If you're interested in data science, want to learn how to code with AI, or are looking for a course to dive into over the next few months, these free courses are a great place to start.
1. IBM: Data Science Professional Certificate
Duration: 120 hours
Overview: IBM offers this series to prepare students for a career as a data scientist. It's a full bundle of courses available for free online. The curriculum covers topics like "What is Data Science," "Data Science Tools," "Data Science Methodology," and "Data Analysis with Python." In total, there are 12 courses, each requiring over 10 hours of study time.
Course Link: Data Science
2. UW: Machine Learning Specialization
Duration: 80 hours
Overview: The University of Washington's machine learning course takes you from the fundamentals to mastering core ML concepts. It covers topics including regression, classification, clustering, and retrieval, along with case studies for practical understanding. According to the course, you will "learn to analyze large and complex datasets, create systems that adapt and improve over time, and build intelligent applications that can make predictions from data." Like the IBM course, the programming language of choice is Python. You'll need some prior computer programming experience to get started, but it's a great way to build a solid foundation in machine learning. At a pace of about ten hours per week, you should be able to complete it in two months .
Course Link: Machine Learning
Duration: 8 hours
Overview: This shorter course can be completed in one to two weeks. It's a guide to some of the ethical issues behind using AI, covering the consequences of incorrect or biased information generated by AI, the right and wrong ways to cite AI usage, and potential future AI developments. You'll learn relevant soft skills, such as identifying when something has been generated by AI, recognizing differences in usage protocols across strategies, and general terminology. This course is specifically designed for educators but is an excellent resource for students as well .
Course Link: AI Ethics
Duration: 15 hours
Overview: This game development course offers insights into how generative AI is transforming the gaming industry. You'll explore AI's impact on areas like narrative, concept art, textures, modeling, and animation. The course introduces you to the basics of Unreal Engine 5 and Unity 3D, with topics including "Basic C# Scripting for Unity 3D" and AI-focused perspectives on everything from character modeling to music composition.
Course Link: Game Development
Duration: 1 hour
Overview: This Codecademy course provides a basic guide to the intersection of AI and coding. Of course, AI can generate functional code snippets and syntax. But do you know which tasks you can trust it to handle and which need human intervention? Or how to write effective prompts? This quick course covers generating Bash commands, regular expressions, and database queries, as well as generating classes and unit tests to ensure code quality and reliability. You'll be challenged with a project and two quizzes to test your knowledge -1.
Course Link: Write Code