Online course websites

Your loyal scribe was just opining on this issue the other night around the dinner table. Young folks (and even a bit older) are living in a time where the internet is all the education one needs. Let’s preface this however – we’re not talking for a ten-year-old. Traditional schooling will never disappear, nor should it. The social value, learning to play and interact with others is vital for several reasons. However, churning out graduates with higher degrees in areas that one cannot turn into a job is not good for society nor the graduate at that. This has been happening at alarming rates and thank everything that is correct and holy we now have online course websites.

In 1960 believe it or not, the Department of Defense in conjunction with the University of Illinois created an Intranet for its university’s students. The set-up was a system of linked computer terminals where students could take part in course materials and listen to lectures recorded and subsequently stored online. In 1979 a game called the Lemonade Stand was released for Apple II, which at its core was rather simple - create a lemonade stand, sell said lemonade, and earn points. Yet, the impact far surpassed what the organizers of this online stand had in mind. Folks began to compete, share tips, communicate with each other, and leverage knowledge across users worldwide.

Five years later, the Electronic University Network (EUN) was established, assisting colleges and universities to expand their online offerings and this all led to MIT in 2002 offering lectures and course materials online via their OpenCourseWare project. Eight years later the prestigious Massachusetts university had over 2,000 undergraduate and graduate courses all posted on the web. This has all led to an absolute wealth of online web offerings that are upgrading and complementing the skills of hundreds of millions of people every day.

One of the leaders in the online course game is Coursera. Having partnered with prominent universities in the U.S. and abroad, Coursera recently introduced their “specializations,” course pathways that will lead to an official certification from one of their associated universities. The company prides itself on the sheer variety of offerings. Everything from musical theory to data science is available, and most of what is available is free or extremely cheap.

Lynda.com is another powerhouse in the online course arena, offering a subscription-based video tutorial library. Imagine Netflix but for education. At a reasonable $25 per month, you can access 80,000 plus videos on a range of subjects, designed for beginners to expert level. Udemy is another player, a tad pricier than its peers ($10 to $500 per month), but in the technology and business spheres, there are not many that offer what Udemy does. A cool feature with Udemy is you can peruse reviews of former and current students prior to signing up for a course. If a certain course is not popular for example, or another is completely on fire, you have that information prior to signing up.

There are a host of other providers, everyone from Khan Academy to Udacity, Bloc and Codecademy. No excuse in 2019 not to up your skillset, all you need is an internet connection and a comfortable chair.