DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS,MEANING That I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU. PLEASE READ FULL DISCLOSURE HERE
With more and more online learning platforms, it has never been easier to learn whatever you want anytime anywhere.
Whether you want to learn a new in-demand skill, get a course certificate or even an online degree, you can be sure that there is an online learning platform that is right for you.
So, I’ve compiled a very comprehensive list of online learning platforms to help you save time in your search.
Also, I understand you might have quite a lot of questions about the e-learning platforms and its online courses.
For example, if you are looking for online courses for professional development or career switch, you might have many questions in your mind.
Which online learning platform is best for professional development?
Is it really worth it to take an online course?
Are the online courses on the e-learning platforms accredited?
Can you add the online course certificates on your resume?
Do employers really care about this?
Does it actually help you find a job or increase your chances of getting hired?
So, I will address all your questions in this article to help you make an informed decision when it comes to online learning platforms and online courses.
Academic Learning Platforms
Coursera
Coursera is one of the best online learning platforms to learn the most in-demand skills and also get an online degree and a professional certificate.
It collaborates with over 190 leading universities and companies such as Stanford, Duke University, Google, and IBM, to provide the best online courses and learning outcomes for your professional development.
There are more than 45 million people who are already learning on Coursera.
On Coursera, there are many FREE online courses on different subjects designed and taught by professors from leading universities.
There are many paid online programs that either earn you an online degree or a professional certificate.
If you are thinking about getting an online degree, there are a wide range of programs to choose from:
- Business
- Accountancy
- Computer Science
- Data Science
- Information Technology
- Machine Learning
- Public Health
All the courses are conducted online and you can learn at your own pace.
When you complete the program, you will obtain an online degree from the university that you can put on your resume or Linkedin profile.
However, most of the online master programs offered by the top universities are rather steep with fees up to 5-figures.
If you don’t have the funds, here are two options:
- Apply for financial aid with Coursera
- Go with their MasterTrack Certificate
MasterTrack courses are just portions of the corresponding Master’s program splitting into online modules.
With MasterTrack Certificate, you can get a high-quality university-issued career credential at a much much lower price.
The best part about MasterTrack courses are real-world projects and live expert instruction.
Later on, if you decide to enroll in the full Master’s program, your MasterTrack coursework counts towards your master’s degree.
Now, what if you are not interested in an online degree?
If you are looking to learn a new in-demand skill to help you switch careers or get a promotion, then a professional certificate would be a good idea.
There is no prior experience required to get started.
For example, there are many FREE professional certificates offered in partnership with Google.
Here are some statistics of the learner career outcome:
- 36% Started a new career after completing this specialization
- 50% Got a pay increase or promotion
If you are in the IT field or thinking about going into the IR field, then you should definitely check out these professional certificate courses with very high ratings.
Get started for FREE with Coursera
Edx
Just like Coursera, Edx is another good platform for online education and learning.
It was founded by Harvard and MIT with more than 20 million learners.
Edx is also the only leading MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) provider that is both a nonprofit and open source.
There are 2,600+ courses in over 30 subject areas being offered from the world’s top universities and companies with almost all of them completely FREE.
But, there are also paid online courses that offer online degrees and professional certificates.
You can see that both Coursera and edX look quite similar.
So, is there any difference between edX and Coursera?
EdX VS Coursera
Here are some key differences between these two:
EdX is a nonprofit organisation while Coursera is a for-profit organisation.
Also, edX is much more than an online learning platform.
It’s a freely available open course platform that allows educators and technologists to build learning tools and contribute new features to the platform.
In terms of course offering, coursera focuses more on professional training to help you advance in your career while edX offers more science-based courses.
Also, coursera offers a far greater number of specialisation courses and training (i.e. more than 3900 as of today) than edX (i.e. about 2600 as of today).
For paid online degrees, edX offers much more affordable choices than Coursera through its “MicroBachelor” and “MicroMaster” programs which are much shorter and much faster to complete.
Try out EdX for FREE now
Can You Get A Job With Coursera Certificate (Or edX Certificate)?
So, is it really worth getting a Coursera certificate?
Do employers really care about Coursera certificate?
Can you get a job with it?
Okay, with a Coursera certificate, you can definitely make your resume look better.
But, the truth is that it’s NOT the Coursera certificate that gets you hired for the job.
It’s what you’ve done with the skills and knowledge after acquiring them by taking the online course.
So, what does this mean?
Almost all employers put more emphasis on the things you’ve done rather than the things you’re capable of.
Just like, you can say that you have a lot of knowledge about content marketing and have taken a lot of content marketing courses on your resume or during your interview.
But, what really moves the needle with the hiring manager is that you can show them the content marketing campaigns you have done and also share with them the outcomes.
Certificates are good because they’re a form of proof of work or qualification.
What’s better is that you can say to the hiring manager, ‘I’m working on this project’ or “I built this tool or app.”
So, it’s good to take the courses on Coursera and edX and learn the skills, but more importantly, use them to create something.
Try out Coursera for FREE now
General Online Learning Platforms
Udemy
Udemy is an online learning platform both for students to take online courses and for online course creators to get paid to teach online.
There are more than 150,000 online video courses with new additions published every month, which makes Udemy the largest online course provider.
So, what kind of courses can you find on Udemy?
You can find online courses of all kinds of categories with the following categories being the most popular:
- Development & Programming
- IT & Software
- Business
- Design
- Marketing
- Personal development
- Photography
- Music
Unlike Coursera and edX where online courses are mostly taught by university professors, Udemy courses can be created and taught by anyone who wants to share their knowledge with the world.
