Killer Sites for Free Online Education

by Staff & Contributors on April 17, 2020

in Gaming

Whether you simply want to expand your knowledge, wish to improve on certain skills and abilities one may need in their current job, or are looking for a new pathway career-wise, it is always a good idea to become as educated as possible in the chosen field.

There are many online courses available, to the point where you may become stricken with “analysis paralysis” comparing websites and wondering which are legit and which are a waste of time. For this reason, there have been compiled a list of resources to take a look at:

  1. edx.org features courses from Universities such as Berkeley or Harvard and offers a very wide range of topics. Interested in building iOS apps? They have a course for it. They also offer a per course price if you would like to write the exams and assignments, get graded on them, and receive a certificate, but if you just want to learn, this is a great place to start. If you have no experience in developing android apps, then www.udacity.com offers, amongst many other courses, one specially designed for the beginner.
  2. With 1075 courses on offer www.alison.com is another great option for you to gain more expertise in whichever field or path you are interested in. Including Business as well as Lifestyle courses, such as arts and crafts. The courses offered here range from the more casual learner with their “certificate courses” through to diploma courses and more and all depend on the amount of time you are willing to invest in yourself. This service is completely free, depending on its advertising slots (which aren’t intrusive) to generate revenue.
  3. ocw.mit.edu is the brainchild of the Massachusetts Institute of technology, so if tech is your field, be sure to stop by and have a look at their free videos, reading material and other Undergraduate courses. The only purchase you may need to make on this platform is in the purchasing of textbooks, although this varies from course to course.
  4. Prefer to just google it? There is a hidden gem that Google has an offer which can be found at https://get.google.com/onlinechallenge/resources/. This is an ideal learning platform for those in the media/marketing/online industry, as well as SEO specialists and website developers. If you are already in this field then https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/tools/ is a great resource to see what the latest and greatest in digital marketing is, follow trend patterns, and generally keep up to date.
  5. If you would like to do a short free course which also provides you with a certificate saying you have completed it, then head over to OpenLearn at www.open.edu. Here you will find courses ranging from languages to business and money, nature, technology, politics, and more. If you sign up you also have a learning profile record with them which should spur you on to reach that next achievement should your desire to learn be lacking at any point.
  6. Wiki has also come to the online learning party with “Wikiversity” and if you go to https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Main_Page you will find that they have a plethora of online learning resources, all which carry the Wiki Brand which we have grown to trust.
  7. khanacademy.org is a completely video-based learning resource which offers courses aimed mostly at students, but useful for the more “casual” learner.
  8. Open Culture (http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses) offers 1 300 free online courses, all either audio or video and is worth a look through although their website isn’t quite as user friendly as some of the others featured here.
  9. udacity.com, as mentioned above, offers beginner courses, but it offers a lot more than just that. With an innovative approach to learning this platform includes a community of other learners and is based on helping you learn by solving problems which is a great interactive way to learn.
  10. There are hundreds of places to gain knowledge, all but a mouse-click away, for instance, have a look at www.opencolleges.edu.au for 50 more resources. However, since I started this list by referring to Android app development I will end it by telling you that if you have an internet connection you can learn how to program an app by using an app! Just visit play store to find a variety of courses designed to be learned on your mobile device such as Sololearn which consider themselves the app with the largest community of Mobile Code Learners.

Once you have done all your learning and are ready to embark on finding your perfect job or perfecting the job you have then add these skills to your Resume or go to Pro-Papers where they will design your CV, portfolio or resume for you. There are also handy tips about presenting yourself and selling your new skills, so be sure to make this your first step after you’ve completed your studies.

In this age, where our knowledge is growing at increasingly exponentially large rates, it is vital to stay relevant in the shifting sands of today’s market, and one of the best ways of doing this is by:

  • Keeping up with trends in whatever your career path is.
  • Having a learning program, such as one of the on-line ones written about above.
  • Repeating those 2 steps at regular intervals.

Even if you don’t want to embark on a long-term study plan, you will find courses on the sites we have mentioned which are 2 hours long, making them a convenient way to start your new learning plan or decide on what you want to learn. For the more serious scholar, there is something very fulfilling about receiving a diploma on a subject they have mastered!

After all, who doesn’t have the urge to learn a foreign language or make a splash in the market with the latest and greatest trending mobile phone app? So give online learning a try, whether you start big or small, you won’t regret it. Indeed, this helps a lot nowadays.

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