Within the past few years, top universities around the world have been offering open and accredited courses online for free. Among them is Johns Hopkins University in Maryland which is offering a vast library of medical courses, particularly relating to global and urban health for free and for credit upon completion.
A course entitled, Culture, Politics and Health: Living Public Health in Nigeria for example, taught by Prof. Bill Breiger, focuses on his experiences in his 26-year career in medicine, specifically, “working in Nigeria and his subsequent work with a wider variety of African nations, focusing on tropical diseases and their associated social, cultural, and behavioral aspects.” This particular course is relatively short and consists of lecture videos produced by the professor. Other courses, such as International Nutrition are more intensive and lectures, required readings, and various assignments throughout the duration of the course.
Even better, many courses have no prerequisites at all, making them perfect for anyone seeking to learn about a completely new subject. Requirements vary of course between courses; however in the case of International Nutrition and some others, the course has an essay assignment as the only major component of the completion grade, in addition to class participation and attendance (online of course).
For a full list of the free courses Johns Hopkins offers, click here.
Online courses, especially from top universities are a great way not only to increase your own knowledge about the global issues you care about, but the college credit is a great way to make a resume stand out when looking for jobs in a particular field.
–Morgan Forde
Source: John Hopkins UniversityPhoto: NPR