Graphic and Web Design Tools

Whether you are just starting out or have plenty of experience under your belt, these free online resources will help strengthen your knowledge of many popular graphic and web design tools.

1. Flash. Learn to use Macromedia Flash in this course that will culminate with your having created one fully-functional Flash project.
2. Weekly Web Design Class. Go beyond simply learning HTML to develop a deeper understanding of what makes a great website with this class.
3. Learn and Apply HTML. Take this WebCT "exemplary course" to learn how to perform HTML coding.
4. Blogs, Wikis, New Media for Learning. Find out how to best use some popular Web 2.0 tools and applications in this class.
5. Adobe Photoshop Basics. Get 8 weekly lessons to help get you using Photoshop with ease.
6. Adobe Sample Courses. Adobe offers 7 days’ worth of free online training for Adobe programs such as Photoshop, InDesign, and Acrobat.
7. QuarkEd Training Files. Whether you are just learning Quark or are an old pro, these free files will have something for you to learn.
8. DHTML Animation. Learn the how to animate web pages using a combination of HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
9. Graphic Design Basics. This listing of free courses from About.com offers some excellent free classes to teach you the basics of graphic design.
10. Beginning Web Design Course. Take this course and in six weeks you can have the basics to design excellent websites.
11. The Graphic Reporter. Get free tutorials and tips on graphic and web design topics from this site.
12. Dreamweaver Tutorials. If you use Dreamweaver to create websites, then these free tutorials might come in handy for you.
13. Open of Course. This open courseware site requires free membership to access their courses, but they offer an entire section on web design.

Media Arts

A perfect combination for web designers–technology and art–these media arts courses will polish your skills to help produce top-notch websites.

14. Fundamentals of Computational Media Design. Learn the basics of media design in this class with hands-on design opportunities.
15. Holographic Images. This hands-on laboratory course teaches about holography and holographic imaging.
16. Special Topics in Multimedia Production: Experiences in Interactive Art. Using visiting artists’ lectures and discussion on the history of interactive art as springboards, students create their own interactive art project in this class.
17. Media Art I. Get hands-on experience with this class that introduces students to the various concepts of media art.
18. Media Art II. Building off Media Art I, this course looks at black and white photography, digital imaging, and public art.
19. Media Art III. Continuing in this series, students will deepen their learning while studying digital sound and digital video art while strengthening their technical abilities.
20. Media Art IV. The last in the series, this class allows students to work on three projects that will polish their technical and conceptual skills.
21. Pattern Recognition and Analysis. Learn about recognizing patterns and features of interest in numerical data in this class.
22. Affective Computing. Study the relation between computing and emotion in this class that looks at how emotions are elicited via the computer.
23. Signals, Systems, and Information for Media Technology. This graduate-level class explores audio/visual signals and how they are received by humans.
24. How to Learn (Almost) Anything. Through these experiential learning activities, look at the relationship of technology and hands-on learning and explore what can be learned.
25. Technologies for Creative Learning. Lego fans will love this opportunity to examine ways new technologies can help stimulate learning and creativity in this hands-on course.
26. Introduction to Media Studies. Examine the role media plays in society in this class. For the same subject matter, but a different topic focus, try Introduction to Media Studies Fall 2005.
27. Creativity, community, and ICT. Learn about how creativity works, about collaborative creativity, and how technology can assist in both the collaborative and creative aspects of learning.
28. Topics in Cinematic Storytelling. Learn the basics of communicating a storyline through a visual medium.
29. Common Sense Reasoning for Interactive Applications. This course goes over the relationship between humans and computers with an emphasis on increasing communication.

Art

From learning about the art of color to studying art and technology, these art classes will help you create visually appealing websites.

30. Feeling and Imagination in Art, Science, and Technology. Study philosophy, psychology, and literature to learn about the ways emotion and imagination play into the creative process.
31. Art of Color. Learn about the use of color in visual arts, the psychology of color, and more in this course that is a must for graphic designers of any type.
32. Composing Your Life: Exploration of Self Through Visual Arts and Writing. Enjoy using several types of media to explore yourself and your creativity in this course.
33. Photography and Truth. This anthropology class examines how photography works to document and communicate as an art form.
34. Documentary Photography and Photo Journalism: Still Images of A World In Motion. Learn how to convey thought and emotion through photography in this class that also requires written accompaniments to the photo documentation for class.
35. Modern Art and Mass Culture. Learn about modern art and theories while looking at how the artist uses the combination of art and pop culture to express herself.
36. Introduction to Art History. Learn how art has developed and functioned through the years and how it has served as an extension of the culture.
37. 20th Century Art. Learn about art as it developed throughout the last century with a backdrop of the cultural changes that occurred during that time.
38. BSAD Foundations in the Visual Arts. Designed for architecture students, this course teaches students to communicate through various visual media forms.
39. Art and Technology. Learn how digital and bio-technologies relate to art in this course.
40. Introduction to Video. Work on projects, including a final assignment of personal storytelling, that will develop your skills as a videographer and video editor.

