The 15 Best Free Online Courses You Can Take From Harvard

Free classes are available everywhere online these days. Even Ivy League schools like Harvard University are sharing their courses with the public.

Some of these classes can help you learn skills that will transfer to the workplace and help you move beyond living paycheck to paycheck. Others can deepen your knowledge in topics you’re passionate about.

Following are the 15 best free classes available from Harvard.

Even in a time when artificial intelligence can write a full-length report, it still pays to know how to write.

If you work in marketing, communications, or fundraising, this eight-week class can help elevate your writing. You’ll learn how to craft a more persuasive argument to get what you want.

Most people think happiness is something that just happens to you, but this six-week course teaches students how to actively create and sustain the feeling.

Although it might sound like a fluff class, the course utilizes principles from neuroscience and psychology to show that happiness isn’t just about feeling good — it’s also about building a life of which you can be proud.

Perfect for beginners with or without programming experience, this 11-week self-paced course teaches you how to think algorithmically and solve problems efficiently.

You'll learn essential concepts like abstraction, data structures, and web development, along with popular languages like C, Python, and JavaScript.

In an era of digital communication, most employees spend a good deal of time communicating with people who are even busier than they are.

This webinar class shows students how to create messages that cut through the noise so their emails are always answered — no matter how busy the recipient is.

As a boss, your job is to motivate and support your workers so they can reach their full potential. That can be difficult in a world that is changing so much.

This self-paced class teaches you leadership lessons from the life of legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton that you can take directly to the office.

While this course is an introductory 15-minute video, its lessons might impact the rest of your life.

The class will teach you how to get a higher salary based on the story of Derek Sanderson, former center for the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins.

Research shows that most workers don’t negotiate well, meaning you could be missing out on thousands of dollars each year by not taking advantage of the strategies shared in this course.

If you work in human resources, you know that employee health is a crucial building block to a successful and profitable company.

This nine-week class will show you how to reduce employee health costs while providing tangible benefits for your workers.

This six-week course is an introductory class that helps business professionals with no experience in computer science learn the basics.

Students will learn about web development, various programming languages, cloud computing, and more. If you’re interested in further pursuing computer science after the course ends, you can take other free Harvard computer science classes.

Individuals constantly misunderstand statistics and probability. Consider taking this class if interpreting data and statistics is crucial to your job.

This course lasts for seven weeks and explains concepts related to probability. It is designed for those with no previous experience.

If you work in health care, you know that improvements in the workplace can impact the level of care received by patients.

Improvement science is the study of how to make systems better over time. This course takes seven weeks to complete and is self-paced.

As most education professionals know, student success is tied directly to how engaged and interested the parents are, not just how good the school is. This self-paced course can offer strategies to increase family engagement.

Teachers, principals, and anyone else who works in education can benefit from this course.

The class covers different health care business models and how innovation is changing long-standing systems.

Employees who work in health care can learn much from this self-paced course.

Chinese philosopher Confucius changed the world with his teachings. And if you’ve always been curious about studying his work, now is your chance.

This course is 13 weeks long and covers Confucius and other Chinese philosophers, detailing how insights from their work can help you become a happier, more fulfilled person.

When you’re working at a nonprofit, you need to find ways to connect to your constituents, donors, and the general public.

This webinar from Harvard professor Arthur Brooks shows nonprofit leaders how to use the principles of human connection in their current role.

Even if you don’t have a law degree, you may still be in a position where you have to read and understand contracts. But without a legal background, you could wind up signing a document you don’t fully understand.

That’s where this class comes in. It will teach you how to read a contract so you can make an intelligent choice the next time you sign your John Hancock on a document.

Harvard offers many free courses that can help build your skills while allowing you to keep more money in your wallet.

The school also offers a wide variety of paid courses online. While some of these classes cost thousands of dollars, many of Harvard’s paid courses are less than $100.