Top 10 websites for Online Education – Explore Online Learning Platforms
Top 10 Popular Websites for Online Education
Top 10 sites for Online Education – The advanced technologies have opened new doors for learning opportunities. Back in the day, it was not easy to learn something new. But now, there are numerous programs and courses online. Many people do not find time to enrol for a full-time college course due to various reasons. That’s why online courses have become popular and helpful. Now, with a quick search, you will be able to find endless learning opportunities. And the best part is that you will find many high-quality websites which are completely free.
Whether if you wish to learn a completely new thing or improve your existing skill, there is no shortage of online courses of your choice and subject. However, with tons of online learning platforms, you may have a dilemma to find the one right for you. As we understand the increased number of options makes it difficult for you, we have made a list of 10 websites providing online courses based on their popularity and traffic. Go ahead, check out each platform and choose the one best-suited for your needs.
The world is constantly changing and growing, and so are all the wonderful things to learn in it. From changing perspectives on history and studies of people to the world of deep AI and computer science, there’s more to know than ever before.
When you’re out of school, however, it can be hard to find places to learn new things, create new skills, and expand your horizons. The Internet is helping to solve this by making courses and training easier to find than ever before. Online classes are the perfect way for most to continue their education and we’ve put together a list of sources to help you find the best fit for you.
Top 10 websites for Online Education – Explore Online Learning Platforms
- Lynda
Lynda is immensely useful for those who are aiming to learn skills related to technology, business and creativity. Lynda.com which was founded in 1995, was the pioneer of the e-learning industry. It is now owned by LinkedIn. Lynda.com has its tutorials in five languages.
Lynda offers a subscription-based video tutorial library. The users can have a free membership and get access to the subscription library for 30 days from signing up. The courses offered by the website are on a wide range of topics including business, design, photography, software development, marketing and many more. If you prefer visual learning, then this platform is the right option for you.
- Udemy
Udemy is one of the most popular and biggest websites for online courses. The platform offers various courses taught by leading experts. One can select the course of their choice from over 55,000 courses in all sorts of different topics. The free courses on Udemy are similar in concept to Coursera’s. Further, it allows you to build custom courses for lessons. The website offers both free and paid content.
Visit https://www.udemy.com/ and explore the courses. You can download the app and take your lessons anytime. The price ranges for the courses vary from $9 to $500. If these numbers don’t fit your budget, you don’t have to worry as Udemy is known for providing great discounts.
- Khan Academy
Being a non-profit organisation, Khan Academy aims to provide a free and best education for anyone and anywhere in the world. It was started in 2006 by educator Salman Khan. The site provides micro-lectures, instructional videos and practice assignments to help you develop and sharpen your skills. They have partnered with other post-secondary schools and offers a well-organised interface. What more, almost every course you find on this platform is for free.
Khan Academy focuses more on traditional subjects like mathematics, science, humanities, economics and computer programming. This learning platform provides you with a personalised learning dashboard that empowers the learners to study at their own pace in and outside the classroom.
Top 10 websites for Online Education – Explore Online Learning Platforms
- Coursera
Coursera is one of the leading providers of massive open online courses. It has partnered with universities and organisations all over the world to offer universal access to the world’s best education. Some of them include the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, University of Michigan etc.
Coursera has a wide variety of subjects to choose from, anything from data science to musical theory. There are nearly a thousand courses that are completely free. You can click on the category name and you will get a list of free courses from that particular category. The mobile app of coursera could be downloaded to make learning convenient for you. On completion of some courses, you will be awarded the certificate of completion.
- Alison
If you are looking for free online courses, then Alison is the best option. With 10 million students from all over the world, Alison is one of the biggest learning resources which offers free as well as high-quality courses. You can find courses on health, technology, business, designs and languages.
One can pick from the variety of subjects from the 800 free courses. The website offers certificate and diploma level courses. The students will be required to take assessments and score at least 80 % to pass. The resources provided by Alison will help to develop essential and certified workplace skills.
- edX
One of the other great options for free online education is edX, which is a non-profit online educational website. It was founded in 2012 by Harvard University and MIT. It focuses on providing high-quality educational content to enhance teaching and learning.
eDX offers fully online courses on psychology, engineering, computer science and much more. To join edX, you just have to select the certificate course option. One of the perks of joining edX is that it issues an official certificate as proof of one’s accomplishment.
