Are you looking to enhance your skills in a certain field for your dream job? Or are you in between jobs or studies and you have some free time you could put to great use? Here are the best online course providers in 2023 to help you access numerous courses.
These online course providers offer courses in a variety of fields and at different educational levels. While some of them will require you to pay a fee to be granted access or complete access, some providers offer some of their valuable courses free of charge.
In this article, we will be discussing the various online course providers in 2023 and why they are the best.
Table of contents
What are Online Course Providers?
Online course providers are online platforms that provide courses on various fields online for anyone to enroll. These online courses are usually affordable and some times, free, and very flexible.
They provide opportunities to learn and acquire new skills, enhance your career and provide valuable educational experiences.
Why You Should Enroll in Online Courses
Learning has automatically and strongly evolved since the past few years and advanced the face and form of modern education. This evolution has made learning quite cheaper, more flexible and effective and time managing than the traditional form of education.
Now, learning online, you can be in total control of your academic life as you learn at your own pace without feeling the need to do a thing at a particular time or never like someone has a gun to your head.
You could be in between jobs or an offline learning and still take online courses to gain valuable knowledge and skills. Or you could easily acquire a new skill in a certain field for a job you are looking forward to just in a few hours or days/weeks.
Whatever needs that may be, online courses are the new best things and everyone looking to be in the future needs to begin to prepare for the future.
This is because not only does online courses help you gain knowledge in fields you choose, they boost your resume and increase your employability rate. You can take a single class to delve deeply into a specific topic or take a series of courses to acquire extensive knowledge of an area of study.
See: Free Online Courses From Stanford University 2023
Things to Consider Before Choosing an Online Course Provider
Now, we will be listing the best online course providers in 2021 and we are sure you will find them helpful.
There are things to consider before choosing a platform to enrol in their online courses. They are:
- The authority of the content – which platform and their genuineness
- The availability of certificates
- The opportunity to test the knowledge during the learning process
- Price.
While some platforms offer courses without certifications for free, some others require monthly subscriptions or one-time fee. Also, some platforms allow tests of knowledge during the learning process while some others don’t. You alone know what’s best for you.
Now, to the list!
Best Online Course Providers
Here are our top picks on the best online course providers in 2023:
1. Udemy
Udemy is the largest online course provider with over 35 million learners. Offering over 150,000 courses in 65 languages with topics that cover 11 broad broad categories. These topics include:
- Photography
- Office productivity
- Health and fitness
- Finance and accounting
- Teaching and academics
- IT and software
- Design
- Development
- Marketing
- Lifestyle.
On Udemy, users can also complete finance and accounting classes, learning Bitcoin and blockchain or developing global market analysis skills.
Also, this provider provides students with personal development contents that help to manage stress, build meaningful relationships and boost their self-esteem.
Students using Udemy can take various courses in different fields for free, however, there are features users can only access when they pay a fee.
2. Canvas Network
Canvas Network is one of the online course providers that offer professional development classes for teachers, school administrators, and other educational leaders.
The leading courses on Canvas Network include:
- Students affairs
- Supporting women in STEM fields
- Research data management.
These courses can be accessed in English, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese.
This platform primarily provides free and self-paced online classes. It also offers open licensing options that enable educators to willingly share and refuse contents whenever to run their course to enhance traditional classroom learning.
3. Coursera
Coursera is one of the biggest online course providers in the globe with over 60 million learners. It was founded in 2012 by two Stanford professors and currently, it partners with 190 companies and universities to offer fully remote and self-paced learning opportunities for users. These classes when completed brings digital certificates at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate academic levels.
The Coursera catalogue comprises over 4,000 courses and specialisations across the following areas:
- Business
- Computer science
- Physical science
- Arts and humanities
- Engineering
- Language learning
- Data science
- Information technology
- Physical science
- Personal development
- Math and logic
- Engineering
- Social science
- Health.
Also, this online course provider offers quite affordable online degrees to its partner schools.
Also, see: Free Online Courses in 2023
4. Cognitive Class
This online course provider is an initiative by IBM and was initially known as Big Data University. It was initiated with the aim of spreading data literacy using free classes for students interested in the field and experienced IT professionals.
They cover topics like:
- Python
- Data science
- Reactive architecture
- Digital analytics and regression.
On Cognitive Class, users are able to seek workflow at their own pace. That is, the platform places no time restrictions on course completion. Also, users can earn verified digital badges which indicate shareable and industry-wide forms of an award.
The Cognitive Class platform allows students to enrol in as many classes as possible. Users can take series of classes on various subjects and during the classes, users can practice what they learn through a virtual lab environment.
