~ Online Classes and eLearning Platforms
Online Classes and eLearning is something that has boomed in the recent days.
Well, it had to boom, and given the condition of this pandemic, things have really given a drastic positive shift to this eLearning industry.
eLearning or Online Classes is not something new that has been introduced in 2020 though. It is been there for years, it is just that it was completely unnoticed in most of the parts of India.
Do you know, Udemy was founded in 2009. Right after 4-5 years of Facebook.
Since then, it definitely had a mark on the eLearning industry for delivering a high-quality and interactive experience to learning online classes. But, as I said, to many, it was unnoticed.
After few years of Udemy the eLearning giant, few more awesome platforms came into the picture. Such as Udacity, Coursera, edeX etc.
Although learning online has so much of power, still it was not so appreciated in our country in the initial days.
It is now when people couldn’t go out home and had to adopt technology to use most of it’s efficiency.
The eLearning industry brings tremendous opportunities to everyone. And that opportunity is to learn and excel.
Such platforms can be efficient as a permanent live learning online classroom for you. As well as it can help you by supporting your learning goals of different powerful skills with the help of online classes for your side hassle.
I am a keen to learn person, being in the marketing, content and technology industry, I have to acquire new and updated skills. And here my Udemy dashboard goes.
In that picture above, you can see my Udemy dashboard of online classes. These are a few of the completed eLearning courses I have.
Well, it doesn’t mean I only use Udemy as my eLearning online classes. I do use quite a few.
You can do the same, if you are also a person who loves to acquire the skills and learn new / important concepts.
Today, skills matter the most. More than your degree. And these 10+ best eLearning platform names that I am going to mention, mostly all provide validated certificates.
What exactly is eLearning and Online Classes?
Well, both are not really same.
Being a trainer who does both the job, I should give you a proper definition.
eLearning is in general about learning online.
Online means, with a stable network connection, or internet connection.
So as you need to do the Online Classes, without having a stable internet connection, it is not possible to do a live online class.
The catch here is, in the word “LIVE“.
Self-Paced Courses – Learning Online
In most of the cases, as well the majority of the platforms am going to mention today, offers you self-paced courses. Such courses are recorded prior by an SME (Subject Matter Expert) or Trainer like me. Then offered to you in a form of Audio-Visual (Video) and Transcript or Text content.
You evidently have to go through the entire set of video contents and learn the subject or skill. It is called self-paced learning.
It works in this flow –
- You select, what skill/subject you want to learn
- Find out the right course for this, that is available online
- Purchase the course or Subscribe with the course
- Register with your Name, Email Id
- Study the content, at your own pace
- Complete the course
- Take an assessment
- Get the certificate
There is no live interaction with the Trainer here.
In most cases with Self-Paced courses, you get to see the trainer, as he has a face-cam. But even the trainer can just share and present the slides and screen over his own audio, explaining the concepts.
In some self-paced courses, I have seen platforms keeping a QnA open. There you can ask questions and get a reply back.
Live Online Classes – Learning Online
Online Classes are “LIVE“.
Here,
- You get to see the live trainer
- Get to interact 1 on 1 with the trainer
- Get to experience a lively batch taking attending
- Ask direct questions to the live trainer
- Select your choice of institution or Platform
- Subscribe with the course
- You go live with Zoom or their developed tool
- Do 1 on 1 live Consulting with the SME/Trainer
- Finish off the course
- Get certificate, also placement or internship
Now, many would comment that Live Online Classes are way superior to self-paced courses. Well, it depends on person to person and needs to need.
Like, if you already master a domain, or have a fair amount of knowledge about it, then you might become a geek just by doing a self-paced up-gradation course of the skill.
But if you are a newbie, then you might need a little hand-holding. Here live interactive are better.
Also, for people who don’t have dedicated time slots for live online classes, they would fit better in the self-paced courses arena.
How Learning Online works in 2021?
The fact that eLearning has seen a boom in the world as well as in India, it is no more only limited to platforms.
Initially, some amazing platforms became a pioneer in the world wide web universe and that was the only way to subscribe with online courses.
Today, such amazing platforms are still there, but there are some offline players who have come to join the market.
Besides learning from online eLearning platforms, you will also find different institutions, having a massive physical presence offline, offering the same online.