- Futurelearn
Top 10 websites for Online Education – Explore Online Learning Platforms
FutureLearn is a part of the Open University which is offering course programs from leading educational institutions and organisation partners. For further extensive learning, one can choose their full programs which contain several courses in them.
There are various free courses on subjects like business, law, literature, art, history, study skills, teaching, media and so on. You can learn the course at your own pace from a desktop or mobile device. One of the benefits of FutureLearn is the social learning involved in their programs. It gives the students the opportunity to engage in discussions with others throughout their course.
- Udacity
Udacity is an e-learning platform that is way cheaper than your traditional schooling. Udacity has dedicated itself to bring higher education into the world inaccessible, affordable and effective ways. It offers online and credentials that will put you ahead in the competition while applying for jobs.
Their well crafted, selected courses focus strongly on technology. So Udacity is the right platform if you are thinking of working in technology. With several courses on data science, iOS, Android, web development and software engineering, you are sure to get the most up to date education.
Top 10 websites for Online Education – Explore Online Learning Platforms
- Bloc
Bloc is more of an intensive option as it mainly focuses on web development. This educational website provides a highly structured program which runs for 25 hours per week for several months. Hence, the tuitions provided at Bloc are expensive starting from $4,250. So if you are looking for something cheaper, then Bloc isn’t the right place. However, it is a great option for those who are ready to commit to the career change.
10 Codecademy
What sets Codecademy apart from the other platforms is that it is designed to provide free courses on coding. Unlike other similar websites which teach people how to code at their own pace, Codecademy motivates learners to keep a fast pace. With the use of supportive groups and a gamified points system, the learners are taught how to write the codes necessary to develop interactive websites using the most useful languages.
It offers courses on languages including PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, jQuery etc. By the time the students finish the course, they would be already building and deploying projects. Codecademy features a dashboard which would allow you to monitor your progress. You can also join groups to find people interested in a certain language. Whenever you find yourself in a problem, you can ask for help from the community members.
Top 30 Sites for Online Education and Learning
The world is constantly changing and growing, and so are all the wonderful things to learn in it. From changing perspectives on history and studies of people to the world of deep AI and computer science, there’s more to know than ever before.
When you’re out of school, however, it can be hard to find places to learn new things, create new skills, and expand your horizons. The Internet is helping to solve this by making courses and training easier to find than ever before. Online classes are the perfect way for most to continue their education and we’ve put together a list of sources to help you find the best fit for you.
Here are 30 of the best online learning sites, offering a mix of free and paid classes, courses, training, certificates, and much more.
Top 10 websites for Online Education – Explore Online Learning Platforms
1. Academic Earth
Academic Earth is a collection of free online college courses from some of the world’s leading universities and colleges. On its site you’ll be able to find specific courses in many subjects as well as search by university. It collects playlists and video groups to help you learn from many different services, too.
Academic Earth is a smart search tool and a good place to start your journey. It collects many free courses from around the world, so you may click on a lesson plan and be taken to another partner on our list, such as MIT OpenCourseWare.
2. Alison Learning Paths
Alison offers free online courses created by experts in various fields. You’ll find a mix of educators and entrepreneurs creating this content. Some are sponsored by different companies to help with very specific projects such as applying for different types of certifications and exams. Classes fall under a few major categories such as marketing, health, humanities, science, and technology. Some of the more advanced classes do have a cost, but the service offers many free online learning paths designed to give you the groundwork to earning a diploma elsewhere.
3. Better Explained
For people who want to learn math and how it is applied in the real world, Better Explained offers interesting classes, articles, and lessons. Individual lessons are generally free and so are online course texts. You can purchase “complete” courses that come with PDF versions of textbooks, video lessons, more quizzes, and invitations to webinars when they occur.
Courses cover a wide range of study areas and complexities, plus some specific places where math rules guide computer programming and web development.
4. Bloc
Focused on web development, Bloc is a more intensive option for those who want to learn quickly. Instead of short courses or lectures, this highly structured program runs for 25 hours per week over several months. With tuition starting at $8,500, bloc.io doesn’t come cheap—but it does offer a great option for those who are ready to commit to a career change.
