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It’s a new year, are you ready to learn something new? The beauty of living in the era of the internet is that there are SOO many free and cheap ways to learn ANYTHING you could ever dream of with online courses — especially now when we have a lot of extra time on our hands.
But there is also so much information you need to make sure you’re actually learning the right things and not just learning something that doesn’t make sense.
A lot of colleges and universities have their courses online for free (without the degree status at the end, of course), but there are also a ton of other places you can learn online.
This is my attempt at aggregating these sources for you so you can make the best decision for you.
Coursera
With Coursera, you can take college and university level classes from your living room…for free!
If you want to get the actual certificate, you do have to pay. But if you just want the knowledge (if you work for yourself, do you really need that piece of paper to prove it?), then you can get going for free.
Some examples of courses I’d love to take are:
- Engineering
- CSS, HTML and Javascript
- Innovation in Business
Udemy
I’ve taken multiple courses on Udemy. They have everything from a branding course by Gary Vee, to marketing with Seth Godin, to learning how to speed read.
The screenshot above shows you just some of the ones I’ve signed up for and taken.
The courses are often around $10 (some are even free), so you can get started pretty cheap!
Skillshare
Skillshare is pretty cool because they offer all kinds of courses. The difference with this one is that it’s a monthly membership type of model.
However, they’re almost always giving away two free months for new users. So this one actually is free to get started with.
They offer tons of relevant courses, like:
- Freelancing and Entrepreneurship
- Learning Google Analytics
- Microsoft Excel
- Productivity
Creative Live
Creative Live is a place where you can learn all kinds of creative things, like Photoshop, photography, and web design.
Masterclass
If you spend any time on Facebook, you’ve probably seen this one pop into your News Feed a few times.
Masterclass is like Udemy but with the cream of the crop in their industries.
Although, these classes seem to be more high-level strategy type classes, whereas the likes of Udemy are going to go step by step through a specific skill.
You can learn cooking from Wolfgang Puck, Business from Howard Schultz (CEO of Starbucks), and Entrepreneurship from Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx).
Pretty cool!
LinkedIn Learning (aka Lynda.com)
I was always a huge fan of Lynda.com. Their courses were very well done, the content was awesome, and the teachers were people you can actually relate with.
LinkedIn Learning is the new brand of this platform but it’s just as great if you ask me. You can learn things like Google Analytics, Digital Marketing, and more.
edX
Go Skills
GoSkills is a newer one for me to have learned about, but they offer good stuff.
It is a monthly subscription, but similar to Skillshare, you get a free trial to see if you like it.
Some example classes are:
- Microsoft Office
- Finance
- Evernote
- Google Drive
- Public Speaking and more.
Experfy
Experfy has a great platform for learning things like Microsoft Excel, Access, Google Sheets, and Analytics. While the courses do come at a cost, they often run promotions and have high-quality learning platforms.
This one is seemingly for the more “nerdy” types (shoutout to my homies!)
They teach really big topics like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Software Development, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Pretty cool, but definitely a niche market.
What other ones are you a big fan of? Any I missed?