How to take Yale's personal happiness online course for free
As the new year unfolds, you may find yourself with a list of things you want to achieve within the next 12 months.
If any of these goals includes looking after your wellbeing or working on more productive habits, then you are in luck – Yale University can help you get there at no charge.
In 2018, Professor Laurie Santos unveiled a psychology course titled “Psychology and the Good Life” at the university. It became the most popular class in Yale University’s 317-year history, with a quarter of the student body enrolling in the course.
When a free online version of the course – “The Science of Well-Being” – launched on learning platform Coursera last year, a whopping 255,000 people signed up. Many went on to praise the class as “life-changing”.
Now the course is back for the new year. In the ten-week class, Santos is set to share “misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do, and the research that can help us change”.
The whole course – which includes video lectures, readings and quizzes – is estimated to take 20 hours to complete.
The first class kicked off this week, but you can still catch up and do the tasks on your own pace. Students can sign up and observe the class for free, but an optional completion certificate will cost about NZ$73.5.