The courses offered on Udemy are mostly very affordable (i.e. starts from $9.99) with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
So, is Udemy good?
First of all, Udemy courses are not accredited like Coursera and edX.
So, it’s not really recognized by most employers.
Secondly, the quality of the courses is inconsistent because Udemy doesn’t vet and select the instructors itself.
So, anyone can just create and sell online courses with only a small percentage of courses having very good reviews.
Thirdly, there have been complaints about poor customers services.
Do I recommend Udemy?
Despite all this, there are still good gems that you can find on Udemy at very cheap price.
Also, there are some online courses that you can find on Udemy, but not on Coursera and edX.
Below are some examples:
- Arts & crafts online courses
- Makeup online courses
- Gaming online courses
- Pet care online courses
- Dance online courses
Try Udemy for FREE Now
Creative Live
CreativeLive was started in 2009 by Chase Jarvis and Craig Swanson to inspire people through online workshops to develop their creative skills.
Today, it has curated over 1500+ classes taught by 650+ world-class instructors from Grammy winners, Best-sellers to World-renowned photographers.
So, what classes can you find on CreativeLive?
There are 5 categories of online classes:
- Photo & Video
- Art & Design
- Money & Life
- Craft & Maker
- Music & Audio
Take Photo & Video online classes for example.
All these classes range from fundamentals to advanced techniques to the software and hardware tutorials.
It gives you everything you need to master your craft.
What if you want to access to all the 1500+ top classes?
You can do that with a creator pass which comes in monthly passes ($39/month) and annual passes ($149/year).
So, who is this online learning platform suitable for?
This is the best online learning platform for creators who wants to learn a new skill or master their craft.
Try out CreativeLive now.
SkillShare
Skillshare is an online learning platform with thousands of classes for creative and curious people, on topics including animation, illustration, design, photography, video, writing, UX design, and more.
It’s also an online platform where real working creatives and experts can create classes and share their experience and skills with you.
So, what’s so special about SkillShare?
Unlike Udemy & CreativeLive, it offers both free and premium courses.
And you don’t buy individual courses on SkillShare.
All you need is to sign up for the SkillShare Premium for a monthly or annual fee to get unlimited access to all the Premium classes.
You can take classes on the go with the Skillshare app which allows you to stream or download to watch anytime and anywhere.
Try out SkillShare and get access to all FREE courses now
Linkedin Learning
Linkedin Learning is a learning platform where you can learn business, creative, and technology skills to achieve your personal and professional goals.
There are over 15,000 courses to choose from, with dozens added each week.
All the courses are designed to help you with your career and are taught by industry experts.
It operates a subscription model where you can get all the following for a monthly fee or annual fee:
- Access 15,000+ expert-led courses
- Get personalized course recommendations based on your current job, skills, and what professionals like you are learning.
- Watch anytime on your computer or phone
- Earn a certificate when you complete a course
- Practice with exercise files and quizzes
- Use project files to practice while you learn
- Download to mobile app for offline viewing
- Access LinkedIn’s Premium Career features
It is really worth it if you’re an active job seeker
By the way, It offers a free one-month trial, so you can try out the courses and decide if it’s right for you.
Try out Linkedin Learning and get 30-day FREE trial now
Coding Learning Platform
Codecademy
This is an online learning platform that is specifically for people who want to learn how to code.
Why is there a learning platform just for coding?
That’s because coding as a skill has never been more in-demand.
In fact, every company is going online right now with most of the biggest companies being technology companies.
So, technical people are needed everywhere.
If you want a job right now or in the future, coding is a safe bet.
But, what if you have absolutely no coding knowledge?
Don’t worry.
Because Codecademy is designed to help anyone of any skill level.
So far, it has taught over 45 million people .
Even if you are a complete beginner and not sure where to start, it has a quiz to help you get started without feeling lost or overwhelmed.
What I love the most about Codecademy is that they developed the best system for learning how to code.
So, here’s how it works.
Step 1: Choose what to learn
There are 13 different programming languages for you to choose from.
If you don’t know which one is the most suitable for you, all you need to do is to take the quiz on the website and they will show you what you should learn.
Step 2: Learn by doing
The best way to learn is to actually do it and learn from your mistakes.
No matter your experience level, you’ll be writing real, working code in minutes.
Step 3: Get instant feedback
You will also be getting instant feedback on your code, so you always know if you’re on the right track.
Step 4: Put your learning into practice
Your skill is only valuable if you know how to apply it in real life.
So, you will be applying your learning with real-world projects and test your knowledge with tailor-made quizzes.
Step 5: Land your dream job
Coding is one of the most in-demand skills right now.
If you go to any job website, you will see that there are many coding jobs available.
The best part is that many are these jobs are highly paid and you even have the option to work from home 100% of the time.
So, who is Codecademy right for?
If you are interested to learn how to code and pursue a career in this field, then I highly recommend it because learning to code might be the easiest way to change your career and get a high paying job in the future world.
Are Codecademy courses free?
Codecademy offers two plans:
- A free Basic plan
- A paid Pro plan
If you are strapped with fund, you can go with the FREE basic plan where you get 180 hours worth of interactive lessons and daily practice.
But if you are willing to invest in yourself, I recommend the PRO plan which gives you the best value and prepares you to get a job in the IT field.
Try out Codecademy for free now.
Leave a Reply