Did you know that BYU Independent Study (BYU IS) offers a variety of free online courses as a public service? While these free courses do not earn high school or university course credit, they provide a great way to explore new subjects at no cost!
If you are curious about what a BYU IS online course looks like, signing up for a three-month free course is a great way to preview either the actual course or one like it before you enroll in a for-credit course section. Test-driving a free elective course can also help you decide if the subject is interesting to you before you register for real.
If you are new to online education, taking a free course can also help you learn how to use a learning management system (LMS)* and navigate through course content. Although BYU IS free courses do not include any graded work (because there is no instructor), courses may include ungraded quizzes to help you test your knowledge.
BYU IS free courses include a variety of subjects from our high school and university course portfolios, including the following:
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Music courses such as Beginning Piano and Organ Performance
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Finance courses such as Financial Literacy and Family Finance
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Life skills courses such as Life Preparation and Online Prep: Tools for Success
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Fitness courses such as Fitness for Living Well and Beginning Bowling
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And so many other intro courses to teach you psychology, interior design, computer science, family history, and drawing—just to name a few
To sign up for a free course, simply go to the BYU IS free course catalog, click on the course you want to take, and add it to your cart. To access your cart and register, you will need to sign in with your BYU Net ID (username) and password (or create a Net ID if you haven’t already). From your registration cart, just confirm all of your information and your “purchase”—with no payment required!
