Skill Building
The skills you develop as you pursue your degree at Columbia will help you prepare for the work world. But for many, building industry skills — like Excel, advanced accounting, or video editing — might not happen within an academic setting. These resources can help you build these skills.
| Apple Developer Site | Free | Website for application programming interfaces, software development tools, and technical materials. |
| Duolingo.com | Free | Interactive lessons to learn a new language. |
| edX.com | Free (Fee for certificate) | Online courses and classes from Columbia, Harvard, MIT. |
| Foundation Center/Candid | Free | Tutorials in proposal writing, funding research, and establishing a nonprofit. |
| General Assembly | Fee | Global community for learning technology, design and business skills from industry professionals. |
| Harvard Extension | Free | Website offers free online education courses in a variety of subjects including art and design, business, data science, health, and more. |
| Khan Academy | Free | Micro-lectures in subjects including math, science, biology, computer programming, and test prep. |
| LinkedIn Learning | Free (for Columbia students, staff, and faculty) | Online tutorials for business, software, technology and creative skills. |
| Media Bistro | Free (Fee for some courses) | Courses on using Instagram, brand writing, grammar, blogging, and public relations. |
| Microsoft Virtual Academy | Free | Online courses taught by experts in 11 different languages on Microsoft programs. |
| MIT OpenCourseWare | Free | Educational materials from MIT’s undergraduate and graduate courses online. |
| Skillshare | Fee | Project-based classes in topics include copywriting, photo retouching, animation, business development, public speaking, tech skills, and engineering. |
| Stanford Online | Free (Fee for some courses) | A study site that provides learning opportunities via free online degrees, online courses, e-learning, and more. |
| Thinkful | Free | Thinkful is an online bootcamp that offers online, fast-paced, career-ready programs in Software Engineering, Data Science, Data Analytics, UX/UI Design, Product Management, Digital Marketing, and Technical Project Management. These programs are offered in part-time and full-time formats. All courses include personal mentor meetings, a custom-built curriculum, and mentor-hosted Q&A sessions with industry professionals. |
| The Learning Annex & The Brooklyn Brainery | Free (Fee for some courses) | Live and on-demand education, covering publishing, new media, song writing, and finance. |
| The New York Public Library | Free (Fee for some courses) | Classes including those on computer literacy. |
| Treehouse | Fee | Interactive education platform offering tech-geared courses ranging from web, mobile and business development. |
| UC San Diego Educational Technology Services | Free | Free audio recordings of lectures in a variety of subject areas. |
| Udacity | Fee | In-demand tech skills from companies like Google, AT&T, Facebook and Clouder. |
| Udemy.com | Free (Fee for some courses) | Online courses in IT and software, marketing, photography, design, teacher training, and language. |
| Free | Over 633 podcasts series in a range of subject areas including public lectures, interviews and other educational resources. | |
| U.S. Small Business Administration | Free (Fee for some courses) | Classes and resources for starting a business or improving business operations. |