Feeling bored and unproductive during lockdown? Want to improve your skills in the comfort of your own home? Here are 5 great websites from which you can avail free online courses and boost your knowledge.
1. Coursera
Started in 2012, coursera offers a wide variety of courses, ranging from Data science and Business, all the way to Languages and Arts & Humanities.
These courses are offered by some of the top universities in the world, such as: Yale, University of Michigan, Stanford University, IE Business School, etc.
All of the courses are free of cost (you will have to pay to receive a certificate) and are extremely useful if you’re looking to study many different topics, or want courses from different schools and groups.
Note: The online Certificates for the free courses cost anywhere between 29$-99$.
2. Edx
Edx is another great website for free online education.
Partnering with some of the top universities such as: MIT, Harvard, Boston University, Hongkong Polytechnic University, Berkely, etc, they offer a wide range of courses, charging no fee for enrolment.
However, you will have to cash out some money if you want an official certificate of completion from the university.
Note: The online certificates for the free courses cost anywhere between 39$-199$
3. Khan Academy
Founded by the Bollywood star Salman Khan, this is a non-profit organisation that offers online study materials for school students.
Focusing on more traditional academic subjects, Khan Academy provides a mix of video and text-based materials in math, science, economics, humanities, and a bit of computer programming.
Along with that, they also provide study materials for college preparatory exams, such as the SAT, IIT JEE, etc.
The materials are free for anyone to use and it’s a great way to get a taste for a subject before moving onto a more advanced course elsewhere.
4. Udemy
Here you can choose from 100,000 online video courses with new additions published every month. Udemy’s courses are similar in concept to Coursera’s but additionally allows users to build custom courses from lessons.
However, unlike the other sites, Udemy courses are fully paid, starting from Rs.500, but it is inclusive of all the course content, downloadable softwares as well as the certificate of completion.
Courses on Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, Programming softwares are also available here.
5. Alison
Unlike the previous sites on this list, Alison is a free education site, offering certificates at the end of every course with no additional cost.
Alison offers courses mainly in business, technology, and health, but also includes language learning courses.
It’s a great option if users need certification for their learning as Alison also offers school curriculum courses.