Online courses directory (801)

Matter exists in four states - solid, liquid, gas and plasma and it will change state depending on the temperature and pressure applied to the matter. In this free online chemistry course about states of matter you will learn about the characteristics of each of the four states and the amount of energy that can be added to or taken from a substance before it starts to change state. As all substances change state at different temperatures and pressures you will learn how to use phase change diagrams to plot the energy and pressure levels, the triple point, critical temperature, boiling and melting points associated with different substances. You will also learn in a step by step manner how to calculate the change in energy needed to move a substance along the state of matter spectrum. This free online chemistry course will be of great interest to all students who wish to pursue a career in any of the sciences such as chemistry, physics, biology or geology, or the individual learner who simply wants to learn and understand what is happening when matter changes from solid to liquid to gas.<br />

Gravity is the force that keeps us on the ground and understanding how gravity works is very important as it has a great influence on the upward and downward movement of objects. This free online course about gravity will explain Newton’s Second Law of Motion, the universal constant, which is used to work out the force of gravity throughout the universe. You will also learn what the effect of the earth's force of gravity, or little g as it is known, has on an object and why mass is not the same as weight. To fully understand gravity this course will take you step-by-step through the relevant formulas, showing you how to calculate velocity or distance based on time and then plot these changes so you will have a visual concept of what is happening. This course will be of great interest to students who are studying physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, and to students who wish to pursue a career in any of the sciences or engineering fields.<br />

This free online course was built specifically as an aid to teachers of the technology subjects to help them in their understanding of safety, health and welfare, particularly within the technology classroom. <br />

Using an interactive, multimedia design, this course introduces the learner to government policy from an economic perspective. Learners are given a rigorous introduction to budgetary policy via topics such as resource allocation and distribution of wealth. Microeconomic policy is then examined in the context of strengths and weaknesses and finally, the course delves into the topic of government market intervention and investigates a variety of markets types, the reasons for intervention and how intervention occurs. This course is a useful introduction to those who wish to learn and understand the role government policies play in shaping economic outcomes.

Adobe Flash is the leading software programme for producing multimedia applications. In this free online tutorial for Adobe Flash CS3, you will learn in a step-by-step manner how to use the Flash interface, how to create basic ActionScript code, and how to incorporate video into Adobe Flash CS3. You will also learn how to create interactive quiz questions. Use this course to learn more about Abode Flash CS3 and you will be able to create sophisticated multimedia presentations.<br />

This third and final Psychology course examines experimentation and report writing in a Psychology context. This free learning course outlines protocols for experimentation in Psychology including how to structure and conduct experiments, how to interpret results and how to report findings. This course is ideal for students looking to enhance their knowledge of research methods or those who would like to acquaint themselves with psychological experimentation.<br />

Nursing is a very important profession within the health care sector. The nursing profession focuses on the quality care of sick individuals within hospital settings and also on the care of individuals and families within society. This free online nursing course provides the learner with an overview of the skills, techniques, and approaches required to effectively treat a diverse range of patients. Key elements of the course introduce the learner to aspects and concepts of health, communication techniques and methods used to establish a patient’s basic needs to ensure the necessary care is provided. You will learn about the patient’s reaction to hospitalisation and illness together with the emotional response. You will review the stages of illness along with therapeutic communication techniques, interview techniques and communication approaches to apply when treating patients who are blind, deaf and speakers of other languages. You will also learn about transcultural nursing and how it addresses the issues encountered when providing medical care to diverse cultural groups, or those from cultures different from the nursing professionals. The course material also creates an awareness of the impact and associated challenges that can exist when providing patient care in transcultural settings. This free online nursing course will be of great interest to health care workers who would like to learn more about nursing skills, and to any learner who is interested in pursuing nursing as a career. <br />

The power of electrical energy has been harnessed by engineers over the past century to transform society and how we live our lives. The phenomenon of electrical energy has been known since the 16th century, but it was only in the 19th century that rapid progress was made in the areas of electrical technology and electrical engineering. <br /><br />ALISON's free online electrical technology course introduces the basic laws of electricity, sources of electricity and electricity safety procedures. It also reviews electrical technology such as resistors, inductors, capacitors and series, and parallel circuits. <br /><br />ALISON's free online electrical technology course will be of great interest to all learners who would like to learn the basics of electricity and how electrical technology works to bring all the benefits of modern living into our lives.<br />

The 'Introduction to General Science' is a free interactive course that allows the learner to grapple with scientific knowledge in interesting, engaging and easy way. It educates the learner on how scientific experiments are set up and conducted, how hypotheses are formed and how conclusions are drawn. This course is suitable for science students who wish to revise before exams, those working in laboratories who wish to reacquaint themselves with laboratory procedures or those who wish to familiarise themselves with the fundamentals of science.

