20 Essential MOOC Courses In Business

Introduction to Public Speaking

School: University of Washington

Platform: Coursera

Link: https://www.coursera.org/course/publicspeak

Start Date: March 31, 2014 (10 Weeks)

Workload: 3-5 Hours per Week

Instructor: Matt McGarrity

Credentials: Dr. McGarrity is the Director of the Speaking Center at the University of Washington, where he also teaches “undergraduate and graduate course in public in public speaking, argumentation, classical rhetoric, rhetorical criticism, and communication pedagogy.” As a teacher, he has won the Outstanding Professor Award from the National Speakers’ Association.

Graded: No certificates are given.

Description: Looking to refresh your presentation skills? In this course, you’ll learn how to write and confidently deliver presentations that are concise, clear, and engaging. What’s more, you’ll master public speaking in persuasive, impromptu, and informative settings. Students will absorb the content through 8-12 minute video lectures, quizzes, discussion forums, sample speeches, and peer assessment assignments.

Review: “I’m a 100% technical person but this is the best course that I’ve took on coursera. It develops skills that you can use in your daily activity, job, on meetings by interests an so on. This is a etalon of how faculty course can be moved to a MOOC level. I think everyone who want to make their own MOOC should take this course first.” For additional reviews, click here.

Additional Note: If you want to complete the optional speech assignments, you’ll need video recording equipment, such as a cell phone, and the ability to share digital content online.

Here are some additional courses starting within the next month that might interest you:

General Game Playing (Stanford) / March 31

The Data Scientist’s Handbook (John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) / April 7

Creativity: Music to My Ears (Stanford) / April 2

Introduction to Computer Science (Harvard) / Self-Paced

Giving with Purpose: How to Get the Most Out of Your Charitable Giving (Learning By Giving Foundation) / April 2

Introduction to Credit Risk Management (Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics) / April 15

Decision Skills: Power Tools to Build Your Life (Decision Education Foundation) / April 14

Stanford also offers paid MOOC courses in entrepreneurial education. Here are some of their offerings:

The Startup Pitch ($149) / Self-Paced

Venture Deals ($249) / Starts March 31

Raising Startup Capital ($149) / Starts May 2014