The Best MOOCs and E-Learning Platforms
Learning from MOOCs has gained huge popularity in recent times. Students benefited greatly from these online course platforms, especially during the pandemic when all the offline institutions were shut down. It makes studying limitless and gives you the knowledge to broaden your perspective of gaining knowledge and learning.
Unlike traditional university education, which has a set curriculum and learning foundation, online university education is flexible. They can be located anywhere globally because all subject materials are available online, and no prior credentials are required. They are available to everybody, whether or not they have previously studied the subject.
MOOCs allow students to study a subject in-depth without the constraints of a traditional academic course. Because these courses are less expensive than traditional courses, and many are free, students who cannot afford to attend a large institution may readily take advantage of them because of the simplified and diminished online course pricing. Travel costs are also reduced because all you need to attend a class is a phone or laptop with an internet connection.
What are MOOC Platforms?
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a term that refers to a large number of people participating in an online course. Many schools offer online distance learning courses all around the world. Anyone who registers is typically allowed to attend, and a single course may have thousands of students enrolled.
This approach may be used to learn practically any subject, and dozens of prestigious colleges across the world are already providing MOOCs. They may be used as a stand-alone study for those interested in a certain subject or as a consolidation study for a course you’re presently doing.
Types of MOOCs
There are specifically two types of MOOCs prevailing these days: cMOOCs and xMOOCs. Below is the explanation for the two groups:
Connectivism is a learning philosophy that stresses the value of networking with other people, learning from other perspectives, and concentrating on end-goals as the foundation of learning.
In a cMOOC, participants take on the dual roles of instructor and student by sharing material and engaging in shared experiences and debates.
Rather than an open online community of learners, xMOOCs are arranged like a typical classroom: they combine a pre-recorded video lecture with quizzes, examinations, or other evaluations. xMOOCs are focused on a single professor rather than a group of students.
Every day, the universe of xMOOCs expands to include more and more themes. Coursera, EdX, Udacity, NovoEd., and ClassPert are some of the websites where you may find such courses.
Despite their common purpose of offering open and inexpensive (or free) education to the general public, xMOOCs and cMOOCs have quite diverse structures and features. Each type of MOOC creates a unique learning environment and is suited to different techniques of information acquisition.
Best E-Learning Platforms to Buy Courses
Below is the list of the best free MOOC websites from where you can buy courses. While talking about MOOCs, these online course providers always top the list.
Thinkific is one of the best online e-learning platforms. It enables you to make business decisions based on what’s best for you and your audience. It’s simple to match every component of the platform to your brand, so you can keep growing without missing a beat.
LearnWorlds has made it easy for you to design online courses that are focused on the requirements of your students. It’s a paid platform with a variety of tools for creating courses, as well as SEO tools and excellent landing page optimization and customization possibilities. Customer support and beginner-friendliness are also disadvantages.
Another popular MOOC platform is edX. More than 2,500 courses from 140 higher education institutions are available to students. Computer science classes in Python, front-end and full-stack programming, and cybersecurity are also available on the platform. It makes use of an open-source learning framework that enables developers and educators to improve MOOCs.
Udemy is the best online video course platform. It has more than 150,000 courses available in 65 languages. Although students can enroll in several free courses, many MOOCs charge a price. Users that pay for premium material have access to features such as direct chat, Q&A, and completion certificates.
Udacity is a for-profit MOOC platform that focuses on technical and vocational online courses for job advancement. Data science, cloud computing, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence are among the topics covered. Students can also enroll in C++, blockchain, marketing analytics, and Android development programming and development classes.
You may use free online certificates to help you stand out from the crowd. Alison is a fantastic site for free learning. Not all Alison courses are accredited, and most were formerly unaccredited. CPD UK has now accredited a great majority of them, so you need not worry!
Each course includes a discussion board where students may debate courses and ask questions and a portal to post their final projects. Students can then look at each other’s work and remark on it. You may also conceal your final project and participation in the course from other users in the settings if you’re bashful.
A mini-portfolio featuring some of their other efforts appears when you open a student’s work. Users may add connections to social media or their website to their profile page and indicate if they’re available for freelance work.
Skillshare is a creative and curious people’s online learning network. They wish to encourage and spread the type of creative discovery that leads to increased expression, learning, and application. Thousands of classes in areas such as artwork, design, photography, video, freelancing, and more are offered through Skillshare.
If you’re new to coding, Codecademy is an excellent place to start understanding what it is and how it works. It’s also a terrific free approach to evaluate whether coding is something that interests you as a career choice before diving in headfirst. The firm employs over a hundred people, and by January 2020, it will have added 14 new programming languages to its knowledge base.
Coursera was started as a venture by two Stanford Academies in 2012. Over 3,900 courses and specializations are available in the Coursera portfolio. Coursera has partnered with 190 businesses and colleges to offer complete remote and self-paced learning. They offer digital online course certifications at undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels.
If you’re new to coding and prefer video-based instruction, Treehouse is a terrific place to start. The bulk of courses concentrates on the fundamentals. Treehouse is probably not for you if you require less specific advice or prefer text-based teaching. Take a look at the platform and sign up for a free 7-day trial.
MOOCs in English, Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish allows students to complete coursework at their speed. Leading and applying assessment in student affairs, encouraging women in STEM areas, and research data management are just a few of the topics covered in Kadenze courses. Users can also get one-on-one help through a tutoring network.
FutureLearn was created in 2012 by a group of 12 university partners, including the University of Leeds and King’s College London. Students can enroll in one of 418 short courses to gain new skills in topics such as digital product management. Learners can also get one-on-one help via a tutoring network.
Canvas Network specializes in teacher, administrator, and other educational leaders’ professional development seminars. It is a gathering place and platform where teachers, students, and institutions from all over the world may interact and create their paths for personal development, professional development, and academic research. The Canvas learning management system is at the heart of it. The Canvas Network was founded and is supported by Instructure, an education technology company that collaborates with educators, institutions, and technologists to deliver open educational resources and remove learning barriers.
IBM’s Cognitive Class program aims to increase data literacy through free online training. Users may work on assignments at their speed, with no deadlines to meet. Candidates can obtain validated digital badges instead of certificates, which signify shareable and industry-wide types of acknowledgment.
The above are the best MOOC platforms in 2022 that you may consider while planning to learn online.
The global market for eLearning is predicted to reach an estimate of $51.5 billion this year, up from $35.6 billion in 2011.
So, why is eLearning so popular, and is it a good method to learn through?
We must admit that we all first become suspicious about eLearning, preferring instead to plan classroom or workplace-based training and coaching. However, in recent years, we have come to see how eLearning may benefit both corporations and learners.
When compared to traditional training, most individuals connect eLearning with the following advantages:
- Larger groups of individuals can be trained for less money.
- The possibility of a faster delivery time.
- Less printing and travel for learners has a smaller environmental effect.
DAN Institute is a top e-learning platform that offers a variety of marketing-related online courses. The greatest online courses for marketers, web designers and students are included in the DAN Institute directory. These cover a wide range of applications that may be employed in everyday life or business! Learn the most up-to-date digital skills online from anywhere globally with the help of the best educators in the world!