Online courses directory (19947)

Perl is a general-purpose programming language originally developed for text manipulation and now used for a wide range of tasks including system administration, web development, network programming, GUI development, and more. This free online course introduces you to features of the Perl programming language such as formats, modules, the Perl CGI.pm and subroutines. This course will be of great interest to computer programming professionals who want to learn more about Perl and its features, and to learners who are interested in learning a programming language that has been at the heart of the development of the web.<br />

This course reviews important principles found in business law. These principles include details on sole proprietorship, general partnerships, limited partnerships and incorporations. This course explains principles of business law in a clear and easy to understand way. The course also covers topics such as legal requirements, legal recommendations, financial status, taxation, and liability related to these principles. This free online course will be of interest to business professionals and students of law who would like a greater knowledge and understanding of laws relating to business and commerce.<br />

French is spoken by millions of people in many countries around the world and is a very popular second language to learn. ALISON's free online course is a series of engaging video lessons for beginners that introduces the learner to various aspects of the French language including basic French vocabulary and grammar. By studying this French course you will quickly pick up conversational French that will help you deal with everyday situations you may find yourself in when you visit a French speaking country. <br /><br />ALISON's online course will help you learn French online and will be of great interest to all learners who want to pick up basic French language skills.<br />

Jeff Hawkins is the co-founder of Palm and Handspring and is the architect of many computing products such as the PalmPilot and the Treo smartphone. In this course he will take you on a journey through his career, how he became an entrepreneur and the importance of believing in your product. He teaches valuable lessons about the importance of experience, following your passions and how to keep a work/life balance. He discusses how to design successful products, the role of market research and the need to continuously test products. In terms of the company workplace, he talks about how a good business culture and a strong human resources policy are vital. You will also learn about the importance and inevitability of portable technology. This course will be of great interest to business professionals who will learn much from the experience, knowledge and wisdom Jeff Hawkins has gained over his career. It will also be of interest to business students setting out on their careers, in particular those who would like to become technology entrepreneurs.<br />

Jeffrey Housenbold is president and CEO of Shutterfly which provides a full range of products and services that enable consumers to manage their digital photos. Housenbold has a successful track record of building online consumer franchises by combining commerce and community. In this free online course he discusses how entrepreneurial thinking can lead to the success of a business. You will examine how he has made Shutterfly into a market leader and you will also learn when not to listen to market research. He gives important tips on being successful in any business and how you should keep innovating to stay ahead. This course will appeal to business professionals who would like to gain from the insights and ideas of a leading entrepreneur, and to students and anyone with an interest in how to make a business successful.<br />

Marissa Mayer has led product management efforts at Google as Google's Vice President of Search Products &amp; User Experience products. Her responsibilities cover such products as Google Search, Gmail, Google Chrome and Google Labs. She believes that ideas for new products can come from every employee and department within an organisation, and also from end users of the product or service. In this free online course, Marissa explains how Google’s open culture and flat management of the organisation encourages creativity and brilliant ideas. She explains how Google sets asides 20 per cent of each employee’s time for creative projects and how this has proved to be a massive success. You will learn that Google do not make their product decisions on company politics but on data and facts. She explains how their focus on users and the software tools that keep users returning to Google has been at the centre of their success. This course will be of great interest to business and IT professionals who want to learn more about Google's success and business practices that created this success.<br />

William Sahlman is one of the world’s leading authorities on entrepreneurship. As a professor at Harvard Business School, his research focuses on investment and financing decisions made in entrepreneurial ventures at all stages of their development. In this free online course, Professor Sahlman explains why the best money comes from customers not venture capitalists. He describes the key elements of an entrepreneurial venture using the example of John Osher who developed the spin toothbrush. You will learn how to achieve the greatest value by changing the relationship of these elements to one another. He identifies important factors to improve entrepreneurial success. He focuses on what drives entrepreneurs, the importance of recognising opportunity and dealing with change. He discusses how your organisation depends on great people and what to look for when hiring. This course will be of great interest to business professionals and students looking for greater knowledge and understanding of the key elements of entrepreneurial success.<br />

Guy Kawasaki is best known as “chief evangelist” of Apple. In this free online course he gives important lessons about entrepreneurship. He explains why he thinks that the most successful companies will be those that aim to create a positive change in society. He explains how to make meaning in your company so that you can make a difference. You will learn about mantras, getting going, defining a business model and creating a niche for your company. He also recommends that you hire “infected” people, people who love the product or service. You will also learn about lowering barriers to adoption, approaching sales and how to become a “mensch”. He discusses how to find evangelists and soul mates and what is the career path to becoming an entrepreneur or venture capitalist. This course will be of great interest to all business professionals or budding entrepreneurs who are interested in starting up a business and would like to hear advice and guidance from someone who has already done it successfully but who has also been very close to extraordinary achievement in the area of the growth of high technology businesses.<br />

