If you want to add an additional certificate in your CV from world best universities without even paying a penny then here is your chance.
The famous MOOC platforms such as Coursera, EdX, Udacity, etc. are providing Free Computer Science Online Courses for you from the best universities in the world so that education can go beyond the territories. Learners from far away places can also easily take advantage of getting the experience of learning by the best Professors of particular areas.
In order to save your time and energy, we have enlisted the best 9 Free Computer Science Courses from the topmost universities. These online classes will definitely play a great role in the enhancement of your computational skills as well as make your CV more attractive.
Top-rated courses from universities to choose according to your level of learning:
For Beginners
- An introduction to interactive programming in Python (Part 1)
- CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science
- Computer Science 101
For Intermediate Learners
- Using Databases with Python
- Machine Learning
- Introduction to Game Development
For Advanced Learners
- Fundamentals of Reinforcement Learning
- Advanced Operating System
- Computer Simulations
Free Computer Science Online Courses for Beginners:
1. An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python (Part 1)
If you don’t have any prior experience but still have an interest in programming so for you Coursera has brought a good as well as free first part of this course for beginners from Rice University which gives you an excellent start.
These days Python is known as a popular and easy to learn a language that has an important role in the programming domain. This course offers basic elements of Python programming namely expressions, conditionals, and functions.
The course is in the English language with subtitles for lectures and videos are available in many languages This 5 weeks long course, where you have to invest 7 to 10 hours per week will give you great hold in programming principles, Computer Programming, Python syntax and semantics, and Python programming.
At the end of the course, you have to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding by recreating the classic arcade game “Pong” or creating any other simple application like a Digital Stopwatch. Click here for other Python tutorial.
2. CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science
EdX has provided one of the most popular online Computer Science degree courses for beginners from Harvard University at free of cost. This course acts as a basic and fundamental for the programming field.
To make you familiar with basics it includes a whole range of topics in its syllabus such as algorithms, data structures, abstraction, encapsulation, security, resource management, software engineering, and web development.
It also imparts good knowledge of languages including C, HTML, Python, SQL, and JavaScript plus CSS. This course also deals with Problem sets replicating real-world domains of finance, biology, cryptography, forensics, and gaming.
This 12 weeks long course offers good Computational knowledge and programming understanding. In this self-paced course, you have to score well in programming assignments and final projects to earn the certificate.
3. Computer Science 101
Here Stanford University offers well-known Computer Science courses via EdX for learners having no prior experience in this area. By devoting 4-6 hours per week you will get a chance to explore all the concepts which apparently seem very difficult for the beginners but easy in reality.
This completely free 6 weeks self-pace course starts with the basic definition and explanation of the topics like what is Computer, Internet, hardware, software, Computer jargon, security devices, etc. As you go further it will make you more acquainted with Computer codes without downloading any software.
At the end of the course, Learners display their present knowledge by experimenting with short bits of “computer code” to make their knowledge more concrete.
Online lectures and transcripts are provided only in English by Stanford’s professionals.
Free Computer Science Online Courses for Intermediate learners
1. Using Databases with Python
The University of Michigan offers the top-rated course in Computer Programming through Coursera for learners who have already done some basic Python courses. So here under the guidance of University experts they can learn new skills and polish the existing ones in order to achieve the course’s objectives.
This 5 weeks long course will cover Chapters 14-15 of the book “Python for Everybody”. Here your knowledge of chapters 1-13 of the textbook is needed for a better understanding of this course.
This certification course introduces learners to the basics of Python, Structured Query Language (SQL) and database design which includes stages like multi-step data gathering, data storing, analyzing and processing. In addition, it also helps you build web crawlers for utilizing the Google Maps API to visualize data.
2. Machine Learning
Another course from Stanford via Coursera for intermediate learners is Machine Learning. Machine learning is a type of computer science course where you don’t have to give explicit instructions to your program to work. Because instructional programming has been done beforehand on which devices function and Robot is the most common example of this.
