In the COVID-19 situation, educational institutes and professionals have opted for delivering online courses for its current and new batch of students. Almost every industry experts are creating courses and programs online to share their skilled knowledge with a global audience. Today’s education format is no longer bounded to classrooms and textbook lectures. Students now have the luxury to pursue courses from prestigious universities from the comfort of their own homes.
What kind of online courses are offered?
You can find a course about any topic you are interested in the educational course sites available on the internet. From beginner levels to intermediate and advanced, there's something for everybody. There is no shortage of online courses either you want to score well in a subject or learn a completely new skill.
There are websites that allow students to have access to quality education from across the world for free or some minimal amount of fees. Some of the most popular online websites available today are Coursera, edX, FutureLearn, Udemy, and others. To help you introduce the rapidly expanding world of online education, below are the best sites to learn online courses for upgrading your knowledge/ skills:
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Udemy
Udemy is one of the best online platforms that provide learners with an opportunity to gain practical knowledge and skills besides the regular curriculum and popular study programs. It teaches students the skills that are in demand by employers in the industry of their choice. Whether you are looking to get a promotion or want to step into a whole new industry altogether, it is the right choice for your queries. Apart from that, the website provides all this for a fraction of what most universities and institutes cost. One can even find courses in areas such as data science, web development, and certification courses in android and iOS, courses that help you step into the job world with more than just a degree.
Course cost: 10-500 USD
Coursera
Coursera comes under the most widely used e-learning websites. It provides a wide range of courses (both paid and non-paid) in various disciplines ranges from data science, computer science, graphic designing, to music production, among others. Coursera also has a feature called 'specializations', i.e. if the students take up a course in specialization mode they will receive a certificate of completion from the associated university.
Coursera has also tied up with some of the top universities from across the world such as Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, and others to provide students with global education at affordable fees. You have a choice of whether to choose free courses or get a degree or a professional certificate at reasonable prices and learn at your own pace.
edX
EdX offers students more than 2000 online higher education courses from the top universities and it’s founded by top universities such as MIT and Harvard. Learners can find any courses that are relevant to linguistics, computer science, medical, engineering, and many other fields from top educational academies across the world. EdX also offers students with an official certification signed by the course instructor from the associated institution as a symbol of the successful completion of the course. As a global nonprofit, edX is transforming traditional education with the intention of providing high-quality education online for everyone.
Alison
Alison is one of the world’s largest free learning platforms with millions of students from across the world for education and skills training. It is an online learning resource that offers free education services, high-quality courses, and community support that dedicated to making it possible for everyone, to study online at any subject level. Their courses are made for those who are looking for a new job, college placement, promotion, or business venture. They are focusing on creating opportunities, positive social change, prosperity, and equality for everyone.
Skillshare
Skillshare is an important place of new skills for someone who wants to learn with a wide range of various subjects to opt from as it offers categorized online video-based educational courses. Skillshare propagates courses into business, advertising, design, fashion & style, film & video, music, food beverages, photography, technology, gaming, and writing &publishing, often taught by experts. There are a few courses that are not available free, which can be accessed through a paid subscription.
FutureLearn
FutureLearn is like a part of the Open University that offers students a wide variety of courses. It is another substitute on this list that provides online courses from top educational academies and organizations. Students can learn the course at their own pace using both the desktop and a mobile device. The website gives access for the students to engage in discussions and promote social learning. FutureLearn also provides full-time programs to allow several courses for more extensive learning and wider prospects of knowledge gaining for students.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is a place that mainly focused on working professionals and provides video-based lectures intended to provide you with real practical skills to enhance your everyday job performance. A lot of the topics are business-oriented lessons that you can expect such as mastering Microsoft Excel, employee relations, customer service, social media marketing for small businesses, and similar topics. It also offers thousands of other courses such as software development, graphic design, photography, web development, and so on.
Though LinkedIn Learning lacks some of the more quirky personal interests, it excels at providing you with unlimited access to material that can improve your employability and job performance. Initially, it provides 30-day free trial while signing up and after that you need to pay a monthly subscription fee, depending upon the course. This platform has a subscription facility that provides unlimited access to all the videos available there.
Udacity
Udacity is an online platform that strongly focuses on technology-based courses. It is focused to bring higher education to the world in the most affordable, accessible, and effective ways possible. It offers online courses that teach students the skills that are currently in demand by the leading industries. If you plan on working in the technology field then it is an excellent platform for online courses.
With courses like data science, Android, iOS, software engineering, and web development, you can be exposed to the most up-to-date education in these creative areas that are applicable to tech companies and startups. Its fee structure based on a monthly basis to pay for your courses; if you choose to drop a program before completing it, you pay for the course up to that point, instead of the whole thing.
Read here : Is online learning a boon or bane- The pros and cons
