Don’t Be Isolated From Learning

A selection of useful online courses for your self-isolation.

Don’t Be Isolated From Learning

Nowadays most of the HSE students are facing with the consequences of the pandemic situation that has resulted in isolation. Universities all over the world are changing their traditional educational methods in favor of long-distance learning. High School of Economics was among the first ones which followed this trend.

Thus, currently the HSE students have been given an abundance of free time. At first glance, it is a great opportunity to take a rest and make up for lack sleep. However, there is still no certain information about how long the quarantine will last. So this raises the question of how to spend the time productively. In this article I would like to share information about the best educational platforms that temporarily provide a free access to their courses and materials.

1) Have you been watching the Game of Thrones again and again? Then this project will interest you.  Arzamas is opening a set of lectures about the Game of Thrones world. They will discuss how George Martin’s book gained so much popularity?, what “The Game of Thrones” story has in common with the Middle ages?  and how the authorities of “The Game of Thrones” are organized? Furthermore, Arzamas gives an access to the course of  History of Islamic Culture that contain 9 audio lectures that will help you to understand the culture better and learn more about Muslim countries: their architecture, art and Sharia standards. For instance, there you will find a very interesting lecture on true and false facts about the cartoon "Aladdin". Generally, Arzamas.academy  is a project on history of culture. Here you can find a variety of information about literature, art, history and other humanities.  Arzamas offers a free subscription to its courses till 15 April. You can get an access just entering the promo code “КАРАНТИН”.

2) More materials about world culture you can find at Pushkinsky Academy. A very cool platform from The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts presents an online course  “History of World Art. Favorites ” for everyone who loves art and wants to learn how to understand it. 

3) Next is Online university Skillbox which provides people with up-to-date knowledge in management and marketing offering courses that are run by leading experts in these fields. Online university trains specialists such as UX-designers, project managers, programmers, motion-designers and PR managers. Skillbox give access to a number of various courses to take up until 1 May. Thus, you can study the basics of Figma as well as site creation on Tilda and 3D-modeling for game-designers. Moreover, Photoshop course will be useful for those who want to work with content creation. A key skill that will come in handy to many people in their resumes.

4) A popular educational platform Coursera, where you can find a wide range of courses on various topics, all free their courses till 31 June. For example, IBM Data Science. Data science is the most promising area today.  An advanced IBM company offers you to take the appropriate course and get a certificate as a result.

5)Open education is a one more platform that provide students by interesting and helpful courses. There you can expand your knowledge in different areas whether it is  management or languages studies. For example, there you will get a great opportunity to study Chinese. Chinese is a very promising language, and in 10 lessons, you can learn its basic vocabulary and grammar. As a result, taking Chinese for beginners course you can get A1 according to the international classification of foreign language proficiency. If you are keen on business you may find interesting a practical course  Startup, thanks to which you will gain all the necessary skills to create your own business. 

Of course, there is still a wide range of “open” resources that give people an access to their materials for free all time. We have chosen the best of their courses.

1) Fundamentals of project management, Universarium. You will learn the actual methods of project management, after which you can apply for a new position. Additionally, the course provides partial preparation for testing for the PMP degree (Project Management Professional). 

2) Cinema Studies, PostNauka. A good course for moviegoers who want to better understand the movie. You will be able to understand how the industry works and modern methods of studying cinema.

3) Road to the market, Open University. This is the author’s course of the famous economist Sergei Guriev (you could have seen him in "Vdud" channel on YouTube). He talks about the modern economy in Russia, which is especially important for our students.

4) Total Dictation Online Course, Stepik. An excellent course so that during the time of self-isolation you do not forget the Russian language. 28 topics on spelling and punctuation of the Russian language, which are ordered by four modules.

We do hope that this materil will be helpful for you. Enjoy studying.

Text by
Anna Bogun and Ekaterina Baranova