My Top Picks: Top 10 Coursera Courses Countdown

Coursera has always been a stand-out platform for me, not just for its extensive selection of courses and learning programs, but because of its collaborations with top-notch universities and industry leaders.

I’ve personally tried out a handful of its courses and learning programs and consistently enjoyed my learning, experience. Starting with the free individual courses—which are fantastic for dipping your toes into new subjects—to the compact, 2-hour guided projects designed to boost job-relevant skills quickly. For those aiming at specific career paths, the Specializations and Professional Certificates are invaluable. And for anyone chasing formal academic credentials, the MasterTrack Certificates and Degree Programs offer substantial, accredited learning paths.

Catherine CookeUpskillwise Advisor

Top 10 Coursera Courses in 2024

Ready to level up your skills? Check out our top 10 Coursera courses below! Whether you’re looking to boost your career, learn something new, or just explore a passion, these courses are perfect for getting you started or advancing your career.

1. Supervised Machine Learning

Kicking this off, with the Supervised Machine Learning course offered by Coursera was a fantastic experience. Taught by Andrew Ng, a renowned expert and co-founder of Coursera, the course is neatly divided into three weekly modules covering the essentials of Machine Learning, Regression with multiple variables, and Classification. It’s a part of the Machine Learning Specialization, so there’s an option to delve deeper by upgrading. It’s the perfect course for anyone looking to get a solid start in understanding and applying machine learning concepts.

2. The Science of Well-Being

Another popular course on increasing happiness and building productive habits, taught by Laurie Santos, a Professor of Psychology at Yale University, offers a practical and engaging approach to personal development. Through a series of challenges, you’ll explore not only the common misconceptions about happiness but also learn how to integrate specific wellness activities into your daily life. This course is a great resource for anyone looking to enhance their well-being and create lasting, positive habits.

3. Getting Started with Power BI Desktop

This 2-hour project-based course is a perfect introduction to using Power BI Desktop software. Aimed at beginners, it guides you through the essentials of creating interactive reports and dashboards, as well as the basics of importing, transforming, and visualizing data with Power BI. The course is structured to be engaging and practical, ensuring that by the end, you’ll have a solid foundation and be ready to apply these skills effectively in your own projects.

4. Spreadsheet for Beginners using Google Sheets

Dive into the world of data visualization with this concise, 2-hour project-based course on Power BI Desktop software. Perfect for beginners, it covers everything you need to start creating interactive reports and dashboards. You’ll also learn the basics of importing, transforming, and visualizing data, empowering you to make informed decisions from complex information. This course is tailored for those new to Power BI, providing a solid foundation that will help you harness the power of data in your professional endeavors.

5. Python for Everybody Specialization

In this specialization, you’ll learn to program and analyze data with python, develop programs to gather, clean, analyze, and visualize data. The course instructor is Charles Russell Severance, a professor from the University of Michigan and has written a number of books including Using Google App Engine and Python for Everybody. This specialization can help prepare you for a related degree program.

6. Business English Communication Skills Specialization

In this specialization, you’ll build English skills for business, improve your ability to speak, write and understand english in a professional setting. You’ll be able to apply these skills in business negotiations, telephone conversation, written reports and emails and professional presentations. Its course instructors Richard Moore and Wendy Asplin are lecturers from the University of Washington.

7. Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate

This professional certificate is broken into 8 courses and designed to help you gain the skills for a career in cybersecurity. It’s designed to fast track your career, where you’ll learn the importance of cybersecurity practices, identify common risks and threats and learn the skills and tools to protect networks, devices and data from cyberattacks.

8. Google Project Professional Management: Professional Certificate

This professional certificate is designed to fast track a career in project management. You’ll gain the skills including creating risk management plans, understanding process improvement techniques, team dynamics and more.

9. Sustainability and Development MasterTrack Certificate

In this 5-course program, you’ll learn how to address sustainability and development challenges with actionable knowledge that empowers you to develop solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. The MasterTrack consists of two real-world projects which will give you hands-on experience in the field. The first project, you will analyze three Michigan Sustainability Cases and synthesize their lessons for sustainability and development. In the second project, you will create your own Michigan Sustainability Case on the Gala case creation interface,

10. Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research MasterTrack Certificate

In this 6-course program, you’ll build the skills and knowledge you’ll need to empower individuals, families, communities, and organizations to meet their needs and create positive change. You’ll also have the chance to explore the social work profession from expert faculty. You’ll learn to apply key skills required to work with different stakeholders to promote positive changes and make a difference. Also, you’ll cover how to integrate social justice values into social change processes and actions as well as develop an understanding of the key knowledge bases and frameworks that social workers use