Writing and Editing

Creating an effective site relies on more than just the visual aspect. Make sure your writing and editing skills are up to speed with these free courses.

41. Expository Writing: Social and Ethical Issues in Print, Photography and Film. Through the study of film and literature, this course teaches students to expand their writing skills to create well-reasoned arguments and a polished product.
42. Expository Writing - Food for Thought: Writing and Reading about Food and Culture. Strengthen writing skills while also studying about culture through food in this delicious class.
43. The Creative Spark. Through journal writings and studying artists of various media, this course teaches about creativity–what it is, how it’s valued, and how it grows.
44. Consumer Culture. Practice writing while also taking a look into the world of American consumerism. What a combination for a web designer.
45. Expository Writing: Analyzing Mass Media. Learn to write a strong, persuasive essay while taking a look at the impact mass media has had on American culture.
46. Writing and Experience: Culture Shock! Writing, Editing, and Publishing in Cyberspace. Through an exploration of American pop culture, this class helps practice writing for an online audience.
47. Intro to Tech Communication. An especially valuable writing course if you come from a more technical background than a literary one, this course offers the basics in writing for an information-based audience.
48. Introduction to Technical Communication: Ethics in Science and Technology. Take a look at how ethical dilemmas are resolved (or not resolved) when they arise in technology-based situations.
49. Introduction to Technical Communication: Explorations in Scientific and Technical Writing. This course offers the basics in technical writing with topics including graphics, web page writing and design, and email.
50. Becoming Digital: Writing About Media Change. With the shift to digital media, business, communication, and entertainment have changed significantly. This class explores that shift while strengthening writing skills.
51. Digital Poetry. Students study digital poetry in various forms including soundscapes, hypertext poetry, animation, code poems, and interactive games.

Technology

From technology trends to securing online businesses to technology and gender, these classes offer plenty from the technological side of web design.

52. Information Technology Essentials. This basic course offers an overview of hardware, software, and technology concepts and trends.
53. Data Mining. This course examines data mining methods that have evolved from both statistics and artificial intelligence and looks at recognizing patterns and making predictions with this information.
54. Media Industries and Systems. Learn about the trends, audience, and creative process as forces shaping content in media industries and systems.
55. Technology for Professional Writers. This course teaches important technology skills with a focus on the writer’s perspective.
56. Information technology: a new era?. Take a look at technology and how it has impacted the economy, productivity, and more in this course.
57. Search Engines: Technology, Society and Business. Learn from a distinguished group of lecturers in the course that examines Internet searches and how they relate to business.
58. Practicum in Enterprise Security. Students learn first-hand in this course that teaches what you need to know about securing your online business.
59. Technology Strategy. This course is designed for those who will invest in or run a business where technology will play a major role and will cover investment planning and behavior of competition, suppliers, and customers.
60. Technology and Gender in American History. Learn about the history and current presence of women in technology and how both have shaped the field and society itself.

Copyright and Ethics

Working online, you need to ensure you are following the law and ethics of the Internet. These courses will teach you what you need to know.

61. Introduction to Copyright Law. This course covers the basics of copyright law with a heavy emphasis on Internet-related topics–a must for anyone working on the Internet.
62. Information Law and Policy. Find out about copyright law, protecting databases, licensing of information, privacy and more in this course.
63. Ethics and the Law on the Electronic Frontier. Law, policy, and technology come together in this course that discusses several topics concerning the Internet and law.

Psychology

Understanding the visitors to your sites is an important aspect of designing. Learn about gender issues, vision science, online interaction, and more in these courses.

64. A Clinical Approach to the Human Brain. This course is geared for all types of students, not just psychology majors, wanting to explore the nature of the human brain and cognition.
65. Psychology of Gender. Learn about the gender differences and social influences within several social realms.
66. Special Topics in Vision Science. Learn about both human and computer vision in this class that explores the psychology of vision.
67. Understanding Online Interaction. Get the basics about how people communicate online and also learn how to design "effective learning environments" on the web.
68. Social Visualization. Learn about the psychology behind the online user audience and practice visualizing this crowd through their activities and interactions.

Culture and Globalization

When creating a website, it is important to remember that the audience will likely be a global one. Learn what you need to know about various cultures and global communities to ensure you are creating an inclusive website.

