Online Certificate Programs for Teens, College Students and Young Adults

There are online certification classes that students can take at many companies where teens and young adults can get practical training and earn a certification that shows competence in a specific area. 

Taking an online certification program is a great way to enhance your skills. (Twenty20 @NatalyaBodrova)

Online certificate programs for teens, college students and young adults

(MOOC)— massive online open course providers

Coursera online certification programs — Coursera is an online course provider founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors. Collaborating with top universities and corporations, it offers open online courses, specializations, degrees, and certificates. Here are two examples of popular courses offered:

EdX online certification programs — EdX was created by MIT and Harvard in 2012. There are 2000 online university-level courses in a wide range of topics from 140 leading institutions. Certificate track courses are available.

Graphic Design

  • Adobe offers a host of certification programs.
  • Avid offers professional certification for its professional media software. 
  • Unity 3D offers five different types of certifications that align with the most important workflows in the visualization and game development process, including development, 3D art and modeling, rigging, shading, and effects. 
  • Google UX Design Professional Certificate will help prepare you for a career in user experience (UX) design, which is the interaction users have with products, like websites, apps, and physical objects.

Programming/Technology/IT

  • iD Tech, the world’s #1 youth STEM educator, has partnered with prestigious institutions to create an online learning experience for teens. With a curriculum developed by elite university faculty and industry experts and live teaching from iD Tech instructors, teens can explore futures in coding, UX design, AI, business, and more, earning certifications.
  • University of Michigan – Python enroll for free and learn the basics of Python.
  • iOS Development Course to make Apps is a free tutorial that teaches iOS App Development through an iOS app development tutorial, from creating to submitting to the app store.
  • Microsoft offers a plethora of certifications.
  • Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc.)
  • Google IT Support Professional Certificate will teach day-to-day IT support tasks such as computer assembly, wireless networking, installing programs, and customer service, as well as how to use systems including Linux, Domain Name Systems, Command-Line Interface, and Binary Code. 
  • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner validates cloud fluency and foundational AWS knowledge.
  • Cisco offers a number of certifications for IT professionals at three different levels: Associate, Professional, and Expert.
  • CompTIA
    • The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a nonprofit trade association of the Information Technology industry that is dedicated to advancing the IT industry and offering vendor-neutral skills certification for IT professionals.
      • Certified in areas of IT such as A+, CASP+, CySA+, Cloud+, Linux+, Network+, PenTest+, Security+, and Server+
  • Oracle is a leading enterprise software provider that offers certifications on many platforms, including the Java programming language. 

Marketing/Social Media

Data Analysis/Cybersecurity

  • Cybersecurity Boot Camp from the University of Minnesota helps students gain experience with many popular tools such as Wireshark, Kali Linux, Metasploit, Nessus, and more through online classes and projects.

Health

  • Fundamentals of Virology Certificate Learn more about viruses and their structure, how they replicate, and their effect on human health with this course.
  • CDC Environmental Public Health EPHOC is an online/on-demand package of e-learning courses for environmental public health practitioners. The goal is to provide access to comprehensive, worthwhile, and affordable workforce development resources for practitioners in environmental public health. This has been a major issue of concern across the United States for the past decade or more.

Business

  • Finance is an overview of the ideas, methods, and institutions that permit human society to manage risks and foster enterprise. Emphasis on financially-savvy leadership skills. Description of practices today and analysis of prospects for the future. Introduction to risk management and behavioral finance principles to understand the real-world functioning of securities, insurance, and banking industries. The ultimate goal of this course is using such industries effectively and towards a better society.
  • HR Certification Institute – Human Resources (HRCI®) is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the HR profession by developing and administering best-in-class accredited certifications.

Public Relations/ Communications

  • PR Council Agency Ready Certificate includes webinars by agency leaders on the most critical skills in PR such as strategic planning, applying data, strategic social media, influencer engagement, crisis communications, client service, digital innovation and more.
  • Amazon Advertising will teach you everything you need to know about sponsored advertisements.

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About Madeleine Korn

Madeleine Korn is a recent graduate from the University of California, Santa Barbara. After graduating, she worked in marketing for a cybersecurity company for a year and a half. For the past year, she has been traveling the world while volunteering in hostels. This fall, she will be teaching English in Spain. She loves writing and creating videos and really enjoys working for Grown and Flown!

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