As technology advances, online learning platforms have skyrocketed bringing in a wide variety of online courses that you can pursue. With this advancement, anyone from anywhere in the world has an opportunity to pursue an online course.
Statistics have shown that the number of people taking online courses has increased rapidly due to the convenience and affordability of information. One major benefit of taking an online course is the flexibility to self-pace your lessons.
With all the online course platforms available, it can be overwhelming to choose the best one that fits your budget, needs, and quality.
Here is a handpicked list of the most comprehensive online learning platforms (Most are free.)
1) Codecademy
Website design and development is one of the fastest-growing careers in the world, today.
At Code Academy, you will learn different programming languages that will prepare you for the skills that you need in the real world. Code Academy makes learning unique and utterly simple with their live window practicing on the side during lessons. Code Academy offers online courses on;
- Data Science
- Programming
- Computer science
- Web development
A quiz is available on Code Academy website to help beginners make sense of what their interests are and which course to pick.
You can submit your codes for testing to help gauge which level of studying you are in.
2) Academic Earth
As a learning platform, Academic Earth is perfect for you if you’re looking for an online platform with a wide variety of courses and topics from top universities.
This platform is seamless for all types of knowledge levels from beginner to intermediaries.
It offers online courses in areas of:
- Accounting
- Engineering
- Humanities
- Medicine
- Health Sciences/Math
They offer examination in, MCAT/SAT, LSAT, GMAT, and ACT.
3) Alison
Alison is a great platform for you if you are looking for micro-courses that are in-depth. With areas on IT, Health, fitness, Marketing, Languages and Humanities, Alison has courses on most topics you would be interested in.
Though not accredited, Alison offers certificates at a fee when you complete a full course. The Certificates come in the form of a digital download or a framed Parchment Certificate.
Some courses on the Alison website may come as written content or videos.
4) Coursera
Coursera has partnered with major universities, organizations, and Museums to bring you an assortment of various courses.
It’s for everyone looking for the latest skills needed in the market. The lectures are through videos, with self- paced quizzes and hands-on real life projects.
The certificates offered by Coursera are shareable on your social media profiles and recognized in the technology industry.
5) Open Culture
This MOOC platform offers courses from top universities in the US, England, Wales, and Australia. Some courses on Open Culture are paid while some are free. From psychology to Languages, Open Culture has got it all. The paid courses allow you to get a certificate or credential upon completion.
6) Udemy
This online course Platform has courses created by industry experts. It has a wide range of courses to choose from with both free and paid versions.
One of the unsurpassed things about Udemy is how easy it is to choose a course as well as the easiness of gauging course performance through reviews on the website. Here are the most popular courses on the platform:
- Design
- Development
- IT and Software
- Personal Development
- Photography
- Music
- Business and Marketing.
7) Open Yale Courses.
The courses offered on Yale’s site are from Yale University on-campus courses. They are mainly introductory and best if you are trying to familiarize yourself with the basics/fundamentals of a particular course.
The video courses are actual recordings of class lessons. (So yeah, closer to the action than you think.)
Courses are also brought as text transcripts or audio. No registration is required for you to start learning.
Some prominent courses on Open Yale Courses are:
- Economics
- Languages
- History
- Philosophy and Religious studies
8) UC Berkeley Courses
These courses are offered by Cal and are free to access. If you are looking for courses that are regularly updated, then this is for you.
The learning is self-paced and may run from only a few hours to weeks. You can learn:
- AI
- Statistics
- Computer Science and even Writing.
9) Code
Similar to Codecademy, Code is an online learning platform that offers courses in tech topics. You will learn App Writing, Robotics, and Java Scripts.
It’s free.
10) Edx
More than 140 Institutions are involved in the formation of online courses offered on Edx. There’re quizzes, teachers and discussion boards to help you through an online course you are taking.
Edx is a good learning online platform for Mathematics, science, and engineering courses.
11) Duolingo
Want to learn a new language for free?
Download the Duolingo app and start learning any of the 30+ languages taught. You earn points throughout the small-sized courses to empower you.
Every time you complete a new level of learning, you get graded instantly to help you analyze areas that you need to improve on. Duolingo’s Standardized English Test is accepted by most universities online.
12) Lynda
As a paid membership online learning platform, you can choose from IT security, Digital Marketing, and Graphics courses to learn on Lynda. You only have to pay a membership fee to learn any of the courses on Lynda.
13) Udacity
This platform allows you to learn part-time 10 hrs/week while working or taking normal classes. Udacity has 24/7 members’ support to assist you and answer coding questions you might have.
With Udacity, you learn from real-life examples and datasets while connecting with industry experts. These are some of the courses that Udacity offers;
- Programming and Development
- Artificial Intelligence
- Autonomous systems and Cloud Computing.
There are 200 online courses for free and Nano-degrees at a paid fee on Udacity.
As you can see, the possibilities of learning online are limitless with so many online learning platforms available.
If you need to improve your productivity, check out how to beat procrastination when pursuing an online course. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts on these online learning platforms would be of help to other website users. Sharing is loving. Let me know which is your favorite or the most helpful in the comments.