Such institutions are dedicated to different niches as well.
Like for doing for digital marketing, you get amazing digital marketing geeks opening an institution and training you live. And so as with other skills, like software development, coding and it goes on.
I do both, as a learner as well as a trainer.
As a trainer, so far I have helped 5+ institutions with self-paced courses and classes. As well as with classroom training. So if you need help, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Hence, if you are interested learning online, there is massive opportunity.
Why should I be Learning Online from eLearning Platforms?
Learning online, can either be done through an eLearning platform or any dedicated institution you prefer.
Talking specifically about eLearning platforms, definitely brings in these pros in my mind –
- eLearning is flexible and convenient – Doing an online course, doesn’t really demand you to come out of your comfort zone. The only aspect is commitment. You can subscribe, and learn at your own pace.
- Online Learning Accommodates Everyone’s Needs – These eLearning platforms has brought up a wide range of courses. So anything you search for is available right there.
- Quick Delivery Of Lessons – Online courses are meant to be crisp. Yet, it serves quality.
- Cost-Effective – Likewise the duration, of course, the pricing is also scaled properly. You eventually don’t end up paying for infrastructure, travelling and a lot more. You need to accommodate a computer and network connection and start.
- Easy to Upskill & Maximize Knowledge Retention – Upskilling is amazing with eLearning. Anytime you feel any new tool has come up in your domain you can learn that.
- Rich or International Standard of Content – eLearning courses are globally available. So the quality is good and on international standards.
- Access to worldwide universities and institutions – Same like the content, you can learn from some top-notch universities from all over the world.
- Increasing Productivity – People keen to upgrade their skills, acquire new skills and do something productive, delve into eLearning platforms to spend their time productively.
- Easy Access – eLearning is the ease of access as you are not liable to do much documentation and quickly get in.
- Lifetime Access to Course Content – Most of the online courses platform offers you lifetime access to the course content.
- Offers Access to Updated Content – Like the above, most online courses platform grants you to access the updated content at any point of time when they update. It comes under the same registration/subscription fees.
- Lectures Can Be Taken n Number Of Times – Online courses are done in your leisure time. Hence, as per your comfort, you can check out the lectures of the module any time, and as many time as you want.
What are Free Online Courses?
Free online courses are “FREE“.
It is evident what I said above, but the point is, is it real?
Yes. There are enough opportunities where you can do free online courses.
There are several platforms that offer free online courses. And most of the other learning online platforms frequently comes up with this offer.
Free online courses even come with certificates.
I have done quite a few of them, still counting.
Well, now there is not really any catch here. It is just that you don’t need to pay for free online courses.
Some eLearning platforms do it from promotions and get recognition in the market. Some do for goodwill, and sometimes you got to know some tricks that can make an online course free.
It is not like that every free online course provides certification. Some would only let you complete the course, and you can only download the certificate when you pay for it. Well, both ways it is great.
Free online courses are awesome. Given that you know about it, and subscribe at the right time.
Like, with Udemy, they keep an offer period open on a specific course. If you can subscribe by that time then well and good, or else you pay for it.
As a digital marketing trainer, I can suggest you this free online course from Google.
If you have never tried eLearning or online courses, go ahead and try it. Click on the image below.
Google offers quite a few free online courses.
You can check all of them in Google Digital Garage.
All you have to do it, sign in with you Gmail, ans start learning free online classes.
If you are interested in more online digital marketing courses, then you can check my blog about – Best Digital Marketing and Analytics Courses.
It has got direct links to the best digital marketing courses.
Best 10+ eLearning Platforms | Live Online Classes
I am going to mention and link some of the best online classes platform here.
The reason behind considering these names as best online courses or online classes platform is, I have tried these. Also, experienced enough good quality feedback, that speaks a lot about their content and services.
Quite a few of these learning online classes platforms have free online courses as well.
Udemy
Udemy most favorite online courses platform worldwide.
Offering plethora of courses, Udemy can really stand apart from the entire competition as the best eLearning or learning online classes platform.
Not only that, they do have plenty of free online courses as well. If you take a look at my Udemy dashboard below, around 30% courses out of these, I have subscribed for free online courses.
Udemy emphasis on the slogan called “Improving Lives Through Learning”.
