8 Inspiring eLearning Websites That Offer Students Inspiring Educational Alternatives

High tuition rates and a lack of customization in traditional education are driving many students to seek alternatives to obtaining a college education from traditional colleges and universities. In this article I will share 8 eLearning websites that offer students inspiring educational alternatives.

8 Inspiring eLearning Websites And Why They Work

Is traditional education destined to be thing of the past? The answer is probably not, but why should students pay to attend a school where they must take classes that are not relevant to their goals? A common topic that is brought up when this is mentioned is the “for profit college”. After all, many of these institutions do offer customization and a faster path to graduation than other colleges.

Unfortunately, when this is balanced out with issues such as exorbitant tuition rates, questionable accrediting, and lack of regulation, for profit schools become less and less appealing to students who want quality. This leaves eLearning as the most viable option for many students. So, which sites are the best, and what makes them work so well?

Let’s look into 8 inspiring eLearning websites to find out.

1. Khan Academy

Khan Academy doesn’t get top billing due to its popularity. Sal Khan and his team have earned their place by creating self-paced, free, source of online education that has become an industry standard. Khan academy provides an easy path for students to jump in and begin learning about any subject that they choose.

Khan Academy certainly has youth appeal with its avatars and ability to earn badges, but it is also an extremely viable option for adults wanting to improve their technical skills, or learn about subjects such as entrepreneurship.

2. Coursera

Coursera has partnered with museums, universities, and other institutions to offer students free classes on an astounding variety of topics. Students can browse the list of available topics or simply answer the question “What would you like to learn about?”, then when they answer that question they are led to a list of available courses on that topic. Students who are nervous about getting in over their heads can relax.

Coursera provides plenty of information about each class. This includes:

• A course syllabus.
• Course format.
• Recommended background and experience.
• Materials needed.
• Course at a glance information.
• Students who finish a course may often receive a statement of accomplishment from the instructor.

3. W3 Schools

W3 Schools is a free eLearning website dedicated to teaching students the various aspects of web design. Students select what they want to learn from a variety of choices including:

• HTML.
• PHP.
• SQL.
• Jquery.
• More.

For each concept that students wish to master, they go through a variety of online tutorials, take tests, and ultimately complete each course. Students can take a final test to prove their mastery, and if they pay an extra fee receive a certificate of completion.

4. TedEd

Ted-Ed is full of educational videos on a variety of general education topics free without any charges. There are motivational speakers on Ted, also Ted contains topical videos, often less than ten minutes each that are full of important information.

One of the most exciting developments in the tech world is the number of people who are learning to write code. Codecademy allows students to select their goal/learning objective and then recommends the proper course for that student.

Codecademy works because it makes coding accessible to any interested student, provides practical recommendations for students who want to learn how to code but don’t understand how these new skill might apply to their current job.

6. Open Culture

Open Culture is a website where free online educational opportunities are curated. Learners can take classes on a variety of subjects that are offered by variety of colleges & universities. Open Culture give students access to online learning materials and even internet based certification programs.

7. Open Yale Courses

There’s an obvious attraction to taking free online classes from Yale. After all, who wouldn’t want to learn something from an Ivy League instructor?

Open Yale works because it gives almost any curious person the chance to take courses led by Yale instructors.

8. Academic Earth

Academic Earth probably brings the most unique concept of education that there is. This is the idea that education should be accessible worldwide. This level of access is convenient for many students, but potentially lifesaving for students in underprivileged areas.

“We do not assume that a learning intervention is always the best means for helping people perform better.“