Learn new skills by taking free courses online from top-tier universities

Whether you're in a career transition or you're thinking about a transition, this could be a good time for you to learn some new skills by taking a few courses online. Free online courses have been around for many years, but a few new platforms have recently emerged that are particularly compelling. I'm specifically referring to EdX and Coursera.

• EdX is a not-for-profit enterprise of its founding partners Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that features learning designed specifically for interactive study via the web.
• Coursera a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities (like Stanford, Princeton, U Penn, Duke, Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, UCSF, and many others) in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free.

There's an interesting upcoming course on EdX titled, "PH207x: Health in Numbers: Quantitative Methods in Clinical & Public Health Research." This free course starts on Oct 15, 2012 and is provided by HarvardX.

There's an interesting course on Coursera titled, "Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship." This course is offered by Duke University and the start date is TBD.

You won't get a diploma by completing these courses, but you may learn some valuable lessons that will help you professionally. There are millions of people around the world participating in these online courses and they are receiving world-class education for free.