Here in this course, you will learn about the techniques of Machine Learning and the processes through which these techniques can be implemented for the formation of actual Machine Learning programs. This 11 weeks long course not only provides theoretical knowledge but also lets you learn practical knowledge by programming your own final project.
In this course By investing 5-7 hours in a week, you achieve mastery in Machine Learning, Machine Learning Algorithms, Logistic Regression and Artificial Neural Network without even paying.
Though the lectures are in English but subtitles and transcripts are available in English, Chinese, Hebrew, Spanish, Hindi, and Japanese for making learning more convenient for learners.
3. Introduction to Game Development
Coursera brings a new course from University of Michigan for game lovers. If you have interest in games and want to learn how to make them, then this course is definitely for you.
This 4 weeks course will impart good knowledge of Video Game Development tools, C#, Unity 3D game engine and Game Designs. This course also offers a flexible timeline so that you can practice at your own pace to bring out better results in the process of video game development.
At the end of the course, you have to complete three hands-on projects where you have incorporated all related elements of game development to show your expertise in this field.
This course lets you blend your creative potentials with technical assistance to develop a game to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding through hand on the model. This course even expands the scope for the learners to become a professional game designer, game artist, or game programmer.
Free Computer Science Online Courses for Advanced learners:
1. Fundamentals of Reinforcement Learning
This course is offered by University of Alberta via Coursera for advanced learners who have good amounts of knowledge in Computer Programming. Reinforcement Learning is a subfield of Machine Learning, which facilitates automatized decision-making.
This course covers components like Reinforcement Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Intelligent Systems, Function Approximation which increase statistical and technical knowledge and helps the agents to take explicit actions for interacting with the world.
As the demand for intelligent decision making and interactive agents for companies or in the industrial field have increased, this course makes learners proficient enough to understand what kind of challenges faced by the agents during decision making.
Moreover, this 4 weeks course provides you a detailed account of Markov Decision Processes along with basic exploration methods and tools for a better understanding of the decision-making process. By implementation of acquired knowledge, you can efficiently solve interactive decision-making problems.
2. Advanced Operating System
Georgia Institute of Technology offers a free Advanced Operating System Course via Udacity for advanced learners. This course entails a journey regarding the role played by the Operating System in order to provide a rich experience to the users through computers.
This course offers a whole range of forms of Operating systems existing at presents such as cell phones, multi-core, distributed systems, parallel systems, and cloud computing.
The content list of this course covers topics: Abstractions, OS Structure, Virtualization, Parallelism, Distributed Systems, Distributed Object Technology, Design and Implementation of Distributed Services, System Recovery, Internet Scale Computing, Real-Time and Multimedia and Security.
This short term course of 5 weeks will touch all the areas of Operating systems to present this course as a wholesome pack which facilitates a better understanding of the learners.
3. Computer Simulations
The University of California offers a Computer Simulations course via Coursera. This is a unique sort of course which integrates computer science with social science.
This course provides basic computational simulation knowledge and lets you implement the knowledge by using computational tools to build an artificial society where you locate problems and then try to find effective solutions. Though this stimulation Programming is more like video game programming and here even without changing anything in the real world, computer simulations allow us to explore and find out how to make the world a better place.
In this 4 weeks course learners learn by developing models on the basis of Computational simulations where hypothetical models combine with real world data.
And by replicating society in this way it becomes convenient for analysing problems and it also gives an concrete idea how to eradicate the problem by using effective majors.
Conclusion: These free online courses have been chosen for this list on the basis of their popularity and rating so that we can serve the best opportunities available out there for the learners. Though these courses are available for free, it does not mean that they are any lesser than the paid ones.
Many of the above courses are compulsory for Computer Science students in their respective universities. So these MOOC platforms really help students of different fields to achieve quality education as well as getting tempting certificates, which ultimately makes their CVs attractive
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