It presently offers learning focused specifically on building skills in two tracks: web design or web development.
5. Canvas Network
Canvas Network provides educators access to professional development courses and programs, and some of its courses are also open to the public. You can sign up with just an email and access a wide range of content and lessons. Its content is also available under an open license, so if you want to ultimately create your own content and lesson plans, you can utilize what Canvas makes available in some cases.
Canvas offers courses and tools in a variety of languages, making it open and more accessible than some other options in our list.
Top 10 websites for Online Education – Explore Online Learning Platforms
6. Codecademy
Previously backed by the White House, Codecademy is dedicated to teaching people how to code. The free service helped more than 45 million people in its first seven years and has stuck with its fast-paced teaching method designed to keep you moving and stay encouraged with supportive groups and a gamified points system. There are free courses as well as a paid Pro Membership that offers more direct guidance and support for creating a real-world portfolio that you can use to jumpstart a freelance career.
The school offers courses on a number of languages—including PHP, Python and Ruby—and students are often already building and deploying projects by the time they finish their course.
7. Coursera
Coursera is perhaps the biggest name in online courses and education. It has a global roster of universities and partners to offer more than 3,900 specialized courses. Much of the service is available for free, or you can use it to earn an online degree from an accredited university.
Software companies have also added many of their certification lessons and exams to Coursera, which can help you with things like database management and using enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools. In 2020, it partnered with Disney and Pixar to celebrate the film Soul with a curated set of courses to learn creative arts and careers.
Between its free courses, paid degrees, and membership programs, Coursera likely offers the largest number of classes, courses, and accreditation support of any on our list.
8. Drawspace
For creatives, Drawspace offers full courses and individual lessons to help you master different drawing techniques. It provides a mix of content that is free or paid. You can learn the basics of drawing and painting all the way through advanced elements, drawing people, and even techniques such as creating art with tea bags or making your own colors.
If you want to become an artist, Drawspace includes some lessons on working as a visual artist, how to get past an artist’s block, and even how to teach art to others.
9. edX
edX is an online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT and it has taught more than 20 million people since its launch. It’s a global non-profit organization and features courses from teachers and universities all over the planet in topics such as computer science, languages, engineering, psychology, writing, electronics, biology, and marketing. Most courses are free, though you can also pay for a verification certificate that attests you’ve completed a course.
You can also use the platform to start researching degree programs.
10. Harvard Online Courses
If you’re interested in studying about business development or STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), Harvard University has made some of its courses and special projects available online. The Harvard Online Courses program gives you a mix of programs that are free or have a fee — ranging from $25 to a few thousand dollars. Topics vary from the latest in computing trends to learning how early explorers navigated using the stars or even real estate development for a post-COVID world.
Most courses are self-paced and include both lectures from Harvard professors and additional study materials. Every piece of audio or video content comes with a transcript to provide greater accessibility. While Harvard has put thousands of courses online over the years, it offers only a few hundred at any given time. This means most courses have registration deadlines.
Top 10 websites for Online Education – Explore Online Learning Platforms
11. General Assembly
Focusing on education in design, business, and technology, General Assembly has campuses in more than 30 cities around the world plus a comprehensive online education experience. It offers a mix of full-time and part-time classes online plus workshops, free training, and coding events.
Traditionally, many of its offerings are in-person or are a mix of online and in-person options. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it added livestream and online options for every event it runs. Many moved online-only, and the company says it expects to expand online classes going forward because of the response to its digital tools.
General Assembly livestreams popular lectures and provides real-time interaction with the lecturer and other students. Costs vary if your choices are one-off lectures or multi-part workshops.
12. GFC Global
The GCFLearnFree.org program is an educational tool from the Goodwill Community Foundation (GCF) Global initiative. It has been offering classes for nearly 20 years and is primarily focused on essential business skills to help people find work. You’ll also discover life skills around finances, freelance work, Internet and computer skills, and creative hobbies.
If you want to learn a core work computer program—getting as specific as learning the differences between Office 2019, 2016, and 2013—this is likely the strongest resource on our list. The service currently offers more than 2,000 lessons on 200 topics, all for free.
