We scoured the depths of the internet for the most peculiar, outside-the-box online classes you can take across MOOC sites like Coursera, Udemy, and EdX. Here are the wildest ones we found.
There are endless online courses out there to learn all sorts of actually useful skills, from building websites to learning how to code. But the internet is a weird, wild place. If you know where to look, you can learn how to do almost anything.
We went hunting for the oddest online courses you can take. Some are cool, some are strange, and some are downright bizarre, but they’re all useful in their own peculiar ways. If you want learn how to be a clown, communicate with your pet telepathically, or become a powerful faery shaman, we’ve got you covered.
Become a Pro Esports Gamer
Esports has become a booming industry that’s expected to top a billion dollars in 2019, and there are more and more games featured in lucrative tournaments for the world’s top players. If you want to learn how to become the next great esports star, you can pay $10.99 to take Udemy’s Become a Pro Gamer class.
Biohacking Your Brain's Health
The future will be all about biohacking. But before we have mass technology to alter our DNA or fit our bodies with cybernetic enhancements, you can biohack yourself in analog fashion. A Coursera course for Biohacking Your Brain’s Health teaches you how to maximize your brain’s fitness through nutrition, exercise, meditation, and sleep.
Power and Responsibility: Doing Philosophy with Superheroes
The Marvel Cinematic Universe and all its offshoots have brought comic book and superhero culture further into the mainstream than ever before; apparently even into academia and philosophy. In the edX course Power and Responsibility: Doing Philosophy with Superheroes, created by SmithsonianX and the Harvard Division of Continuing Education, you can study the philosophical quandaries of Spider-Man’s struggle with great power and responsibility or Superman’s duty to uphold truth and justice. (Photo by Daniel Fung/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Learn the Art of Clowning
Clowning is a noble calling. In the Udemy course, Clown for fun and profit: Learning the art of clowning, you’ll be steeped in the ancient art and history of clowning. You get to pick a wig and clown outfit, find your clown’s personality, and learn how to actually make a living as a professional clown. It’s not all balloons and birthday parties, folks. (Colin McConnell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Osteoarchaeology: The Truth in Our Bones
Become a master of your own skeletal secrets. In the Coursera course Osteoarchaeology: The Truth in Our Bones, you’ll learn how to examine the human skeleton to reconstruct the lives of people who’ve lived in the past, from age-at-death, diseases, and injuries to the boney clues that color in a human’s habits.
Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology
Trekkies, rejoice: you can take an entire class tracking Star Trek‘s widespread influence on society. Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology from edX probes how the series’ many movie and TV incarnations tackled topics such as race, gender, sexuality, and ethics, and how it still shapes our technology and society.
Hypnosis 101
For $12.99, you can learn how to hypnotize people. In this Udemy class, you’ll learn how to hypnotize with rapid and instant inductions and get a crash course in the basics of hypnotherapy. Pocketwatch not included.
Tracking Your Digital Footprints
The most presciently useful course on this list may be Coursera’s Digital Footprint class offered through the University of Edinburgh, which teaches you how to manage your digital presence and uphold your privacy across social media and more without impacting your potential job prospects by going off the grid.
What To Text A Girl You Like
If you just can’t figure out the right words to ask out that special someone, you can pay $12.99 and a guy named Matt Artisan will tell you how. The Udemy course What To Text A Girl You Like teaches you, well…I’ll just let Matt’s description speak for itself:
“Steal my best Text Messages to GET THE DATE, SPARK ATTRACTION and Get The Girl…This step by step texting blueprint will teach you everything I know, and show you exactly how to seduce her through text messages.” But wait, there’s more! You also get over 200 “proven texts,” from first-date openers to “re-engagement texts” and “cliffhanger texts.” Now there’s an offer you just can’t beat.
How to Influence People
Offered by the University of Michigan through Coursera, Influencing People teaches you the art of building, developing, and sustaining a “power base” in your organization. You will also learn influence tactics that enable you to be more persuasive and influential in working with your superiors, peers, and even subordinates. If your dream is to be a ruthless CEO, this is the course for you. (Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images)
Communicate with your Animal Telepathically
Just admit it: you wish you could talk to your cat or dog. It would make things a whole lot easier. Well in the Udemy course Communicate with your Animal Telepathically, you can learn how to “use your natural intuition and psychic abilities to communicate with any species.” And only for $12.99? What a deal. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age
This course basically teaches you how to A/B test your brain. Offered by the University of Michigan through Coursera, Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age teaches you how to use data, probability, and a scientific methodology to improve your everyday life, from the benefits of walking out of a movie to flipping a coin to decide whether you have coffee today.
Activate Powerful Faery Shamanism To Shape Shift Destiny
Do I really have to say more than the title? The Udemy course Activate Powerful Faery Shamanism To Shape Shift Destiny taps into shamanic and witchcraft lore to “rediscover their wild wisdom deep within yourself seeing the web of life that connects all living beings—seen and unseen” and even teaches you how to “conduct appropriate ceremony working respectfully with the faery realms.” For $12.99, you can take a journey into a higher plane of consciousness.
Depending on your needs, building a website can be incredibly simple or tremendously challenging. We’ve curated a list of online video-based courses from Udemy and LinkedIn Learning that can give you the tools and knowledge to master the craft.
Advertisement
Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Rob Marvin is PCMag’s Associate Features Editor. He writes features, news, and trend stories on all manner of emerging technologies. Beats include: startups, business and venture capital, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, AI, augmented and virtual reality, IoT and automation, legal cannabis tech, social media, streaming, security, mobile commerce, M&A, and entertainment. Rob was previously Assistant Editor and Associate Editor in PCMag’s Business section. Prior to that, he served as an editor at SD Times. He graduated from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. You can also find his business and tech coverage on Entrepreneur and Fox Business. Rob is also an unabashed nerd who does occasional entertainment writing for Geek.com on movies, TV, and culture. Once a year you can find him on a couch with friends marathoning The Lord of the Rings trilogy–extended editions. Follow Rob on Twitter at @rjmarvin1.
PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
© 1996-2021 Ziff Davis. PCMag Digital Group
PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant.
