosophy module from Oxford University for free. No lengthy UCAS applications necessary or all the hours of studying to even get into Oxford University. http://academicearth.org/universities/university-of-oxford/
Product Design/UX
Google offer a great online course with contributions from some industry leaders. Definitely worth taking the time out to have a go at, you may end up building something incredible…you could become the next Steve Jobs
https://www.open2study.com/courses/writing-for-the-web
Also check out ‘How to Start a Start Up’ if you want to hone your entrepreneurial flair and make your millions http://startupclass.samaltman.com/
Stand Up Comedy
If you want to develop your comedic skills, John Roy offers a free course through his Tumblr blog, which includes YouTube videos and homework assignments. Comedy homework sounds a lot more enticing than additional reading!
http://johnroycomic.tumblr.com/post/42952190250/my-entirely-free-comedy-class-week-one
Social Media
Buffer offer a super neat free course that packs just 2 minutes of Social Media knowledge into a simple video directly to you every day for a week. An easy way to become educated in the basics of Social Media. Great for budding marketers or entrepreneurs as if you aren’t in the know about Social Media then you need to catch up! https://buffer.com/email-courses/social-media-101
Write copy for the web
If you love to write and want to learn more about it, Open 2 Study have a course that is really great for refining your online writing skills, covering everything from SEO (search engine optimisation for those of you in the dark ages) to web design. https://www.open2study.com/courses/writing-for-the-web
If you’re still stuck for ideas have a browse through Coursera https://www.coursera.org/ who offer free online courses from leading Uni’s for everything from Photography to Data Science. Happy Learning!