Locked down at home but passionate about learning? Then why not use this time to add some skills to your portfolio through e-learning courses and educational programs?

The Coronavirus pandemic has forced millions of students to stay home to combat the spread of the deadly virus. But learning must not stop. This is why many educational portals are providing free digital learning courses to students and professionals. These e-learning programs offer both short-term and long-term courses. The best part is that most of the online portals are offering these courses for free and that too with a certification.

Students who are interested in foreign certifications can use platforms like edX.org that offer MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) courses from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University or the Open Yale Courses of Yale University. Many other platforms like Google, Coursera, TCS, NASSCOM, SkillUp Online, and LinkedIn Learning are providing digital certification courses for corporate professionals and students.

To promote online education, the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) has recently launched the ELIS (Enhancement in Learning and Improvement in Skills) portal for students to help them utilize their lockdown period to enhance their knowledge for future career growth and employment opportunities. About 18 Ed-tech companies took part in the initiative and have offered a total of 26 free online courses for students.

With the plethora of online courses available on the internet, choosing the right one can be confusing. To help you out, below we have outlined a few trending online courses that you can take up during the lockdown.

• Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing

With everything going online these days, digital marketing unlocks the doors to internet marketing. Digital marketing tools and strategies help businesses to reach a wider market, transform leads into sales, advertise products and services to the target customers, and accelerate the profit and sales turnover.

Online digital marketing courses cover a wide spectrum of topics like video marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) planning, search engine marketing (SEM) through Google AdWords, data analytics, managing eCommerce stores, generating leads, increasing traffic to websites, email, and YouTube marketing, etc.

As digital marketing is more cost-effective than traditional marketing tools, companies are hiring digital marketers to boost their sales through online advertisement promotions. Hence, this is undoubtedly one of the most lucrative career options.

• Data Science

Data Science

Data Science is one of the most sought-after careers to pursue today. Online portals like edureka.com, MIT (edX), Coursera, Udemy, Simplilearn.com, upGrad, etc. offer various certifications and postgraduate courses on data science. The good news is most of these courses are available for free.

The key highlights of the data science courses are Machine Learning (MI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Analytics and Data Visualization, Natural Language Processing, Big Data, Python and SQL, Business Analytics, etc.

• Content Writing

Content Writing

Heard of the expression “Content is King”? This was an article written by Bill Gates that was published in 1996. In the age of new media, businesses today hire content writers, bloggers, and SEO writers to produce powerful content that will help them to market, advertise, and sell their products and services online. Content marketing is crucial for client communication and to build lasting relationships with target clients.

Most of these online platforms offer diverse courses in writing and editing, strategy in content marketing for professionals, media literacy, story writing, resume and email writing, personal branding, scriptwriting, SEO writing, web writing, blogging, etc. These writing courses are extremely helpful for brushing your writing skills and to expand your vocabulary.

• Game Development

Game Development

Have you ever wondered how much time you spend on your laptop or mobile phones playing video games? Why not use this time to convert your passion into money? Gaming is a vibrant industry and people are earning a lot in this profession.

Gaming is serious business. It requires passion, creativity, and technical knowledge. Many online platforms are offering certificates, diplomas, as well as degree courses in game development. However, if you are an avid gamer and just curious about game development, a beginner course is the right fit for you. You can look for online platforms like Coursera, FutureLearn, or Udemy that offer introductory courses in game development, gamification, mobile gaming, game programming, and fundamentals in game design.

• Python Programming

Python Programming

Python is a high-level programming language and is in great demand nowadays. Python supports multiple operating systems and programming languages and is useful in handling other programming languages, developing GUI (Graphical User Interface) frameworks, web applications, etc.

The fundamental course in Python introduces students to the basics of the programming language and will help them to be an expert programmer in the future. Leading edX platforms like MIT and Harvard and many other online portals like Udemy and Coursera provide basic learning courses in Python.

The extended lockdown has forced many to stay at home. Students seem to be the most affected as they are missing out valuable classes and there is no news when the normal classes will resume. At this juncture, online learning courses are a blessing and students can continue learning at home. So, grab your online course today! Happy Learning!