This post may contain affiliate links and we may earn commissions. Learn more in our disclosure.
Top 10 Free Online Courses for Instructional Designers, E-learning Developers, and Course Creators
Course creators, instructional designers, and e-learning professionals are always in demand, but maintaining a competitive edge in this industry demands ongoing skill improvement. Even if premium courses have great resources, free online courses can give good learning chances that are suited to the demands of the business.
By making high-quality, easily accessible, and free courses available to people all over the world, online learning has completely transformed the environment for learning. With the growth of e-learning, platforms have enabled anybody to learn new things, expand their knowledge, and advance their career, all from the convenience of their own home.
This article will showcase the top ten free online courses for e-learning professionals that include important subjects including learner engagement strategies, multimedia development, and instructional design.
Table of Contents
1. Instructional Design and Technology: Learning Theories (EdX)
Offered by the University of Maryland.
Technology, digital media, and mobile access have transformed the way people learn. With access to digital information at any time and from any location, today’s students desire to be involved and self-directed.
There is an increased demand for individuals who can design and execute interesting, effective learning materials.
This course gives a basic overview of instructional design principles, with an emphasis on how to arrange learning experiences successfully. Participants investigate approaches such as ADDIE and create learning objectives that cater to a variety of audiences.
Why It is Relevant:
- Describes the foundations of developing effective training programs.
- Ideal for beginners wishing to get into e-learning.
- Courses are highly engaging and effective and are not generated by coincidence; they are created by instructional designers who follow a meticulous and methodical design process.
By the end of the course, learners will have the knowledge and skills to create their own learning solutions.
2. Learning to Teach Online (Coursera)
You will get a practical grasp of effective online teaching techniques that you can use in your own practice by completing the Learning to Teach Online (LTTO) MOOC. The multi-award-winning free educational resource created by Dr. Simon McIntyre and Karin Watson serves as the foundation for the course.
Online technology integration may be a daunting task, and it can be hard to know how to handle it in a way that would benefit both you and your students. The “one size fits all” approach doesn’t always work for everyone, and you are the only one who truly understands your own material and teaching skills.
Why It is Relevant:
This course will assist you in utilizing your teaching talents and identifying the best method for you, your students, and your educational setting, regardless of the kind of technology you are interested in using or your degree of expertise.
This course will walk you through the process of learning how to improve your course design using online technology.
You will get the chance to deepen your knowledge of successful online teaching strategies and how they relate to the usage of various technologies. If you decide to complete the course tasks, you will also be urged to gradually create and consider your own online learning exercise, test, or resource for use in your own class.
3. Gamification (Coursera)
Applying game components and digital game design approaches to non-gaming issues, such as commercial and social impact concerns, is known as gamification.
You will learn how gamification works, why it has so much potential, and how to apply it successfully to your course creation process.
4. E-Learning Ecologies: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning for the Digital Age (Coursera)
For more than three decades, educators and technologists have argued for technology’s revolutionary capacity in education. Despite the rhetoric, in many respects and at most institutional places, education remains essentially unaffected by technology.
Even when new technologies are implemented, the improvements might appear modest, with disappointing consequences. If a print textbook is replaced with an e-book, will the social connections of knowledge and learning alter at all, or for the better? Does automating the pen-and-paper test alter the essence of our assessment systems?
To put it another way, technology does not always bring about considerable change. Technology might not even be a step forward in education.
But what might be new? How can we utilize technology to drive innovation in education?
This course delves into seven affordances of e-learning ecologies that create genuine opportunities for what we term New Learning; transformational, 21st century learning:
- Universal Learning
- Active knowledge creation
- Multimodal meaning.
- Recursive Feedback
- Collaborative intelligence.
- Metacognition 7. Differential Learning
These affordances, if recognized and utilized, will prepare students for success in a world increasingly dominated by digital information flows and communication technologies in the workplace, public areas, and personal life.
This course provides a diverse set of examples of learning technologies and technological implementations that, to varied degrees, exhibit these affordances in action.
5. Individual vs Group Learning Methods for Teachers (Alison)
This course teaches you how to be a good educator by comparing individual and group learning approaches. The course includes the tools, tactics, and academic principles utilized to create personalized and collaborative educational experiences.
It also demonstrates how to assess student learning styles and adjust educational courses to their specific requirements in order to provide a helpful learning environment for groups or individuals.
6. Instructional Design Principles to Create Successful E-Learning Courses (Alison)
This free online course will provide you with the tools necessary to create high-quality e-learning courses.
Technology has influenced every aspect of our lives, including the way we learn. E-learning is gradually replacing traditional teaching techniques as more people become aware of its numerous benefits. While flexibility and cost savings are the most obvious benefits, e-learning programs can provide various other advantages. This course will show you how to create compelling e-learning courses.
7. Instructional Design for Vocational and Technical Education (Alison)
Developing successful vocational and technical education (VTE) courses necessitates a systematic approach to instructional design that increases student engagement and information retention. This specialist subject is concerned with creating educational experiences that are relevant to industry demands while accommodating a variety of learning styles.
The ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) is an important paradigm for instructional design since it gives a systematic method to course production. Another effective strategy is Agile Learning Design, which stresses flexibility and iteration to improve material depending on learner input.
The principles in this course also assist instructional designers in creating courses that optimize engagement and practical application. These concepts examine aspects such as interactive learning, real-world problem-solving, and multimodal teaching strategies to improve student understanding.
8. Online Facilitation for Educators (OpenLearning)
Recent global developments have resulted in an accelerated shift to online learning. This practical short course is perfect for professional educators who are currently facilitating online learning experiences or are considering doing so. The course will teach you the essential skills needed to be an effective online facilitator.
The course is intended for educators, instructors, learning designers, instructional designers, tutors, lecturers, course convenors, and anyone else interested in providing compelling and memorable learning experiences for students of all ages in an online learning environment.
9. Design a world-class course (OpenLearning)
This course is presented by Melinda Garcia, an OpenLearning Instructional Designer, who will walk you through the process of creating an interesting and successful online OpenLearning course using instructional design concepts.
Teaching online allows you to reach more students than ever before. However, building a MOOC that allows students to learn profoundly while also keeping them interested and motivated involves the application of many crucial pedagogical tactics.
10. Adobe Captivate Basics (Adobe)
This self-paced course covers the principles of Adobe Captivate, a popular tool for generating responsive e-learning content. Allows you to experience the maximum in writing freedom. As soon as you learn the easy user interface, you can start generating interactive content.
You will also learn how to construct stunning courses quickly by selecting from elegant design options, ready-to-use slides, and materials. All you have to do is author once and your content will automatically adapt to multiple screen widths. This course helps you achieve higher achievement via cooperation by easily sharing your projects for evaluation.
Conclusion
Free online courses provide wonderful chances for e-learning professionals to keep ahead of the competition. The courses listed above provide varied learning pathways, ranging from instructional design to video creation, guaranteeing that there is something for everyone. Whether you’re an experienced instructional designer or just starting out, these materials can help you improve your skills and develop effective learning experiences.