“Once you stop learning, you start dying”
It’s easy to understand where the famed physicist was coming from. After all, we’re learning all the time, even if we’re not aware of it. Learning never stops and how can it with all the resources that the internet gives us? With endless blogs and websites, it’s easier than ever to share and consume lots of information. From coding to illustrating and other academia, there is a wealth of free to affordable tools for online learning at our discretion. The power to learn more about your interests sits in your pocket and at your fingertips.
Let’s explore some of the best online learning tools examples. You never know when you might need to use one.
Find our list of exceptional e-learning tools below so you can begin to have an enjoyable learning experience at your disposal.
Coursera
Coursera partners with universities and other organizations worldwide to bring together material and research on many different subjects. It offers short courses, specializations for those looking to master a specific career skill, or fully-fledged, accredited and university-recognized degrees. The website is also very flexible, offering courses and videos with subtitles in over 30 languages. It’s pretty incredible considering you can, for example, become a professional data scientist with a degree from the University of Illinois at a much cheaper rate than typical university fees.
Coursera operates as a monthly or yearly membership and offers a free trial period. This is a great option if you are looking at a new career path, degree, or role or role that makes you learn a new skill.
Udemy
Like Coursera, Udemy offers 210,000 courses taught by expert instructors, and is one of the most versatile tools for online learning. The reasonable (and often discounted!) prices mean getting a comprehensive course for around 15 dollars, or even for free. Udemy’s model works by allowing any user to create a course, market it, and generate income from tuition fees. This is a great option not just for learning, but for teaching as well. It could be an opportunity for you to share your knowledge and skills to earn some extra income.
Udemy’s unaccredited courses also go a long way toward practical skills like improving cover letters and other job-related skills. The best part of Udemy? Its variety. Courses offered cover a large breadth of different subjects from business and entrepreneurship, health and fitness, the arts, and even niche courses like how to bake the perfect sourdough.
Stanford Online
That’s right, Stanford University offers courses directly from their website. This website is one of the best e-learning tools if you’re looking for accredited online degrees or certificates. And the best part of all? Many of them are free! There may be a fee for graduate and professional education courses, but you can still get valuable knowledge from the free course options. They offer self-paced and session-based courses that allow learners to complete at their own pace. Yet, the comprehensive courses limit themselves when compared to sites like Coursera because there is more rigidity in the course process.
They’re also not the only prestigious university offering free online material if you are looking for credit-bearing courses. Check out Harvard Extension, Open Yale Courses, and UC Berkeley Class Central if you’d like a broader range of material and campus lectures on subjects taught by these top learning institutions.
Codecademy
In the digital age, coding is an in-demand skill to have. It’s an arduous learning curve and one that requires practice and discipline. That’s why Codecademy dedicates themselves to teaching new coders how the language works and how to understand it. The courses target specific languages such as HTML and Javascript and allow you to practice coding while still viewing the lesson material via a live practice window.
Codecademy structures courses to be fun, challenging, and organized. It also includes access to a forum where you can chat with other coding students—if you get stuck or can’t figure out a particularly challenging bit of code. If you already study coding, this website can serve as a study tool by providing many practical examples to keep you sharp.
College Raptor
Alright, joke’s on us! While we may not make the cut for the best online learning tools, we do provide a wealth of knowledge when it comes to finding the best college and career path for you. Use our Career Finder to discover what field of study suits your interests and complements your skillset.
If you aren’t sure what career path suits you, there’s no need to worry. The Career Finder will help you explore careers based on skill level, educational requirements, and salary ranges.