The Internet is the global network of interconnected computer networks. It consists of all the private, business, and government networks that are linked together by cable, wireless and optical networking technologies, and uses the Internet protocol suite called TCP/IP to function successfully. In this free online computer networking course about the Internet you will learn about the basics of network communications and how the Internet works. The TCP/IP protocol suite is explained and also how data is transferred from computer to computer around the Internet in milliseconds by a global network of millions of routers and switches. You will also learn how to distinguish the Internet from the World Wide Web, how the Web functions using the HTTP protocol and how Web browsers and Web servers operate to display Web pages. This free online computer networking course will be of great interest to all learners who are interested in a career in IT and networking and would like a thorough introduction to the technologies behind the Internet, and to all learners who would like to learn more about how the Internet functions.<br />

With each American Presidential election there is always great interest in both the U.S. and around the world in how the American political system actually nominates candidates who run for the positions of President and Vice President, and how a President is elected. In this free online American civics course you will be introduced to the process of primary elections and/or caucuses that are held in each U.S state and territory, and are an integral part of the nominating process for the Presidential election. You will also learn about the Electoral College sytem which is an institution that officially elects the President and Vice President every four years. Once a President is elected he must then form a Cabinet whose members are the heads of the fifteen federal executive departments. You will learn how the executive branch of the U.S. government runs its affairs by examining case studies in areas such as funding social security, introducing taxes, and controlling government deficits and expenditure. This free online course will be of great interest to all learners who would like to learn more about the American political system. This course will also complement the free online course titled 'U.S. Citizenship Test Preparation' which is available on ALISON and is the ideal course to study for anyone who is preparing for the U.S. Citizenship Test.<br />

Always wanted to start your own website but had no idea where to start? If so, ALISON's new web page development course is for you! Developed by award-winning Warwick University principal teaching fellow Russell Stannard, the course identifies the skills and techniques needed to create professional-looking webpages. The course introduces the basic languages and programmes needed to create and style websites such as HTML, Cascading Style Sheets and Adobe Dreamweaver and is delivered in a non-technical and step-by-step manner.<br />

Scratch is a graphical programming language developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. Scratch takes advantage of advances in computing power and interface design to make computer programming more engaging and accessible for children, teens, and others who are learning to program. The Scratch software application is freely available and makes it easy to create interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art, and share these creations on the Web. Scratch is used worldwide by teachers to teach the basics of computer programming and as young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. This free online course introduces you to Scratch and its advantages in an educational setting, reviews the features and functions of the Scratch interface, and how to program using the Scratch software application. This course will be of great interest to teachers and parents who want their children to become familiar with computer programming concepts. <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 />

The balance sheet is a basic accounting concept used to calculate how much cash, assets and liabilities are in our accounts at the end of the day. Knowing how to work through a basic balance sheet is an essential skill that everybody should know how to do and balance sheets are an excellent way to put your personal finances into perspective on paper. In this free online course the basics of balance sheets are discussed with particular regards to the case study of buying a house versus renting a house, and topics such as assets, liabilities, equity and marking to market are reviewed. This free online course will be of interest to the average lay person wishing to learn about balance sheets and how they can use balance sheets to organise their finances when deciding to invest in property or take out a loan for whatever reason.<br />

Understanding the concept of force and the effects various forces have on objects are very important topics in physics. For example, when you try to move a heavy object it takes more effort to get it moving than to keep it moving because of gravity and the different types of friction involved. In this free online physics course you will learn more about the force of gravity and its counterpart the normal force, and why some objects do not move even when they are on a slope. The force of friction is also discussed, including static and kinetic types, and as friction is dependent on types of the materials involved the course also looks at the coefficient of static friction relative to kinetic friction. Examples of each type of force are worked through giving the learner a clear insight into how forces work together and how to calculate their respective values. This free online physics course will be of great interest to students who are studying physics, chemistry, engineering and mathematics, to students who wish to pursue a career in any of the sciences or engineering fields, and to anybody wanting to understand the dynamics of moving objects on specific surfaces.<br />

English is the most popular language to learn as a second language, as it is used extensively in international business, media and Web communications. This free online course from ALISON introduces Web resources that can be used as part of your learning process when studying the English language. The course reviews free Web applications that contain a wealth of English language resources and materials that are ideal for students learning English as a second language. <br />

This Introduction to Managing Safety and Health in Schools online course aims to assist school principals and teachers in their understanding of managing workplace safety, health and welfare. It covers areas such as Completing a Safety Statement, Roles and Responsibility as well as Accident Reporting.<br /><br />

The free online Diploma in General Science course from ALISON is ideal for anyone who wants to gain a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of key subjects in biology, chemistry and physics. In biology you will covers subjects such as cell theory, genetics and evolution; in chemistry you will cover subjects such as atoms, molecules and the periodic table; and in physics you will cover subjects such as magnetism, electricity and sound. This Diploma course will be of great interest to those who want to further improve their knowledge and understanding of general science, and will greatly enhance your career prospects.<br />

This free online training course covers Windows Internet Explorer version 6. This browser allows you to download items, enjoy gaming, manage your Internet banking and much more. It demonstrates browsing the Internet safely, using items on the toolbar such as search engines and bookmarking a Web site.<br />