The category box in Udemy learning online classes platform is something that would really give you a kick. It has courses for almost everything. Under each category, the beauty of the variety is amazing. They claim to stock 155,000+ courses and 480mn course enrollments. It is like the one-stop eLearning station for learning online.
Coursera
Coursera is the another eLearning giant for learning online, and it promises world class learning for you.
The learning online courses are in Coursera are from top universities and companies in the world. Universities and companies like – Johns Hopkins University, University of Michigan, IBM, Google, Yale, University of Michigan, Stanford etc. have launched their own courses on Coursera which is available to you.
To give you the examples of such courses i.e. –
- Google IT Automation with Python by Google.
- The Science of Well-Being by Yale.
- IBM Data Science by IBM.
- Machine Learning by Stanford.
- Python for Everybody by the University of Michigan.
- Google IT Support by Google.
- Deep Learning by deeplearning.ai.
- Data Science by Johns Hopkins University.
Coursera is more of quality than anything. Learning online with Coursera can get you credentials from leading companies and universities. The categories this eLearning platform majorly covers are subjects like business, computer science, data science, language learning & more.
Evidently, most of these top-quality courses are not all available as free online courses. But, Coursera has also enabled a section called – Take a Free Course – it is for free online courses. These are quite of few of those courses you get to do.
They claim to have a stock of 1700+ free online courses. I personally have never done any free online courses in Coursera. But now as they have this special section as -Take a free course- I will surely try it.
Coursera has monthly subscriptions and with that you get many benefits.
Simplilearn
Simplilearn has been founded in 2010, and the way they have grown and made their marks in the eLearning industry is phenomenal.
It’s inception is in Bangalore, India and now Simplilearn stands as one of the most dominating learning online platforms in thee world.
Simplilearn claims it to be the world’s #1 online Bootcamp and one of the world’s leading certification training providers.
They claim to be doing 1,500 live classes every month, 85% report career benefits including promotion or a new job and 2,000,000 careers advanced.
My experience with Simplilearn is quite good. As a trainee, I feel the courses and training quality is quite good and it can be recommended. I have also been asked by them to join as a trainer for Digital Marketing & SEO but due to being working on other projects at that time, I couldn’t join.
Likewise Udemy, Simplilearn has also a plethora of courses / online classes and you can check their “All Categories” tab, which looks like the below image – The categories are really dynamic and the best part is they provide Post Graduate courses and certifications.
Simplilearn claims to have helped over 1 million professionals and companies across 150+ countries get trained, acquire certifications, and upskill their employees. Its 400 training courses are designed and updated by world-class industry experts.
Talking about free online courses in Simplilearn, you have a dedicated page like Coursera. And here is a snap of courses you get.
Go ahead and enjoy the free online courses. I am not sure whether they provide a certificate for the same or not, you can try.
upGrad
upGrad is another Indian online classes platform which has been recognized by all out there.
The inception of upGrad was happened in Mumbai, India in 2015, and over such a small time they have become quite frequent as the top names of eLearning platforms.
upGrad offers specialization courses to its students, and these courses are from top universities. Their major space of online classes are below ones –
The courses that upGrad offers are from tear 1 universities as in Liverpool Business School, IIT Bangalore, IIT Delhi, Deakin University, MICA etc.
upGrad stands unique for its huge network of availability in over 50+ countries. Having such a diversified network, when you subscribe with upGrad you get a great quality of networking with your peers.
Coming down to the idea of free online courses, upGrad also provide free online courses which can be accessed by the dedicated CTA of free learning.
There are quite a good amount of free courses available under each category. You can have a look at the below image.
edX
edX is another famous eLearning platform that offers brilliant online classes.
edX is an American massive open online classes provider created by Harvard and MIT. It hosts online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines to a worldwide student body, including some courses at no charge.
edX is a visionary online classes platform that thrives to give every learner the access of education to unlock their potential, without the barriers of cost or location. It also conducts research into learning based on how people use its platform.
It offers online masters degrees like MBA, MicroBachelors Program etc. you can see that below.
Talking about the variety of courses, edX stands really awesome with its plethora of course categories. I would say its quite different than Simplilearn and Upgrad, it is more like Udemy but it also has classes for degrees and these are live.
