Top places for online learning
FREE
Technation’s Digital Business Academy
Technation’s Digital Business Academy has been developed to help aspiring UK entrepreneurs learn the skills they need to turn their dreams into real products and real companies. They’ve partnered with leading educational institutions as well as industry experts to showcase and teach the skills that help someone to start, grow or join a digital business. A typical course consists of a single page with different elements, each made up of bite-sized video clips, text and images that may take about 15 minutes to view and read.
Google Digital Garage
Google Digital Garage provides online courses, with a range of free learning content designed to help your business or in your career. From data and tech, digital marketing to more generalist career development, you can learn up-to-date, real-world skills.
Open Learn
A free learning platform, delivered by The Open University as part of its Royal Charter commitment to support the wellbeing of the community. Whether it’s a bite-sized animated video or a 24-hour course you are after, OpenLearn is a good, free platform tailored to help. Since its launch in 2006, OpenLearn has become an integrated part of The Open University, with the site attracting almost 75 million visitors and their content unites faculty and University priorities with areas of topical and general interest.
FREE TO PREMIUM
Alison
Founded in Galway, Ireland, in 2007 Alison has grown organically to become a major force in free online education and skills training, mostly focused on workplace-based skills and upskilling. From tech, business, languages, through to math, health and lifestyle, Alison has over 1,500 courses available, all absolutely free to complete, and new courses are added weekly. Premium Monthly Premium Monthly is an optional, affordable monthly subscription that unlocks additional features and benefits on Alison.
Codecademy
There is a skills gap between the growth of the global tech industry and the number of people skilled to provide the required software development. From understanding how to build websites to learning how to analyse data, step forward Codecademy, an online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in 12 different programming languages. Well known in the tech startup space both as a business and as a supporter of skill development. Courses are free, but there is a pro-level that is priced.
Future Learn
Jointly owned by The Open University and The SEEK Group, FutureLearn connects people and ideas with free online courses from around the world. These include many of the best UK and international universities, as well as institutions with a huge archive of cultural and educational material, such as the British Council, the British Library, the British Museum, and the National Film and Television School. Courses are delivered one step at a time and can be accessed on mobile, tablet and desktop, meaning you can be flexible when you do your learning!
PRICED
Skillshare
More for the creative or creatively curious! Core topics including illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing and so on. They can also provide a learning solution for an entire company via Skillshare for Teams. From free at the start to a monthly subscription.
Udemy
A global platform for teaching and learning, connecting millions of students to the skills they need to succeed. With a reported 50 million students mastering new skills from expert instructors teaching over 150,000 online courses in topics from programming and data science to leadership and team building. Udemy is arguably the largest online learning destination that can help students, businesses, and governments gain the skills they need to compete in today’s economy.
Linkedin Learning
Founded in 1995 by Lynda Weinman as Lynda.com before being acquired by LinkedIn in 2015, LinkedIn Learning, an online learning platform enabling individuals and organizations to achieve their objectives and aspirations. Focused on business, technology-related, and creative skills through expert-led course videos, their goal is to help people discover and develop the skills they need through a personalized, data-driven learning experience. Available as a monthly subscription.
Coursera
Heavily backed by investors and founded by two computer science professors at Stanford, Coursera is reportedly the world’s largest online learning platform for higher education with 190 of the world's top universities and industry educators partnering with Coursera to offer courses and degrees to learners around the world to achieve their career goals. Coursera for Business and Coursera for Government offer a more holistic workplace solution too.
General Assembly
Well known within the tech startup space, General Assembly offers programs in web development, data science and analysis, user experience design, digital marketing, product management, and more. Students can choose from a range of formats and modalities to help them best achieve their goals, including full-time, part-time, and short-form options — on campus, and online. They very much focus on the strength and success of their program alumni and their post-program journey to finding quality tech jobs and connections.
Of course this is just a selection of the top platforms available for online learning and for every fab platform we’ve highlighted above, there will be another to consider.
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Offering personalised, consultative service, at TableCrowd Talent we’re a specialist recruitment agency with our finger on the pulse of the startup and scaleup scene. We are committed to matching graduates, professionals and C-level executives to exciting startup and scaleup jobs across London, the UK and Europe.