In this free online course Professor Bob Sutton reveals the successful habits of well respected leaders, and outlines the type of habits practised by those who fail to lead. He points out that when people move into positions of power, they can easily loose sight of the needs of those they lead. In this course you will learn what the hallmarks of great leaders are, how leaders need to hear the truth and how to deal with team disagreements. You will learn about rotten apples and how they must be removed for the health and longevity of a team. He also explains the best way to &quot;wage war&quot; with an ineffective leader. This course will be of great interest to all business professionals who lead a company or a team and want to improve their leadership skills. This course will also be of great interest to those who are moving into a management position and want to unlock their leadership potential.<br />

Jerry Kaplan is widely known in the computer industry as a serial entrepreneur, executive, technical innovator and author. In this free online course he explains what the best qualities of serial entrepreneurs are and the five biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make. He discusses the five critical skills that entrepreneurs need: leadership, communication, decision-making, being a team player and the ability to telescope. He explains the vital importance of sales skills and recruiting people to sell for you. This course will show you how the timing of an idea is very important and why it is very difficult to call. Kaplan shares his advice on the types of risks that companies face when they start off and how the trick is to get the risk out as soon as possible. He discusses the best time to start a business, why he admires and respects business leaders such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos and how to establish culture and values in a company early on. He also talks about how roles change within a company when there is a transition away from R&amp;D. This course will be of great interest to business professionals, entrepreneurs, business students and anyone with a general interest in gaining a better knowledge and understanding of the critical skills needed by entrepreneurs to create successful businesses.<br />

This free online course features Steve Blank who is a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in high technology companies and management. He is also a Consulting Professor at Stanford in the Graduate School of Engineering. In this course he discusses rethinking the product development model so that early stage companies can reduce their overall exposure to risk. You will learn that most start-ups fail because they don’t target the right market or the right customer. Steve Blank explains the customer development process and how successful businesses seek out real customers, ask for their feedback and analyse and fix any problems these customers encounter. He gives advice about not seeking media coverage too soon and also why company founders have been thrown out of their own companies. This course shows why customer feedback must not be outsourced and why it is important that company founders speak directly to their customers. You will also learn why there shouldn’t be vice presidents in a start-up and what a customer development team is for. This course will be of great interest to business professionals and entrepreneurs who want to gain greater knowledge and understanding about rethinking the product development model in business start-ups.<br />

Tom Kelley is the highly respected general manager of IDEO, a firm that helps its clients create innovative products, services and environments. He is also the author of best-selling books on creativity. <br /><br />In ALISON's free online course about achieving personal success, Kelley starts by explaining how achieving personal success depends on implementing good, healthy mental habits. The course explains how you should treat life as an experiment, how you should be willing to fail and learn from your mistakes. Kelley advises that you should have confidence in what you know well, but realize that you have a lot more to learn and that you must keep yourself learning at all times. You will also learn about using your whole brain and how you should make the most of opportunities to use the right side of the brain. <br /><br />This course will appeal to all working professionals in businesses and organizations, and students who want to gain greater knowledge and understanding about achieving personal success.<br />

Christine Benninger was president of the Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV) for 17 years. HSSV is an independent, non-profit animal shelter that provides high-quality adoptions, medical services, education programs and pet care services in Santa Clara County, California. When she joined the organisation it was in a dire state and this led to her quickly implementing a six-month plan to keep the organisation afloat. In this free online course she talks about fundraising which is a crucial component of a non-profit enterprise’s success. She also discusses how to find the right people, how to separate what she calls the missionaries from the mercenaries and how to deal with the overly passionate. She points out that it is important to find talented people who are both mission-driven and also able to work as part of a team. This course will be of great interest to social entrepreneurs and business people who would like to gain a greater knowledge and understanding of running a social enterprise from an experienced and practiced social entrepreneur.<br />

Stan Christensen is a partner at Arbor Advisors, an investment banking firm where he negotiates on behalf of mid-market technology companies. He has nearly twenty years of experience in both transactional and operations roles and has worked on hundreds of transactions. In this free online course he advises doing as much informational interviewing as you can to ensure you pick a career path that you will enjoy and be a good fit for your interests. He says that when you are planning a career not to be overly concerned with a linear path, if you are savvy and wilful you can work your way into most careers. He outlines a few of the erroneous career assumptions that will help you avoid picking the wrong job. You will learn how a career/life balance is important and how a career where you are constantly overworking is unhealthy. Stan Christensen also explains the art of negotiation and relationship management and how to handle salary and job negotiations. He talks about how men and women do indeed negotiate for compensation differently. Finally, he discusses how the negotiations conducted when leaving a job are as critical as when starting one. This course will be of interest to business professionals, students and, indeed, anyone looking for advice on planning their career path.<br />

