7 Free Online Interactive Courses Nurturing Problem Solving Skills

free online courses (at brilliant.org)

We continue our series on free online courses - find Part I, II and III in case you missed it. Here below are some great resources, some of which we have used and some new ones.

1. Cybersecurity Specialization: Join over 78,312 enrolled students to learn cybersecurity fundamentals and construction of secure systems in a free online cybersecurity specialization course offered by University of Maryland. In addition, the specialization offers financial aid or scholarship if you are unable to complete after the 7-day free course trial. The course has a hands-on project which upon completion earns a student a certificate that can be shared on linkedIn and other social media platforms. Topics covered include usable security, software security, cryptography, hardware security, and cybersecurity capstone project.


2. Brilliant Interactive learning: Join the over 10 million students of all ages at Brilliant learning maths, science and computer science in an interactive environment going beyond video-based lectures. The platform offers courses that emphasize mastering rather than memorizing study materials, intuition, solving problems and getting instant feedback, and persistence in getting to the solution. Popular courses include logic, scientific thinking, computer science fundamentals, pre-algebra among a catalog of over 60 courses. 
   


3. Open security training has open source study materials of 29 classes including 13 videos on mitigating mobile phone security and privacy weaknesses: Beginner classes: Android Forensics & Security Testing; Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) Review; Flow Analysis & Network Hunting; Hacking Techniques and Intrusion Detection; Introductory Intel x86: Architecture, Assembly, Applications, & Alliteration, Introduction to ARM; Introduction to Cellular Security; Introduction to Network Forensics; Introduction to Secure Coding; Introduction to Vulnerability Assessment; Introduction to Trusted Computing; Offensive, Defensive, and Forensic Techniques for Determining Web User Identity; Pcap Analysis & Network Hunting; Malware Dynamic Analysis; Secure Code Review; Smart Cards; The Life of Binaries; understanding Cryptology: Core Concepts and understanding Cryptology: Cryptanalysis.
   
   Intermediate Classes: Introduction to Software Exploits (Exploits 1); Exploits 2: Exploitation in the Windows Environment; and Intermediate Intel x86: Architecture, Assembly, Applications, & Alliteration.
   
   Advanced Classes: Advanced x86: Virtualization with Intel VT-x; Advanced x86: Introduction to BIOS & SMM; Introduction to Reverse Engineering Software; Reverse Engineering Malware; Rootkits: What they are, and how to find them and the Adventures of a Keystroke: An in-depth look into keylogging on Windows.


4. Cyber Security Course for Beginners: Join over 136,570 students to learn security fundamentals needed for staying safe online in the free cyber security course for beginners on Udemy. The free tutorial is a little over one hour long, and requires a student with access to an internet connected device (computer/smartphone), motivated to learn and basic understanding of computers and the Internet.


5. Code academy is another online resource with a community of learners where you can follow a learning career path in computer science (82 lessons), data science machine learning (78 lessons), full-stack engineer (168 lessons) and front-end engineer (129 lessons). Study topics include: Web Development, Data Science,  Computer Science, Developer Tools, Machine Learning, Code Foundations, Web Design and HTML & CSS, Python, JavaScript, Java, SQL, Bash/Shell, Ruby, C++, R, C#, PHP, Go, Swift and Kotlin.


6. MOOCs: If Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are your prefered choice, head over to this MOOC-list aggregator and search for a desired field of study, such as Cybersecurity. 


7. W3schools is another great learning platform with everything html and CSS, Javascript, programming, server side technologies, data analytics, web building, xml tutorials that you can use to learn and test whatever you build as you go.

In conclusion, there are plenty of platforms with free online courses made by expert tutors putting plenty of formerly off-limits knowledge at your fingertips. The more you learn, the better equipped you will be in keeping cyber criminals away from bankrupting african businesses. 

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