Do you have spare time after work? Perhaps, you want to make your
summer productive. Want to learn a new course, language, skill or just
about anything? Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are becoming popular
these days. With websites and apps offering these services accessible
via desktop and mobile devices, eLearning has become flexible,
transparent, and collaborative.
Here are 9 websites you can visit, while most of them also have their
own mobile versions. To access the courses, you need to create an
account or link it to your social media account.
1. Udemy
Udemy is a
global e-learning marketplace for instructors and students alike. Some
courses are free while others are tagged with premium rates (shown
above), depending on the scope, topic, and expertise of the instructor.
Nonetheless, basics about subjects from Facebook Marketing to learning
HTML5 Programming to Java tutorial for beginners are available for free.
Udemy also offers discounts occasionally via newsletter. Personally, I
wait for those free courses or ten dollars worth of training.
2. LingQ
On the other hand, if you want to learn a foreign language, you can check out
LingQ.
Learning is interactive because there are forums that allow you to
communicate with other students and native speakers, and learning is
lenient, allowing you to set your own pacing. They also have frequent
challenge campaigns such as the 90-day challenge to learn Spanish,
Mandarin or your preferred language. You access all your courses across
mobile devices as well.
3. Coursera
While the first two platforms adopt quite informal e-learning,
Coursera
lets you access free courses to more than 115 top universities
worldwide (as of this writing). Plus, you get your certificate(s) after
taking the course, good for building a resume/CV or LinkedIn profile.
Learn Cryptography 1 from Stanford University, Social Entrepreneurship
by Copenhagen Business School and many more.
4. Codecademy
Who says coding is for geeks only? Did you know that the IT industry
is on the lookout for the best programmers and developers? If you want
to venture outside of your niche and explore programming, join
Codecademy
and learn interactive courses on how to write codes in Java, Python,
jQuery, and Ruby to name a few. There’s a community of students and
instructors which makes the learning collaborative and open. And it’s
free!
5. Investoo
From technology and services courses, let’s move to the next level.
Why not sign up a course and learn the nooks and crannies of
investments?
Investoo
is an online school that will teach you how to trade in the stock
market and the basics of investment — from buying to selling and Forex
and many more.
6. Udacity
Meanwhile, in
Udacity,
another e-learning platform, similar to Udemy, Lynda and Codecademy,
iou can take courses created by top-notch experts in various fields at
your own pace. However, this one is more focused on programming and
development skills like Front-end Web, Android, iOS, and full-stack
development. Google, Facebook, AT&T, Cloudera and MongoDB built the
courses.
7. FutureLearn
FutureLearn
is a subsidiary e-learning platform of Open University that offers
diverse online courses from cultural organisations and universities. The
upcoming courses come with specific dates when they will start. The
topics include cybersecurity, soil, culture digital age and a myriad of
interesting stuff.
8. TheWritingUniversity
Want to enhance your writing skills?
TheWritingUniversity
offers free online courses for aspiring and pro writers to enhance
their skills. You can sign up and check out their sessions from basic
concepts of writing to storytelling and structures in video formats.
9. Instructables
Do you love DIY tutorials?
Instructables
is kind of informal surrounded by the rest of the above-mentioned
platforms, yet you’ll find amazing stuff like inventions and projects of
all kinds which you can build. Definitely a must-visit website!
Do you have recommendations? Share some of the online courses and platforms you’ve used that helped you improve your skills.