Not surprisingly, online courses for computers are among the most widely sought after classes today. These subjects lend themselves well to Internet based learning.
Coursework Overview
There is an online class for just about every type of computer / IT program out there. Categories are generally divided into technical / network, web design, Office skills, software, Internet and hardware.
Technical Courses
Technical programs offer certification for Cisco, Novell, ITIL, Oracle database administration and programming. The latter includes C, DB2 Universal Database, Visual Basic, SQL for the Windows environment and Sybase. Systems Security Professional (CISSP), UNIX & Linux are also offered by most websites. Sometimes technical courses include computer hacking, viruses and IT security. But other classes offer them separately.
Web Design Courses
These include Web programming, e-commerce and advanced web design. With web programming courses you can choose from AJAX, CGI/Perl, XML, WebSphere and Visual C#. You can also be certified in PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, Java web services, Java 2 programmer, Java 2 5.0 programming and Flash MX 2004 ActionScript 2.0. Other choices are Dynamic HTML and ColdFusion MX.
Office Courses
Numerous websites offer Microsoft Office training and certification. You can study Microsoft Access, Excel, Outlook, Word PowerPoint, Microsoft Project and SharePoint. You have the option of studying only one of these Office applications.
There are online certification programs for those who need to master the entire Office suite. Other subjects like Visio, Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 may be studied also. Crystal Reports and Lotus Notes are also offered in most online classes.
Other Courses
Certifications for popular software can be earned online. Microsoft certified tech (MCTS), certified desktop support technical (MCDST), certified systems engineer and certified professional developer programs are available as well. You will also find courses for Photoshop and other image editing applications.
Tips
It is easy to be overwhelmed by all the choices. Stick only with the programs that you need. Next, make sure that you have the right correct software version installed.
Prices differ. Often you can get discounts by ordering packages. But do so only if you need to study the other bundled programs. It makes no sense to pay for guides for applications you are not going to use. Try to get some feedback about the site. Learn what people are saying about it.
Online courses for computers will only grow in number. Thanks to competition, the price tags of these sites will go down. There are even free tutorials on the web.