In a world where things are becoming more virtual, online learning is taking the spotlight. This type of education has become popular more than ever before, and there are several reasons as to why.
Online courses are easily accessible among people with smaller budgets. And aside from the convenience they offer and the cost, a large number of students are preferring to learn from online learning courses because they have become a better way than traditional methods.
Moreover, online classes, with some being offered for free and some paid, can expand the learner's horizons, increase a business' earning potential, and teach new skills. Taking free adult education classes online is a great way to become successful at work while also boosting the student's self-esteem. So in this edition of our post, we are going to take a look at the best sources for free adult online classes and the courses they offer. Here are some of the best free online adult education sources today where you can hone your knowledge and skills.
Want To Learn More? Check Out These Best Free Online Courses In 2022
1. edX
You might have already heard about edX as it is a big name on the virtual campus. If you're looking for legitimate online courses from the world's top universities, this is the answer. Founded by Harvard and MIT (but no longer managed by them as a non-profit after the site was purchased by 2U), edX refers to your educational platform aiming to allow individuals to learn online no matter where they are in the world.
And if you have the budget, there is a wide range of various courses on the site, and while yes, you can pay up and participate in a MicroMasters program (upwards of $1,200), MicroBachelors program ($166 per credit) or verified certificate (varies), you can also just study without paying anything. In addition, you can still access several courses for free if you are just doing this to acquire new skills or find something interesting. For instance, one of the courses they offer is the hardcore Star Trek course.
Some Courses It Offers
- Explore the impact of Star Trek on today's society and technology
- Appreciate the ocean
- Get scientific about your wine
- Explore exoplanets!
- Finally figure out exactly how U.S. government works
- Learn how to code with MIT
- Get up to speed on cryptocurrencies
- Learn about the rise of superheroes and their impact on pop culture
2. Future Learn
If you're looking to learn some things from cultural giants like the British Film Institute, go this way. Privately owned by U.K. public research body The Open University and job-seeking giants The Seek Group, FutureLearn has partnered up with top educational and cultural institutions in the United Kingdom for some niche courses you will love.
Here, there are short courses and online degrees, depending on what you're after, and you can also access course content for free for 14 days, pay for an upgrade to get a certificate, or an unlimited membership (meaning to say, you can acquire certificates and take as much time as you like to complete the courses), which is $250 for a year, such as studying for 12 weeks and more. However, if you just want to spend two weeks on one course, it's free online learning for you.
Some Courses It Offers
- Dig into art crime!
- Brush up on your first aid training, it's important
- Learn how the weather works
- Unpack the history of engineering fails
- Learn your moons
3. Coursera
Now here is another popular platform. Founded in 2012 by Stanford computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, Coursera works not only with the world's top universities -- Duke, Stanford, Penn, Imperial College London, University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins -- but also technology companies like IBM and Google to offer courses in data science, computer science, business, language, and other areas.
Then, there's also Coursera Plus, the platform's paid yearly subscription that provides access to most of the courses and so you can get those certificates. This is around $399 annually. However, there are also courses available for free, and though without accreditation, you will get all the knowledge. Up next, take a look at the courses that Coursera offers.
Some Courses It Offers
- Learn up on your dinosaurs
- Get the jump on our robot overlords with machine learning
- Become confident to talk about contemporary art with MoMA
- Study well-being as science, not an Instagram trend
- Learn the code from scratch with Python
4. Khan Academy
Next on this list is Khan Academy. Founded by American educator Salman Khan, this is one of the biggest education success stories of Silicon Valley. This online learning platform has attracted the biggest backers in the industry, including former Google CEO and chairman and Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, venture capitalists Ann and John Doerr, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Quite A-list, right?
Many of their free classes are undoubtedly gems. Here are some of them.
Some Courses It Offers
- Catch up on your high school chemistry
- Learn the nuts and bolts of computer programming
- Do Elle Woods proud and prep for the LSATs
- Know your art history from future gallery visits
- Learn storytelling from Disney
5. General Assembly
If you're looking to upskill with some of the preferred skills and talents by employers in this digital age, General Assembly is where you should take your studies. Started in 2011 as a humble co-working space, it is now a global learning business attempting to bridge the "global skills gap."
General Assembly runs a whole bunch of online courses in business, coding, design, marketing, data, and career development, so theirs are useful stuff when you want to stack your CV. However, it is not accredited by the United States Department of Education.
Its full-time and part-time courses are also a bit expensive (some up to $15,960 for a full-on immersive course), but other shorter courses are free, such as their handy coding course.
GA's full-time and part-time courses are pretty expensive (some up to a huge $15,960 for a full-on immersive course), but other shorter courses are free, like their handy coding course.
Some Courses It Offers
- Learn to code for free
- Learn up on user experience design
6. Udemy
Also popular in the world of online learning is Udemy. Launched in 2010 by its founder Eren Bali, it was set up as a means for instructors and teachers to create and run their own online courses. Today, it is pretty huge, with 57,000 instructors worldwide, and 150,000 courses that you can access on various devices, including Apple TV, mind you.
The price ranges vary, with most courses around the $15 mark, but can go all the way to $300. However, there are free courses. Udemy seems to be aware of the importance of online courses in today's interesting times. In April 2020, it launched the Udemy Free Resource Center, a collection of 150 free online courses to help individuals upskill. Plus, Udemy's courses are taught in more than 65 languages.
Some Courses It Offers
- Get into astronomy
- Code your first video game
- Finally, finally, figure out how to use Excel
- Get clued into how Amazon Web Services work
- Level up your photography skills
7. Kadenze
If you are a budding designer, artist, music producer, or even just a general trendoid, Kadenze is for you. If you're looking for a STEAM course over the Internet, this is for you. Specializing in courses in science, technology, engineering, art, design, music, and mathematics, this platform also partners with the top institutions in the world for these fields, such as Stanford, the Berklee College of Music, Goldsmiths, Columbia University, Paris College of Art, Seoul Institute of the Arts, and so much more.