The term 'Angel Investor' started in the 1930's when people invested in movies that were being produced in Hollywood. The term carried its way into the technology sector and today 'Angel Investor' describes an individual who invests in early stage companies or start-ups. In this free online course Ron Conway and Mike Maples discuss what an Angel Investor can do for early stage companies and what criteria investors use to give financial backing to companies. They explain how investors assess failure and success, and what advice they would give to start-ups. They also explain how the important transition for any company from an Angel Investor to Venture Capitalists should proceed. This course will be of great interest to entrepreneurs or business professionals who work in early stage companies or start-ups and are considering applying for financial support from Angel Investors. Few people can advise on angel investing better than Ron Conway and Mike Maples. If you are thinking of raising angel investment capital, we suggest you first study this free online course.<br />

In the free online course, John Doerr talks about how to succeed as a venture capitalist. John is a legend in venture investing having played a key role in the emergence and development of some of Silicon Valley’s most successful companies. He is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp; Byers, joining them in 1980, and has sponsored a series of investments including Compaq, Cypress, Intuit, Macromedia, Netscape, Lotus, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, S3, Sun Microsystems, Amazon.com, and Symantec. In this course he talks about what distinguishes successful companies from others. He views entrepreneurs as missionaries and gives valuable advice on assembling a great team of people. He discusses important new disruptive technologies and the impact of social entrepreneurship. He gives valuable career advice and predicts what the future of technology and venture capital will look like. You will learn what it takes to become a great venture capitalist and also how to treat negotiations when pursuing initial venture capital funding. This course will be of great interest to entrepreneurs and business professionals who would like to find out how venture capitalists work and what it takes to persuade them to financially back your company or business idea.<br />

Steve Blank is a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in high technology companies and management. He is also a Consulting Professor at Stanford in the Graduate School of Engineering. In this free online course he goes through a checklist of questions and answers that will be helpful to any new business leader. He offers insights and case studies from industry and new technology companies. He focuses on important areas for business start-ups including market opportunity, market regulations and distribution, competitors and complimentors, and technology breakthroughs. You will learn why sometimes being the first and only company in a particular market can actually be a disadvantage. He discusses the difference between vertical markets and horizontal markets, and you will also learn why market and technical risks are of great importance for an entrepreneurial venture. This course will be of interest to business people, entrepreneurs and anyone who would like to hear key insights and knowledge gained by a very successful entrepreneur with years of experience in business start-ups and management.<br />

Vinod Khosla grew up dreaming of being an entrepreneur and in 2004, he formed Khosla Ventures which offers start-up assistance, strategic advice and financial backing to entrepreneurs. The firm helps entrepreneurs extend the potential of their ideas in both traditional areas like the Internet, computing, mobile, and silicon technology, and also supports clean technology areas such as bio-refineries for energy and bio-plastics, solar, battery and other environmentally friendly technologies. In this free online course he explains how his ambition in life from a young age was to be an entrepreneur but how he had to learn from failure early on in his career. He explains his business motto of why you should think big and act small. He talks about taking risks and why companies are more successful when they have a mission to change the world. You will learn what areas of investment interest and excite him and why he considers any big problem to be an opportunity. He discusses his views on technology driven entrepreneurship and why social entrepreneurship is so important. In terms of teamwork, he explains how to build strong teams and why great CEOs must build great teams. This course will be of great interest to entrepreneurs, business professionals and anyone who wants to learn from the experience and wisdom of a very successful business person.<br />

Public procurement is a process that occurs when a government organization or a public authority purchases from external suppliers. Public authorities in Europe spend over €2000 billion a year purchasing goods and services, and this huge purchasing power forces suppliers to become more innovative as they have to produce higher quality products at lower prices. Public authorities in Europe have introduced procurement rules which are designed to increase competition between suppliers. <br /><br />ALISON's free online diploma course has been created by Procurement Academy, an institute dedicated to training procurement professionals.<br /><br />The course covers topics such as best practices for developing specifications, what procedures are used during the procurement process, how to write the Request for Tender (RFT) document, implementing the public procurement process, and the ethics associated with the procurement process. <br /><br />This detailed procurement course will be of great interest to procurement professionals who are interested in how the European public procurement process works and the steps involved in the public procurement process itself. For businesses seeking to expand, understanding how to win EU contract business is a competitive advantage in itself. We suggest that at least one employee in every European business should study this online EU procurement course.<br />

<p>In this free online course you will learn what cloud computing is, how it works, and both the pros and cons of this system. </p><br /> <p>In the term 'cloud computing' the word 'cloud' is a metaphor for the Internet. By using cloud computing, you can gain access at any time through any device, via the Internet, to data and files which you have uploaded, or to software applications which you need to use for personal or professional use. </p><br /> <p>With the phrase ‘cloud computing’ being used more and more in business today, it is important for any professional to understand what it is all about. This course is an ideal way to learn more about it and what services it offers to individuals and businesses alike. </p>