I have tried out several courses at edX. The quality of the course contents are really appreciable as edX is loaded with courses from top universities like shown in the image below.
In case you are thinking now, what about free online classes at edX! Let me tell you, the best part of edX is it is a non-profit created by founding partners Harvard and MIT. Here you can browse free online courses in a variety of subjects. Most of the edX courses found below can be audited free or students can choose to receive a verified certificate for a small fee.
Hence, you can just go ahead and explore the free online courses at edX with out any cost. But if you want to get the certificate for the same, you go to pay for it.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn is one of the most influential social media network. Likewise many powerful professional networking features, LinkedIn brings a platform called LinkedIn Learning, which facilitates seekers to do online courses.
LinkedIn Learning is a very dynamic platform, and if you have a LinkedIn a/c, you can use it. I have been using LinkedIn Learning for quite a long time and have done several online courses, the quality is very niche. I would surely recommend you try this out.
Well, you can not use LinkedIn Learning if you are not a premium user. Firstly, you have to subscribe to the LinkedIn Premium a/c or the subscription of LinkedIn Learning, then only you can go ahead with these online classes.
LinkedIn Learning online classes are completely self paced. You do not get live online classes here.
The variety is dynamic and interesting, that you get almost every category of online courses. Here is a snap below.
Being a digital marketing professional, I pursued quite a few online courses at LinkedIn Learning, and definitely enjoyed it. You can also connect me over LinkedIn, here.
LinkedIn Learning, let you explore the below –
- Access 16,000+ expert-led courses
- Cancel anytime, and the first month is free
- Earn a certificate when you complete a course
- Receive course recommendations tailored to you
- Use project files and quizzes to practice while you learn
- View courses anytime on your computer or phone
Talking about free online courses, all the courses that you get at LinkedIn Learning, are free. But you got to have a monthly subscription for that. So, you are not really paying any specific amount for any dedicated course, with a basic subscription fee of approx $25. This subscription has a bigger value than only doing online classes, you can check it here.
Udacity
Udacity claims to offer the latest digital skills, within reach.
Udacity is the platform where you can discover the fastest and most effective way to gain job-ready expertise for the careers of the future.
This online courses platform brings courses that are fruitful for individuals, enterprises and more. Udacity is a catalyst for workforce development. It is more than a self learning platform.
Udacity can help you make the most of your online learning experience. Their online courses and resource centre has tips, tricks and inspiring stories to help you learn while staying home.
Here is the diversified list of learning online with Udacity. It is a very dynamic platform and you get mostly all types of courses here. The quality of courses are also top notch.
Udacity provides flexible learning methods. With this learning online platform you can learn real employable skills, project-based active learning, you can schedule your learning, and you also get assistance in need.
Talkining about Free Online Courses with Udacity, it doesn’t really offer you any.
Although you get to explore and accomplish free online courses with many reputed platforms Udacity is not the one.
Courses in Udacity are top-notch and paid. These are international standard courses and it worth the time and investment.
So far, I didn’t find any free online courses with Udacity, and didn’t do any. If you find one, then kudos to you, make use of that opportunity.
Although, the above mentioned and coming mentions has much more free online courses to offer.
Cloud Academy
Cloud Academy is founded in 2013, it has the headquarters in the United States and this is a good quality online classes platform.
I got to know about Cloud Academy in the recent days, and havent tried it yet. But it looks very promising.
Cloud Academy helps you to become a subject-matter expert and get certified. With Cloud Academy online classes, you can accelerate your career by building hands-on skills in live cloud environments at no additional cost. It offers high end IT courses which can help you make a career out of it.
The platform is also dynamic and it lets you do much more than just learning and online classes.
Talking about Free Online Courses, likewise Udacity, Cloud Academy has none.
Free Online Courses are like spending zero peny, that can’t be done through these platforms. But monthly subscription is something similar to that I would say. Because at a range of INR 3K monthly subscription, Cloud Academy is giving enough materials for online classes.
If you are yet looking for free online courses only, then it is not the right platform for you. It offers a variety of courses and most of them are with high technology base. Cloud Academy has got monthly and early subscription-based subscriptions. You need to subscribe to the paid model and the quality is great.
