I use Coursera to take all the fun classes I never got to take in college, like the history of modern art — they're completely free and I can work at my own pace

• Online-learning sites are great tools for both personal and career-based development.
• I've been interested in art for years, but I stopped investing time in the subject when it didn't apply to my college major.
• But, I used a free online course on Coursera — created by the Museum of Modern Art, one of the top museums in the world — to get back into a hobby I genuinely enjoy.
• The course has made my free time feel more valuable. It's easy, fun, and affordable (i.e. it's blessedly free).

I spent my summer after my sophomore year of high school in a small Italian town that trapped heat like a convection oven. I'd earned a scholarship, and, with it, I got to spend my days relaying piazzas to paper with gritty, melting pastels and my nights in a peaceful local nunnery.

I've always loved art. But, years later, when it came time to choose a university and career path, artistic aspirations took a backseat to other career opportunities. Over the semesters, it moved further away from my everyday life. I allotted my time almost exclusively to my major instead — a strangely singular but customary state of being in universities that follows us into our careers.

But, after a trip to Paris in 2017, I decided to make some changes. The day I got back, I signed up for a course — Modern Art & Ideas on Coursera.

How I found the course

I did a search on popular sites like Udemy, Edx, and Coursera, and landed on Modern Art & Ideas: It covered pieces and time periods I found the most interesting; it required zero prior art history knowledge; it had continued application (how to conceptualize art outside of the course); and it was free to audit (you only pay a $49 fee if you want a certificate to verify completion).

It was also created by one of the most noteworthy museums in the world, the Museum of Modern Art. The beautiful thing about the 21st century is that the internet provides access to classes on virtually any topic, and at the sort of level you may not be able to attain otherwise, like online courses and programs curated by Ivy League schools. For a fraction of the cost of attending in earnest, though, you'll need to compensate by supplying a bit more personal accountability.

The specifics of online learning differ by platform and by course, but it's relatively affordable and easy to fit into your busy life. Online courses can help you adapt quickly to changing job markets, or they can help you get deeper into personal hobbies for less money and time than enrolling in a local college class.

For me, online classes meant I could finally take the "fun classes" I could never fit into my college schedule. I've been interested in art for years, but adulthood provided me with the free time to really learn about it at my own pace.

Now, my free time feels more valuable.

What Modern Art & Ideas was like as a student

Modern Art & Ideas was broken up into five weeks with different assignments and material to be covered each week (estimated to take you about an hour per week to complete).

The material was primarily slideshows and videos with supplemental resources you could read, and weeks two through five had quick 10-question quizzes to complete. It also had discussion forums available for you to discuss the course material with the other students enrolled.

The material was manageable, really didn't require prior knowledge in the area. For convenience, you can set up push notifications to remind you to study and you can download the material for offline reading, ideal for plane rides and commutes. And since there were definitely times when I didn't want to come home from work and read, the self-pacing was essential; it took the pressure off of learning and let me simply enjoy the course. I caught up when I could, or worked ahead if I wanted to.

What I got out of the course long-term

The experience was remarkably positive. I freshened up my general art history knowledge, was inspired to head to the Museum of Modern Art itself for a little field trip (which you can do virtually), and started listening to a podcast recommended as supplemental material that I likely would never have found otherwise ("A Piece of Work" by the comedian Abbi Jacobson). Later, I gifted tickets to one of the exhibitions mentioned in the podcast to my boyfriends as a birthday present.

The course is structured by the four themes that educators at The Museum of Modern Art use frequently in their teaching — Places & Spaces, Art & Identity, Transforming Everyday Objects, and Art & Society — so I've actually enjoyed my independent museum visits more, now that I have new ways of thinking about what I'm seeing, apart from the plaque of information and a gut reaction.

Read more: 100 online courses from Coursera are $0 now through December 31 — here's a list of all the classes open for free enrollment

The bottom line

I noticed that adulthood had a way of narrowing my interests until I was essentially majoring in my career — again. I was concerned that, without noticing, I'd spend the next decade ignoring other interests and rounding out unique, distinguishable edges in the efficient pursuit of becoming more professional. Not only did that seem myopic and counterintuitive (dynamic people provide dynamic thought to a team), but it seemed boring. It seemed like our happiness, diversity of thought, and, hey, even the quality of small talk at happy hour, could be improved exponentially just by taking the time to explore these other interests — even if it's just a free guitar lesson from Fender.

I didn't pay anything, but the Modern Art & Ideas class has made me happier and feel more versatile and less stagnant in my adult life — which, to be honest, can morph into a cycle of commute, work, commute, Netflix, sleep.

Now that I've gotten over the hurdle of just starting a course in the first place, it seems easier to keep taking them. Knowing now that it didn't transport me back to stressful all-nighters in the college library has been a relief, and so has seeing how seamlessly and easily it could fit into my own life. I have plans for other courses, some art-related and some not, for the next time I find myself with free time to explore.

I can't speak to every course online, but I can say that — at least for me — online courses are the perfect way to pay some attention to your individual interests, actually be a lifelong learner, and keep yourself engaged and pleasantly surprised by the everyday. For free, that's not bad.