5. Future Learn
Founded in 2012 by 12 university partners in the UK, Future Learn has become one of the best online course providers in the world. They offer micro-credential programs, certificates and online degrees to over 10 million learners.
The platform comprises over 700 courses for students to enrol in and gain valuable skills and knowledge. Also, it provides users with access to one-on, -one supports from their tutors.
This provider provides affordable online academic programs that could allow users to earn bachelor and master’s degrees in various fields. To make learning easier for users, this platform structures weekly to-do lists that help students to stay on top of their coursework.
6. Kadenze
This online course provider was founded in 2015 as a for-profit company together with 18 institutional partners. The provider focuses on music, creative technology, visual arts and most other fields of study without much promotion due to the significance of STEM education.
On this online course provider, students can access individual course topics from cinematic storytelling, project management for designers and sound production in Ableton.
This platform offers online courses to users, however, users can pay a fee to have access to in-depth contents.
7. EdX
EdX another one on the list of our best online course providers. It was created as a joint venture between Harvard and MIT with the aim to provide a learning system that supports the specific needs of students and other users.
Now EdX has over 20 million learners who have access to over 2,500 courses in various fields, from 130 higher academic institutions that cover popular subjects such as data science and humanities.
Also, this platform provides courses on computer science in Python, cybersecurity and front-end and full-stack development.
Learners using edX can after their courses, earn college credits through the Micro-Bachelors and Micro-Masters programs. Also, the platform offers fully online graduate degrees.
8. Khan Academy
Khan Academy is one of the best online course providers that offer completely free online courses to their users. These free online courses usually comprise instructional videos, practise exercises and a personalised learning dashboard.
Also, this platform supports K-12 students with contents for ore-algebra, AP chemistry, English language, and U.S government and civic education. They provide learning opportunities for users of all academic levels because they believe that education is a human right.
On Khan Academy, users are allowed access to preparation materials for standardised tests like;
- SAT
- ACT
- GRE
- NCLEX-RN and also, the Praxis exams.
9. Udacity
Udacity is an online course provider that primarily focuses on career development through technical and vocational online courses. Their topics stretch to six areas of study which includes:
- Data science
- Cloud composing
- Autonomous systems
- Artificial intelligence.
Also, there are programming and development classes in C++, Blockchain and Android developer.
Also, this platform provides extensive career services which include resume writing guidance, personalised job coaching and LinkedIn best practices. It also allows users to create comprehensive profiles and connect with major employers.
10. SkillShare
This provider offers a learning community to learners with various courses grouped in four distinct categories:
- Creative
- Technology
- Business
- Lifestyle.
Each of these groups has detailed subcategories and many distinct video contents made available for consultation.
These classes are usually taught by real creators and experts who share their wisdom, experiences and trusted tools with learners.
On Skillshare, some of these classes are free, however, getting the whole packages involves paying for monthly or yearly subscriptions.
11. LinkedIn Learning: Lynda
LinkedIn Learning – Lynda is another one of the top online course providers in the works. It offers over 4,000 courses in various fields such as:
- Software Development
- Business
- Design
- Web Development
- Marketing
- Photography.
This platform has tutors from prestigious industry experts and it uses insights from its professional network about skills that are in high demand among job employers.
The platform provides learning contents that are with the intent to close the gap between existing and required skills. The platform gives learners a free month trial period which after learners can pay for monthly or yearly plans.
See Also: 40 Free Online Courses in the UK with Certificates| 2023
12. Alison
Alison is another one of the best online course providers with over 17 million learners. It offers over 2000 job-applicable skills courses. These courses are divided by categories and types; diploma, certificate or learning path). All courses are available for free on Alison, however, there’s a premium option with more features and digital certificates.
FAQs
Online course providers are online platforms that provide courses on various fields online for anyone to enrol. They provide opportunities to learn and acquire new skills, enhance your career and provide valuable educational experiences.
Online courses are usually affordable and some times, free, and very flexible. However, some platforms will require you to pay a fee.
While some platforms offer courses without certifications for free, some others require monthly subscriptions or a one-time fee.
Udemy
Canvas Network
Coursera
Cognitive Class
Future Learn
Kadenze
edX
Khan Academy
Udacity
SkillShare
LinkedIn Learning: Lynda
Alison
Conclusion
The list of choices for the best online course providers is quite a long one, the benefits too. You do not only decide on what to learn and what classes to take, but you also get to learn at your own pace.
It would be great to invest your extra free time and enhance your knowledge. You don’t only get to learn hard skills, also, you gain beneficial insights on personal development topics.
We hope our list helps.