Skillshare
Skillshare is mostly renowned among creative people. This platform claims, that they have courses for every creative person and for every creative domain.
Check out the creative bunch of courses in the below image.
Skillshare has divided its course categories in a way where you can learn a diversified group of courses under the same umbrella.
They have creative courses, build courses like Business Analytics, Freelancing and Leadership and much more. All these courses are delivered through online classes to the needy ones. Under each category, Skillshare has a plethora of interesting courses.
Skillshare clams that you can discover what You can create with thousands of inspiring classes. With Skillshare you can Learn, Grow, and Improve Your Skills With Unlimited Access. They claim to have 8M+ students and they have hundreds of great testimonials. Skillshare has offline class viewing of online classes and they also include real projects.
If you are excited about Free Online Courses with Skillshare, then let me tell you, Skillshare has free online courses available.
Check out here the best in classes free online courses in Skillshare. Mostly for all categories Skillshare offers amazing variety in the online classes platform.
Check out the free online courses of Skillshare here.
Codecademy
Are you a code?
Then these last two listing of best online classes platforms are exclusively for you.
Codecademy is an exclusive online classes platform for coders where millions have joined to learn coading.
Codecademy claims to have invented the best system for learning to code. And within a period of nine years, they have grown their subscribers to 50 million learners.
People looking for online classes on coding, Codecademy is the one stop solution for them. With Codecademy you can seamlessly code and complete your online classes to learn coding.
This platform has all types of coding to offer as online classes. Here it acts like a dynamic platform where you can code by yourself and their system will notify you wheather your code is right or wrong.
Codecademy also has projects which you can accomplish along side your online classes. It helps you to grow your knowledge and hands on over a specific coding language.
I have used this platform for coding. It is really amazing. I used it for the python language. You can see the below image how it looks like.
Coding platforms for online classes or eLearning are mostly handson platforms. Here you dont do video based online classes, it is all about coding.
Codecademy also has free online courses for learning to code. You can able your “Try Pro for Free” benefit here and start doing free online courses for coding. The best part is, Codecademy also offers certificates on their free online courses. So don’t wait, if you are passionate about learning to code then this is the right time. Click on the image below and able your free online courses benefits with Codecademy.
Codecademy comes with subscriptions as well. And unline the free online courses, if you are a paid subscriber of this platform then it lets you do more. The best part here is, this online classes platform subscription is very affordable. As an individual, with a basic subscription charge like 1500/- you can get the most out of it. It has a distinguished subscription for students and individuals, you can check it here.
Google Digital Garage
Google Digital Garage is one of the best online classes platform out there that offers variety of courses.
With this platform, you can get new skills for a digital world. Here you can learn at your own pace, with flexible and personalised training courses designed to build your confidence and help you thrive.
Google Digital Garage gives you learning about online tools to make your business succeed, Improve your interview skills and Prepare for the career you want. So it an online classes platform where you get courses from diversified categories.
In Google Digital Garage you can filter your choice of online classes from plethora of courses with different filters. It claims to have 151 hight quality courses dedicated different domains like digital marketing, data science, customer behaviour, wellbing, interview skills and preperation etc.
Google Digital Garage also have Free Live Training and these comes with dedicated date and times. Here is a glimpse of it. You can click on the image to visit the page.
I am an user of Google Digital Garage online classes since long time. Learning online with this platform is really fun. The quality is also great that I should tell you.
Talking about free online courses, Google Digital Garage has many of them.
It has both free and paid types of certifications.
For free online courses you also get certification once completed successfully. But that too with not all free online courses. You have to check it while starting the course whether the certificate is included or not.
Besides free online courses, it has free live online classes as well. These are mostly webinars. They come up with interesting topics to do the same on a dedicated date and time. You can click on this link here to check their upcoming live online classes and subscribe for the same for free.
Thanks reading this blog.
I am Soumendra S. I am an Online Marketing professional and Content Pro. Helping business to grow online with digital marketing.
To let you know, I train people on Online Marketing, Digital Advertising, Content Creation, Digital Marketing Analytics Course, SEO and the entire arena of Digital Marketing. I take both online classes as well as classroom training.
You can connect with me in need.
Book a free consultation.
Nice Article, thank you for sharing.
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