Free Computer Technology Courses for Adults
Continuing Education to Improve Essential Computer Job Skills
Computer technology skills are in great demand by employers today, and any person who can demonstrate computer literacy is more likely to find work before those without computer skills. Whether in management, a new employee, or getting ready to retire; everyone benefits from the ability to know his way around computer technology. Computers are no longer used just for writing a letter or bookkeeping in businesses. Computers are an integral part of everyday manufacturing and business services today. Today computer technology skills are an essential necessity versus nice to know skills.
Computer technology training leads to the question of how to pay for computer training. During tough economic times, money is scarce and finding student loans is sometimes a challenge. If a student loan is secured, the loan must be paid back upon completion of computer school. However, there is free online computer technology education and this is a price that cannot be beat.
Free Computer Technology Courses
Most of the following sources for computer technology courses provide certificates and/or continuing education credits. Whether a source provides certificates or not should not cause second thoughts. Completing these courses will prepare you to take tests to earn specialty certifications that can lead to employment with higher salaries as you improve your computer literacy skills.
Goodwill Community Foundation Learn Free Organization
This online computer technology source provides free courses that are eligible for continuing education credits certified by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training. This organization offers online courses for Microsoft (MS) Office products such as Word, Excel, Access, and more. Additionally, continuing education credits can be earned for completing a math basics course. This free service by Goodwill provides instructor support and self-paced courses to improve computer literacy MS products.
HP Learning Center
There are dozens of free self-paced downloadable computer technology courses available through the Hewitt Packard (HP) Learning Center. These continuing education courses are instructor-led, available twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, and have a student discussion board. Most of the courses are text based, some include videos, and others include MP3 podcasts. Courses include Microsoft Office products, Windows Vista, PC solutions, Microsoft Expression, servers, business skills, and more for developing computer literacy. They do not provide certification or continuing education credits. However, a certificate of course completion is available.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
MIT offers more than 50 free computer technology courses at the undergraduate and graduate level using MIT Open Courseware. These continuing education courses are downloadable and most include lecture notes, labs, assignments, audio, videos and text lessons. The courses are self-paced and do not have instructor support or certificates of completion. Courses include computer networks, programming languages, medical computing, computer graphics, network security, and more. These are the same courses taught to MIT students and available to you for free online.
Along with computer technology courses, additional free continuing education courses exist through MIT’s Open Courseware Consortium.
Making Connections
It goes without saying that computer technology training is an invaluable skill that everyone needs to add to a continuing education “to do” list for beating the current recession employment problems. These courses are designed for anyone serious about maintaining technology job skills, learning new technology job skills, or for a lifelong learner interested in learning new things.
Although there are several methods for completing computer technology courses for earning continuing education credits, you cannot beat opportunities for free continuing education. These courses will help improve your computer technology skills to meet current career field needs or gain employment in a new career field.
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