However, unlike the other platforms on this list, Kadenze primarily functions through membership, allowing students to get verified certificates and access to various online courses for USD 20 per month (not cheap, but cheaper than paying one-off course fees). It also depends on the type of course you are doing. Micro-courses are around USD 25 all-in, while credit-eligible courses can cost around USD 300. But some courses are free.
Some Courses It Offers
- Build a new musical instrument that responds to your gestures with sound
- Learn how to make a comic
- Get the basics on graphic design
- Be able to talk about abstract art without fudging it
MasterStudy LMS: Connect The Learner Better With Your Own Courses, Degree Programs, College Classes, And More
If you want to be in the perspective of somebody who offers courses instead of somebody studying them, take inspiration from those courses above and build them using MasterStudy LMS. MasterStudy LMS is a WordPress learning managing system plugin that transforms the course creation process into a user-friendly experience, driving any business that offers e-learning forward.
It has a wide range of features, such as the Certificate Builder that allows your courses to give out unique and protected certificates.
MasterStudy LMS also includes various gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and WooCommerce for your students to enroll into your courses.
Furthermore, Lessons and Quizzes can easily be created with some add-ons that allow the management of assignments, course requirements, reports, and much more with ease. These Quizzes can also follow various formats, such as multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank, and more.
Instructors can also monitor course performance and see those struggling with each section, so you can better enhance your communication with the students.
There is also the Drip Content feature that allows for the course flow in your e-classroom to your own.
MasterStudy LMS also lets you easily set up the specific time in which new content is unlocked or give full access to the students to work at their own pace.
It also has a course builder on the front-end, which is a very convenient builder that paves the way for the visualization of everything you plan, together with the tools you need. The builder on the back-end, on the other hand, allows the user to create stunning and practical online courses, as well as set the curriculum for the class.
Overall, MasterStudy LMS is among the best choices out there for people who want to establish and run their own school, learning center, and education marketplace, even without code experience. Up next, we take a look at its features.
Create The Top Courses And Introduce A Better Learning Experience With MasterStudy LMS: Features
Here are the outstanding features of MasterStudy LMS:
- Advanced Quizzes
- Student Management
- Page Builders
- Zoom & Live Streams
- Online Lessons
- Drip Content
- Monetization
- Custom Certificates
- Course Builder
- Integrations
Now That You've Learned The Best Courses For Adults Today And A Platform To Help You Create Your Own, Let's Answer Some Related Quora Questions
We've consulted Quora to find some of the most popular questions asked about the topic, and answer them.
1. What Is The Best Site To Learn Online Courses?
When it comes to the best site where you can learn online courses, there isn't really just one site. Some of the best sites where you can learn a variety of online courses include Reliablesoft Academy, Udemy, Coursera, MasterClass, Google Skillshop, LinkedIn Learning, Codecademy.
You can also visit Skillshare, HubSpot Academy, Simplilearn, SEMRush Academy, Udacity, edX, and Google Digital Garage. Facebook Blueprint, Harvard University (online courses), Microsoft Learn, Alison (free online courses), Shaw Academy, and Google Primer are also great sites to learn courses from.
2. What Is The Newest Innovation In Online Learning?
Some of the newest innovations in online learning that are expected to be seen in the years to come are virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial Intelligence, robotics, holography, real-time video conferencing, gamification, and wearables.
3. How Can I Sell My Online Course Better?
To sell your online course better, follow these steps. First, first a subject that sells. Second, create your online course. Today, there are a lot of platforms that make it easier to create them, such as MasterStudy LMS. Third, choose where you want to host and sell courses online. Fourth, decide how much to charge for your online course. Fifth, increase the value and price of your course. Sixth, seed launch your online courses. Lastly, market and sell them. By following these steps, you can be able to sell your online course better.
Is MasterStudy LMS A Great Platform Where You Can Create Your Own Learning Course And To Help You Achieve Your Goals?
Nowadays, people are not just satisfied with their college degree, or learning education courses from top universities. They want to enroll and start learning several things beyond the borders of their school. To learn new is something fulfilling for them. Now that things are becoming more virtual, there are several free online classes for adults and courses available in a distance learning setup where adults looking to enroll in these courses can actually fulfill their hearts' desires.
Just by searching online, you can find many courses that are offered in a study from home setup. Courses range from various topics to specific interests that include artificial intelligence, professional development, public health, business administration, cognitive science, career skills, and more, in the beginner, introductory or intermediate setups, depending on how you prefer them, before obtaining the certificate of completion or certification. Plus, many of these are already interactive, and are partnered with prestigious universities or a well-known college or university, like Coursera.
Since these video lectures are provided online, they are accessible for everyone, whether you work the eight-to-five job or just stay at home. Whether you want to learn them at your own pace or according to the direction of the tutor or course website, you can learn from these, helping you when you want to become adept about a certain skill or topic, or work toward a degree.
For business-minded individuals, you might want to bank on these opportunities and want to earn from these. Since learners need to pay for these official courses as these programs provide them with what they need, entrepreneurs can start offering these and begin making profits. However, to create a course without the right tools involves looking perhaps for other people who can help make things happen. Usually, this requires you to spend a lot of money. But not when you have MasterStudy LMS.
You have learned about MasterStudy LMS in the earlier discussion, along with the best courses around where you can take inspiration from, and it is a highly recommended learning management system for anybody who want to create their own courses and offer them to people. MasterStudy LMS was developed using a range of top-notch features that can make it easier and save your time while creating products that deliver excellent results. Try this today.