Self-Care for Nerds

Part 1: Free Online Courses

Comfy, elastic-waisted clothing

Stacks of quality reading material

A plethora of online streaming services

Snacks

and...??

If you're feeling like something is missing from your shelter-in-place lifestyle or if, like me, your summer teacher education plans are likely kaput, consider exploring free, self-paced, online courses.

There are hundreds of webinars out there, especially now, but for a deeper dive (and a lot fewer live discussion boards), try a full course. There are many ways to access free classes, but my two favorite platforms are Coursera and edX.

Over the last few years I've taken over a dozen courses in topics like behavioral economics, transmedia storytelling, human physiology, music history, and math education. One of the most involved classes I took was about medieval manuscripts. We had a series of hands-on projects that centered around creating our own manuscripts.

The course inspired me to do a similar project with one of my history classes two years ago, which in turn led to my plan to roll out a bigger version with my classes this year (shout out to my Donor's Choose supporters!). Alas, a global pandemic thwarted those plans.

While perusing Coursera and edX the other day, a few classes caught my eye:

• Fashion as Design from the Museum of Modern Art

• Women Making Objects: Ten Objects, Many Stories from the Stanford of the East (a.k.a. Harvard)

• Smithsonian's Objects that Defined America

• Global History Lab from Princeton.

Though the classes themselves are free, you may have to pay if you'd like professional development credit or if you'd like to enroll in a certification program. If you're looking for more structure, taking a course with set due dates might be more your thing. For me, the self-paced option fits in better with my schedule. Most classes range from four to six weeks with two to four hours of work per week.