13. Hack Design
Hack Design is a design course program designed to help you create a career in design and then continue to grow. Its main offering is a weekly design lesson delivered via email. Most content is free, and they do provide a curated list of fundamental courses in its Lessons 101 offering.
One thing to note is that Hack Designs does not always follow a traditional course. Because its teachers often come from design firms, some lessons are put in the form of blog posts and other materials hosted on the websites of those firms. That said, you’ll get access to talented thought leaders and new experiences, such as games to help you test your kerning ability.
14. HTML Dog
If you want to learn HTML, a great place to start is HTML Dog. The site offers free tutorials, techniques, and examples of web content in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. HTML Dog is focused on helping you get a website up and running, so much of the content is step-by-step guides and references to perform a specific task.
This option is a great free way to polish your skills or get help with a specific issue you’re experiencing on a website. However, it doesn’t dive deep into theory or feature long explanations of computer science in general.
15. Instructables
Learning is fun when it’s hands-on is the approach that Instructables takes. This website is designed specifically to showcase projects where people build physical items, including food. You’ll learn fundamental engineering and even advanced electronics. From turning old linens into ropes and old coins into rings all the way to creating drones or coding a 3D game, there’s plenty to discover. Projects are mostly submitted by users and hobbyists, so available topics often lean toward pop culture, such as creating props and costumes for characters of popular video games.
16. iTunes U
If you have Apple products or an account, the company’s iTunes U is a collection of courses and lectures from leading universities. Part of its iTunes software, you can access courses by topic or university. In many cases, you’ll be able to get audio and video of lectures, have access to some books and materials, and even download quizzes with answer keys.
Some schools now use iTunes U as part of their online classes, allowing people to ask questions and teachers to respond, plus submit work and receive grades.
17.iversity
Hailed as the “Coursera of Europe,” Berlin-based iversity has partnered with European and international universities to offer academic courses for free. The company has recently added certificates and verification of course completion for most of its classes, allowing students to verify course participation and learnings with an official document. Costs vary and there are a few free options as well.
Businesses can now partner with iversity to train their workforce or you can take classes specific to a type of work, organization, or software. If Du sprichst Deutsch or Tu parles Français, this service could be a great help.
18. Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a non-profit online platform providing a completely free library of educational “micro-lectures.” Focusing on more traditional academic subjects, Khan Academy provides a mix of video and text-based materials in math, science, economics, humanities, and a bit of computer programming. Since Khan Academy is free for anyone to use, it’s a great way to get a taste for a subject before moving onto a more advanced course elsewhere.
The organization has expanded its online services for school-age students significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and learners of all ages can benefit from the growth in content, lesson plans, and more.
19. Lifehack
Lifehack is a learning tool focused on making the most of your life by “hacking” it to achieve more or accomplish things easier. It offers free assessments, books, and classes plus a podcast video series. Courses revolve around a specific philosophy that the company created to promote a specific type of lifestyle. You can start with free options on things such as how to stop procrastinating and how to be more motivated in your daily life.
Of the items on our list, this resource is focused more on how you live and learn instead of learning a specific subject, skill, or trade.
20. LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)
In 2020, veteran online educator, Lynda.com became LinkedIn Learning. With subscriptions starting at $19.99 per month, LinkedIn Learning offers an extensive video skills and tutorial library. Your subscription also includes LinkedIn’s Premium Career features so it can be useful for growing your career.
The service is largely focused on technology skills like programming in multiple languages. You’ll need a LinkedIn account, and the company says that it will both provide courses and make recommendations based on your current job, skills, and what professionals like you are learning.
21. MIT OpenCourseWare
The MIT OpenCourseWare project offers a broad set of courses for you to browse however you want. You don’t need to enroll or even sign up for an account. Available courses include the syllabus and instructional materials you need—many even offer free online versions of the textbooks mentioned by the teachers.
There are undergraduate and graduate-level courses in business, energy, fine arts, the humanities, math, science, teaching, and more. You can also sort by audio and video classes if you find that type of content easier to use and more engaging
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22. Open Culture
Open Culture is a website that collects online education materials and supports lifelong learning with free classes, audio, and video. The non-profit looks across the Internet to find free learning resources and gathers them so they’re easy for you to browse, sort, and find something you want to learn. It currently lists more than 1,500 free courses, predominantly from universities.
