9 Free Online Business Courses to Take for Fun While in Community College

by Chad Agrawal

Free Online Course for community collegeIf you made the decision to attend a community college for a year or two, you made a smart decision. Community college is an excellent way to obtain an excellent education at a low price. These days, you can easily sharpen your business skills when you are in community college with many free, online courses. These classes will help to improve your math, writing, communication and analytical skills while you are in school, and at little to no extra cost.

Some of the most recommended free, online business classes include:

1. Networks: Friends, Money and Bytes - Coursera - If you use a computer, smart phone or tablet, you use technology in all kinds of ways that most of us take for granted. This unusual business technology class will answer these questions: How does Google sell its ad spaces? How does Google rank web pages? How does Netflix recommend movies? When can I trust an average rating on Amazon? How and why does Wikipedia work? How can Skype be free?

2. Think Again: How to Reason and Argue - Coursera - Reasoning is of critical importance in business, play, in our relationships and life in general. This class will teach you how to reason clearly and logically. You will discover some very simple rules that you need to follow when you are considering any topic. You also will discover some of the most basic flaws that you can make in your reasoning. The class will show you how to identify, analyze and evaluate complex arguments in business, politics and education.

3. Gamification - Coursera - This free business class shows you how to apply digital game design methods to non-game issues, such as business and social impact problems. This course will demonstrate how effective games leverage psychology and technology in innovative ways that you can apply outside of the gaming world itself. The concept of gamification is being applied each day to areas including productivity, sustainability, training, innovation and customer service.

4. The Art and Science of Negotiation - MITOpenCourseware - This free class will show you how to effectively bargain and negotiate in public, business and legal environments. It has a hands-on skill-building orientation aspect and also a component on pertinent social theory. The class examines strategy, communications, ethics and institutional influence and how they affect your ability to solve problems through negotiations.

5. Introduction to Lean Six Sigma Methods - MITOpenCourseware - This class will introduce you to the key Lean Six Sigma concepts that undergird contemporary continuous improvement methods for government, industry and other organizations. Lean first came out of the automobile industry in Japan and is focused constantly on eliminating waste in business processes. Six Sigma was developed first at Motorola and is focused on eliminating variation from processes.

6. Development of Inventions and Creative Ideas - MITOpenCourseware - This free class will discuss the role of engineers as patent experts and as technical witnesses in court. The program will talk about the rights and the obligations of engineering professionals related to educational organizations, government and large and small businesses.

7. Managing Relationships - Open University - This free program delves into the complex world of fundraising for organizations. After you take this class, you will have a better understanding of the issues that surround fundraising and the most common problems that you organization will face in winning resources. You also will learn about how the activities that are related to winning financial resources and support fit into your company.

8. Managerial Communication - Education-Portal - This business class will discuss the important role of communication in effective management. The class points out that as much as 90% of your work time as a manager will be spent communicating with your employees, bosses, and customers. It also will give you important strategies to improve your communication skills as a manager with all types of stakeholders.

9. Management Skills and Leadership Training - Master Class Management - This free course will explain to you why the most successful managers are strong leaders. You also will discover many tips, tricks and strategies to be successful in management and leadership. Learn how to create a strong team, and also how to motivate your team effectively but professionally.

If you take a few of these free business classes, you will become a better-rounded business student as you pursue your career goals at your community college and then transfer to university. Check out this community college guide to learn more about transferring to Ivy League & Tier 1 universities.

Reference:

This post was written by Chad Agrawal

Chad Agrawal is the founder of CCTS, helping students transfer from community college to Ivy League, tier 1 or anywhere else by following this community college guide.

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Isabell February 21, 2013 at 2:47 am

You really hit hit the spot there with a great write-up with a handful of terrific information and facts

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Shirley February 26, 2013 at 11:21 pm

Excellent post! We will be linking to this great content on our site. Keep up the great writing.

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Cathy Roche June 10, 2013 at 11:36 am

Very informative, Chad. Keep up the good work.

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