5 Fantastic Platforms for Free Online Educational Content

Online education has been around for quite a while now, but 2020 has evidently seen a dramatic increase in the demand for it. It’s understandable — A lot of people are trying to make the most out of a difficult situation by investing their time in learning new skills!

But not all online educational video services are 100% reliable. Oftentimes, finding free quality content can be a challenge for students if they don’t know where to look. Luckily for them, there are some platforms in which you can find high-quality online courses on a wide variety of exciting and valuable topics.

And if you are a little apprehensive about taking online classes, don’t worry — it’s understandable for people that have only taken face-to-face classes all their lives! But take a look at these resources, and you’ll see a glimpse of the great things online learning has to offer.

Let’s get to it!

In today’s digital world, it’s never a bad moment to learn how to code, and Codecademy is a great place to start. They offer free courses in 12 different coding languages, and their ultimate goal is to ‘rethink education from the bottom up’ by creating courses that make coding fun and free for everyone.

Their courses are intended for beginners. If you are, indeed, a beginner in coding, and you’re not sure where to start, they’ve got you covered.

They’ve developed a quiz that’s available for every new student to help them trace a learning roadmap, as they’re aware that there are many coding languages and new people might feel a bit lost.

The best thing about Codecademy platform is that they’re keenly aware that new coders need to practice, practice, practice! That’s why their courses are designed for you to actually learn by doing — which means writing code exercises directly on the platform and receiving feedback in real-time.

Discover Thousands of Courses on Open Culture

If finding good free courses in your preferred topics is a problem for you, then you need to check Open Culture out. In this website, you’ll find a selection of more than 1,500 online courses organized by topics. Everything from engineering, physics, and biology, to art, philosophy, and even theology!

Most of these courses are validated from top-class universities like Yale, Stanford, and Harvard; and their lists get updated regularly, so make sure you check for new courses from time to time!

The best part about Open Culture? It’s not just about online video courses — it’s a big compilation of educational content like free audiobooks, language lessons, e-books, textbooks, documentaries, as well as educational video examples sourced from many companies and institutions. It’s a treasure chest of knowledge!

So, if you’re the kind of person that loves to spend hours online getting lost in a loop of history Wikipedia pages, or watching video essays on YouTube non-stop; then this website is definitely for you!

Join a Global Classroom on Khan Academy

Khan Academy is an American non-profit organization created with the mission to provide free, world-class education for anyone around the globe. And they do it through video lessons!

They have many courses that go from basic math classes to art lessons, so you can feel like you’re back in an actual classroom! But they go even further than schools do in terms of curriculum by having full courses about life skills like personal finances, life after college, and so on.

Their videos are really well made, which makes it so much engaging and easy to learn. But they’ve also invested in good web design, so their courses are easily navigable. Making it simple to find the courses that you need — something that’s not all too common in online educational platforms!

Enroll in University Courses with FutureLearn

FutureLearn is an online learning platform that offers fully-accredited online courses and degrees, with certificates issued by a number of world-renown universities. Keep in mind that, while the content of the courses is completely free for everyone that enrolls in them, the certificates are not!

If you’re only in it for the knowledge, though, then you’ll definitively find a lot of value in this platform. The free content offered in FutureLearn courses has a very good reputation, and overs lots of different topics for professional development.

Their free course material consists mostly of reading material and video clips, and they are available for the duration of the course, plus 14 days after that, so you can learn at your own rhythm. Best part? There’s a community of other people taking the courses that’ll peer-review and provide feedback on your assigments!

Learn About Art with MoMA’s MOOCs

If science and math are not exactly your thing, but you love to visit museums and learn about art history and the fine arts, then you need to check the new MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) by the Museum of Modern Art in partnership with Coursera.

As you would expect from the MoMA, this curated collection of courses is very well-produced, with videos that are gorgeous to look at, as well as very complete and informative.

Their courses cover topics such as fashion design, post-war abstract art, and photography; and their courses are completely free unless you’d like a certificate of completion issued by Coursera for a $49 fee (which is not required to take the course).

Ready to Start Learning?

If you’re looking to expand your professional horizons, then taking a course (or two, or three) is the perfect project to undertake right now. And with this vast selection of courses, there’s no excuse — it’s time to dust off your learning skills!

The best part is that, after reading this, you know exactly where to look for free, quality courses on every possible topic imaginable! Made specifically for online learners, so they’re interactive, engaging, and they rely mostly on videos to provide learning content that’s interesting instead of dense and tiring.

I do believe that, with all of the online learning opportunities that are emerging online, it’s about time we kiss textbooks goodbye! So, are you ready to start with your online academic path? Let’s go!