Cover the distance from being an accidental project manager to being a more capable, credible, and competent one with these five online project management courses.
What is a project management certification?
Project management certification is a popular certification suitable for experienced, new, and aspiring project managers. Professionals can choose a suitable level of certification depending on their experience, skill set, and the time they have at hand.
Mike is an accidental project manager. He suddenly found himself in the role on the IT team of the firm where he started out in the business development department.
Although Mike has complete knowledge of the products and is aware of all organizational processes and tools, he's struggling to gain credibility as a project manager from clients and his team.
If you're in a similar situation, you should consider seeking formal project management training. A good project management certification can improve your credibility and capability to deliver projects successfully and on time. You'll gain a better foundation in project management best practices and learn how to utilize resources more effectively.
However, it's not easy to shortlist courses that you can manage alongside your full-time job. We've curated a list of courses that offer online lectures and can be completed within six months
1. Alison: Diploma in Project Management
Alison Diploma in Project Management (Source)
Alison is a free learning platform that offers 1,000+ online courses. It offers certificate courses, diploma courses, and other learning paths that can be accessed from anywhere at any time.
Alison's Diploma in Project Management is handy for professionals starting out in project management or for those who are already working as project managers.
About the course: The course provides knowledge about project management methodologies (such as Scrum and Agile), tools (such as Gantt and PERT charts), documentation (such as system, technical, paper-based, electronic, and specialist user documentation), and project lifecycle analysis, planning, design, and evaluation.
Duration: Six to 10 hours
Modules: 27
Assessment: To successfully earn the diploma at the end of the course, candidates must achieve 80% or higher in each module assessment. Successful candidates can choose to get electronic certifications; all certificates are available for purchase through the Alison shop.
Price: Free
2. Brain Sensei: Complete PMP Exam Prep Course
Brain Sensei PMP prep course (Source)
Brain Sensei is an e-learning company that offers specialized project management and PMP exam preparation courses. The platform is a PMI Registered Education Provider.
Brain Sensei's complete PMP Exam Prep Course is suitable for experienced corporate professionals who are looking to move ahead in their careers as project managers.
About the course: The course provides a project management overview, including fundamentals about project initiation, project closing, and the importance of the role of a project manager. The different course modules discuss processes for defining, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing a project. The course also offers a summary of key knowledge points.
Duration: Six months
Modules: Eight
Assessment: Students have multiple assessments in each module, and over 900 practice exam questions.
Price: $499.99 for six months
3. Coursera: Applied Project Management Certificate
Introduction to project management at Coursera (Source)
Coursera is an online platform that offers courses from universities and companies across the world. Students can enroll and access prerecorded videos of lectures, auto-graded assignments, and community discussion forums. All courses last four to six weeks and are open to everyone.
Coursera's Applied Project Management Certificate course is suitable for project managers with three to five years of experience. The course allows them to move beyond the basics to learn the art of project management application. The program is designed to prepare students to clear the PMP examination.
About the course: The course is offered by the University of California, Irvine (accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges). Its curriculum fulfills Project Management Institute's (PMI) educational requirements for the Project Management Professional (PMP) course credentials.
The modules offered under this program cover a variety of topics such as selecting and scheduling projects and stakeholders, implementing work breakdown structure, and creating effective communication plans. Students also learn about the basics of portfolio management, program management, and Scrum and Agile project management techniques.
Duration: Six months
Modules: Four
Assessment: Students must complete all the courses with a minimum of a "C" grade. The requirements of the course must be fulfilled within 18 months of the initial start date of the session.
Price: $777 for each module, or available at a discount of $128 by pre-paying $2,980
4. Master of Project Academy: Bundled course
All courses bundle in Master of Project Academy (Source)
Master of Project Academy is an e-learning company with more than 500,000 enrollments globally. It offers special training on Microsoft Project and PMP exams. It also offers one-on-one PMP coaching as well as single and bundled courses in IT and business fields. Students are provided with exam simulators, prep books, and flash cards.
The bundled project management course is suitable for aspiring project managers and experienced project managers who are looking to refresh their skills.
About the courses: The course covers PMP certification training, Agile Scrum certification training, ITIL Foundation certification training, CAPM certification training, Microsoft project training, etc. Students get 24/7 assistance, online moderated forums for active discussions, practice questions, step-by-step guidance for PMP exam, and downloadable PMP study tools such as flashcards and cheat sheets.
Duration: Varies for each course
Modules: 27
Assessment: Students get certificate of completion for each course that they complete. However, they must pass the certification exam of certifying authority to get industry recognition.
Price: There are three subscription models: monthly ($97), annual ($670), and lifetime ($970).
5. Project Management Institute: Project Management Basics
Project Management Institute's online course library (Source)
The Project Management Institute is a not-for-profit association for project and program managers. The organization supports global membership. It offers globally recognized PMP certification to accredit project management professionals. PMI also oversees Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
PMI's Project Management Basics is an online course that's suitable for professionals who want to be accredited as project managers.
About the course: The course is a foundational one that helps professionals build their project management skills. The course also enables them to prepare for the CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) certification given by PMI. The course offers hands-on learning and 20 minutes of modules. It also offers a free digital version of the PMBOK Guide .
Duration: 23 hours
Modules: N/A
Assessment: Students can prepare for the CAPM exam with practice questions built in into the course and also track their progress using a free tool.
Price: Non-members need to pay $400 for the course while PMI members are charged $350.
What's next?
Now that you've read about the five best online project management courses, it's time to pick one and get started. But first, make sure you:
Talk to people who have completed the courses to understand what professional edge they gained after completing the course.
Read reviews for the course to learn about other users' experiences.
Go through the course content and check out free trial options to decide if the course is suitable for you.
Let us know in the comments about other courses that helped you or your friends. We're eager to hear about your experiences.