Psychology Courses Online That Can Boost Your Career
Coursera
The Coursera site is a central landing place for psychologists who want access to courses in an array of subject areas from a variety of schools. The site does not charge a fee to use it, and in most cases, classes are offered for free or a nominal fee. Additionally, most courses provide a certificate upon completion.
For those who want to understand more about the ways that people can overcome their circumstances, Positive Psychology: Resiliency Skills will provide an introduction and overview of this concept. Within the class, the instructor will share the research regarding resilience, as well as information about the role of optimism and mental agility as protective factors. This course can be taken on its own or as part of a 5-class series on Positive Psychology.
If you work as an organizational psychologist or want to better understand the patterns that lead to poor decision-making in the workplace, consider Unethical Decision Making in Organizations. This course delves into the strong contexts that exist in workplaces that lead employees to make poor or unethical decisions. In addition to dissecting known workplace scandals, the class covers a variety of theories that drive these behaviors as well as strategies that can be employed to avoid doing so.
Clinical psychologists working in medical or treatment centers might be interested in Addiction Treatment: Clinical Skills for Healthcare Providers. Taught by a group of Yale professors, this course highlights techniques to screen patients to determine their risk for substance abuse, as well as how to determine the number of substances used and how to develop treatment plans. This course is intended for those beginning in the field or transitioning into a position that will require compassionate care at the treatment of those struggling with addiction.
School psychologists and other clinical practitioners will likely find value in Foundations of Mindfulness. This course explores the concepts and practices behind mindfulness and helps you to understand the ways that your habits and behaviors can impact your focus and attention. You will walk away from the class with exercises and guided meditations that you can immediately implement with clients.
Another course that is pertinent for those working in schools or healthcare settings is Neurolinguistics. This course delves into the organization of the nervous system and the way that it impacts how we learn languages as well as how it can affect our reading, writing, and speech. This course can help inform your assessment and treatment of students with learning difficulties or adults recovering from illnesses or injuries that have impacted these areas.
Psychology.Org
On this website, you will find online courses in over a dozen areas of psychology. All of the courses listed on the page are available for free, and the site connects you with the school or the online course service directly. Courses run from self-paced to full semester so you can choose the best offering to meet your needs.
Adolescent Health and Development is the ideal course for those entering into positions working with teenagers in middle and high school. The course will cover how brain development within this age range impacts decision-making, dynamics with the family, and engagement in risk-taking behavior. Additionally, the course covers common mental and physical health obstacles that adolescents face and need to cope with.
Stress and anxiety are currently widely recognized and addressed as important mental health situations. Managing Stress and Anxiety is a brief video from the University of Oxford outlining science-based stress and anxiety management tools. The video also includes a discussion with a panel of experts in the field to address additional questions about the topic.
The lack of availability of and disordered eating of food can be important contributing factors to children’s mental health and well-being. The semester-long Yale course, The Psychology, Biology, and Politics of Food, covers important topics in the relationship of our society to food, including malnutrition, obesity, and federal nutrition policies. If you work with children struggling with poverty or eating disorders, this course can be useful in your practices.
Understanding the Brain: The Neurobiology of Everyday Life is a comprehensive look at the impact of the nervous system on our behaviors, emotions, and daily functions. Developed by the University of Chicago, the course covers common neurological disorders, common afflictions experienced in our current society, and how we interact with our world and with others. The course is free but offers an option to purchase a certificate.
EdX
Like the previous two sites, EdX provides a platform to access classes in Psychology from a number of universities and websites. All of the courses suggested on this page are free and vary in the presentation and time commitment required to complete them.
Although offered through the University of Queensland in Australia, the content covered in The Psychology of Criminal Justice is applicable to the systems in the United States as well. The course will discuss the psychology of criminal profiling, interviewing witnesses and suspects, and the reliability of confessions and testimony. The 8 part course uses a mock case to illustrate examples and provide a framework for the content.
Growth & Development Through the Life Span explores human development from conception to the end of life. The course covers the social, physical, and psychosocial impacts on our cognitive, socio-cultural, and emotional development. The different stages of life and brain development will also be discussed in the context of these concepts.
The intersection of food and mental health is explored in the course Mental Health and Nutrition. Based on research regarding nutrition and well-being, the class discusses the historical context of using food as a mental health treatment and the current implications on considering the micronutrients in our diet in order to improve brain health. You will also learn about the factors that inhibit individuals from accessing proper nutrition and how to overcome them.
Class Central
Class Central is another hub for finding classes in the social sciences, including Psychology classes. Offering access to over 200 online courses, this site connects you with content in all different branches of the field in order to meet any of your learning needs. A helpful filter allows you to narrow selections based on your specific criteria in order to make finding the right class even easier.
For those who work within the judicial system, Forensic Psychology: Witness Investigation is an interesting course that explores the veracity and reliability of these statements. Through the use of real eyewitness testimony, you will try to determine the truth of what has happened using your knowledge of memory and psychology. The course includes practical application of skills that you have learned in other courses and academic preparation.
If you are fascinated by the way the brain takes in and interprets information, Visual Perception and Visual Illusions will provide more insight into how this occurs with regard to the optic nerves. Throughout the course, you will learn more about the way that our eyes and brain communicate to make sense of the world around us, and different neurological impairments can affect the things that we see or believe that we are seeing. The course culminates in a small research paper on the subject.
Introduction to Human Behavioral Genetics is the ideal course for anyone interested in the hereditary influences on the way people behave. In addition to the historical context of the influence of genes, including eugenics, the class will discuss twin studies, the Human Genome Project, and the use of genetic research in understanding mental health disorders. The course also takes a systematic and critical approach to all of the content, discussing both the benefits and limitations of the information available to us.