69. Communicating Across Cultures. Learn about the effects of globalization on society and find out how you can become more culturally sensitive to those around you.
70. Visualizing Cultures. Using the opening of Japan by Commodore Perry, this course examines cultural perceptions with regards to racism, nationalism, war, propaganda, and more.
71. Topics in Culture and Globalization. Explore how globalization has shaped cultures in both First and Third world countries by looking at their pop music, advertisements, film posters, and political cartoons.
72. American Dream: Exploring Class in the U.S.. This course looks at the potential of class in American and how it relates to other differences such as race and gender.
73. Internet Technology in Local and Global Communities. This course looks at programming, Internet technology, open source programs, and entrepreneurship and is a part of the MIT-African Internet Technology Initiative.
74. New Global Agenda: Exploring 21st Century Challenges through Innovations in Information Technology. This course examines how IT development has affected globalization and international politics.
75. Media in Cultural Context. Learn about how culture defines itself through TV programs and how international markets are impacted by these identities and others perceptions of these identities.
76. Managing local practices in global contexts. This course covers a lot of ground as it examines several aspects of business in the global environment.
77. International Relations. Learn such important topics as international economy, values and attitudes, and global issues in this course that is a must for anyone dealing with international business contacts.
78. Economic Development, Policy Analysis, and Industrialization. This course teaches how government plays a role in developing countries that affects global business. One topic of interest is the introduction of the high tech industry in these countries.
79. Working in a Global Economy. This course examines global economy and the practice and policy changes that have occurred since the development of the current economy.
80. Globalization, Migration, and International Relations. Learn about globalization and its impact on businesses and people around the world.

Marketing

Knowing something about the market is vital to web design as your work will be what the customer sees. Take these classes to learn all about marketing, marketing strategies, and the customer.

81. Introduction to Marketing. An excellent place to start for those just starting out in marketing, this course covers all the basics.
82. Marketing Management. Another introductory course, this one offers a basic overview of the concepts of marketing and is a great place to start before moving to more advanced marketing courses.
83. Marketing Strategy. This course looks at marketing in conjunction with the strategy for a company as a whole. The course is recommended for entrepreneurs, consultants, and project managers.
84. Entrepreneurial Marketing. Focusing on the general concept of marketing problems, this course examines basic marketing and new venture issues to help the student learn to have a better understanding for her specific needs.
85. Strategic Marketing Management. Understanding the market (rather than the customer) is the focus of this course, which will teach the skills necessary to complete a marketing research survey.
86. Listening to the Customer. This course, the companion course to Strategic Marketing Management, studies the needs of the customers rather than the market.
87. Special Seminar in Marketing: Marketing Management. The focus of this course is to teach students the basics of marketing ideas and phenomena while honing students’ abilities for market analysis and planning.
88. Marketing communications as a strategic function. This course covers the basic arguments for marketing communications as an important strategy, the changing role of communications, and customer preferences.

Entrepreneurship

Whether you are starting out with a business of your own or just working with plenty of entrepreneurs as clients, these classes will help you with the basics of entrepreneurship.

89. Developmental Entrepreneurship. Looking at real-life examples of both failed and successful businesses in developing countries, this class explores developmental opportunities and business models.
90. Entrepreneurial Finance. Entrepreneurs will benefit from this course that looks at raising money for technology-based companies and the early stages of development.
91. Early Stage Capital. This course offers lessons on start-ups and early stage capital generation with a focus on building relationships with investors and advisors.
92. Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning. Getting personal finances in order and planning for the future has an impact on your business as an entrepreneur. Learn the basics with this course.
93. Investment Risk. This course focuses on risk aversion, qualifying risk, risk factors, and discounted cash flow and the net present value rule.
94. Special Seminar in Management The Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans. Specifically targeted to entrepreneurs, this seminar looks at the basics of creating a business plan.
95. Pricing. Looking at real cases, this course aims to teach an understanding for pricing strategies and techniques for businesses.
96. Entrepreneurial behavior. This course looks at the definitions, qualities, function, and work styles of entrepreneurs.
97. Management Communications for Undergraduates. The content of this course includes a focus on writing, speaking, team work, and interpersonal relationship skills.
98. Managerial Economics. This course covers the basics of microeconomics as it pertains to management decisions and is a must for any entrepreneur.
99. How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services. Likely the goal of most entrepreneurs, this course teaches how to create breakthrough products and services through concrete, systematic concepts.
100. Entrepreneurship in Contemporary America. Find out what several American business women have faced in a field that has typically been a man’s realm.
101. Law for the Entrepreneur and Manager. This law class aims to educate the learner in the basics of the legal issues that affect a business from start-up to going public.

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