For some of its classes, you can choose to receive a credit or certificate for completing the class. This option does come with a price and Open Culture earns an affiliate fee from the place that hosts the course, such as Coursera or edX.
23. Open Learning Initiative
Carnegie Mellon University puts most of its classes online and there’s a free section available to anyone. The “independent learner courses” under its Open Learning Initiative are free for anyone. Once you find a course you want to take, you’ll need to create an account and add it to your list of courses. From there, you get a great dashboard that shows your “Open & Free” course options and will track the status of the classwork you perform.
You’ll find resources from business management and computer programming to learning better study and research habits to more traditional courses such as general chemistry, engineering statistics, environmental technology, and more. Free courses focus on STEM content, but you’ll find some paid plans for other subjects, such as French.
24. Open Yale Courses
Yale University makes a broad range of its lectures and classes available through the Open Yale Courses program. Each course includes a full set of class lecture videos featuring Yale professors, as well as course materials including syllabi, suggested readings, exams, problem sets, and answer keys. There were dozens of courses available at the time of writing this and Yale says it regularly rotates available classes and adds new options. Many courses are foundational and introductory reviews of broad areas of study, such as biology, physics, and political science.
25. Oxford University Podcasts
Oxford University has put many of its lecture series online in the form of podcasts. These free courses typically feature multiple episodes and sometimes multiple professors. You can find everything from biology and gardening to philosophy and business or even global politics, history, and archaeology.
The service offers multiple ways to get these podcasts and videos, whether you watch online, download, or access through a partner service. If you find one you love, you can even embed it on your own website.
26. Skillcrush
Skillcrush is a coding-focused learning company that offers free and paid classes in areas like design, user experience, digital marketing, and HTML coding. The company offers an ongoing free coding bootcamp to help people learn the basics and then charges for more in-depth classes with hands-on support. It is designed for people new to computer science and coding, so there’s no requirement for prior experience or an existing coding knowledge.
27. Skillshare
Skillshare is a community marketplace for new skills and there’s a good chance it has sponsored your favorite independent artists, YouTubers, or podcasters. With a broad range of different subjects to choose from, Skillshare offers an online catalog of video-based courses, as well as in-person workshops in multiple cities.
Many classes are available to take without a membership and for free. Some classes do have a cost as these teachers use online training as their source of income. You can pay for them individually or get access with a premium membership. Memberships cost either $19 per month or $99 per year and will make paid programs either free or reduce their cost.
28. Stanford Engineering Everywhere
Stanford Engineering Everywhere (SEE) expands the Stanford experience to students and educators online and at no charge. Classes can be streamed or downloaded. Courses are focused on engineering and include the courses taken by the majority of Stanford’s undergraduates. There are also advanced options on AI and linear system optimization.
29. Udacity
Udacity is a platform with a strong focus on technology, with a small but well-crafted selection of courses. If you’re looking to break into data science, AI, or cloud computing, Udacity’s data science program has an impressive roster of teachers from companies like Salesforce and Facebook.
Udacity’s pricing structure allows you to pay monthly for your courses as part of what it calls a “nano degree.” Generally, these cost $339 per month or you can pay for multiple months at a time to save a little. Classes come with real-world projects, tech support, and career services.
30. Udemy
Udemy is an established personal learning company that offers courses ranging from $10 to $500 depending on the class and teacher. Most are inexpensive, but as the subject matter gets more specialized or complex, costs can quickly scale. It’s a bit more expensive compared to the other platforms on our list once you start taking multiple classes.
One of the nicest elements of Udemy is that it offers a wide range of classes on traditional educational topics as well as specific business skills—such as specific ways to use Excel for financial analysis—and past students provide ratings for all of these classes.
Start your education journey today
Online learning provides a chance for anyone to continue their education and sharpen their skills. We hope you’ve found this list helpful and are excited to pursue knowledge and grow. And for more free resources and advice, you can also check out Upwork’s Resource Center. Good luck in your classes and studying, and wherever this new information may take you.