Making money is a simple trade of skills whether an economic activity requires racking one’s brain, getting education or getting one’s hands busy. People exchange money or resources for the value others create or add, placing a premium on knowledge.
Online education platforms available today make it easy for people to accelerate their career, improve their professional worth and scale up their income even if they run their own businesses.
Folashade, 23, a baker told BusinessDay she perfected her skills taking lessons online and even learnt to manage her confectionary business successfully leveraging internet education programs.
These online platforms can give you the competitive edge you need to improve your income and even learn self-improvement skills.
Udemy
Whether it is photography, data science, personal development, Udemy has tons of videos to help you learn almost anything.
Udemy is the world’s biggest online learning platform. It is aimed at professional adults and students. Udemy have more than 40 million students who have access to over 30 million minutes of content on Udemy. More than 50,000 instructors are teaching 130,000 courses in over 60 languages.
Udemy lessons are paid for but you can access some free tutorials on the website.
Alison
Alison offers over 1000 free online courses across nine distinct categories. The types of courses across the categories include: Certificate Courses, Diploma Courses and Learning Paths.
Certificate Courses allows one specialize in a whole subject area and focus learning on different topics that provide specific expertise in one’s field or industry.
Certificate courses include an abundance of subjects, such as: languages, media studies, journalism and public relations, health and fitness, business studies, computer programming and networking, and many more.
Diploma courses span a variety of professional subjects, such as: workplace safety and health, business management and entrepreneurship, food safety, nursing and patient care, customer service, and much more!
Learning path allows one master a subject- learn about a subject from a basic (Introduction) level through to proficient (Advanced) level. Examples include Project Management and Physics.
Courses are free but getting certified may require paying a stipend.
Coursera
From courses to degrees, Coursera has100percent online learning from the world’s best universities and companies.
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes, and projects.
On unique thing about the platform is the help and support which connects users with thousands of other learners, to debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.
Coursera has a mix of free and paid for courses if users want certificates.
edX
edX is a massive open online education course provider. It hosts online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines to a worldwide student body, including some courses at no charge. It also conducts research into learning based on how people use its education platform.
The platform was created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. edX has over 120 institutional partners and offer lessons ranging from data and computer science to leadership and communications.
edX offers both free and paid for courses recognized by many global employers. The platform also has programs and degrees based on top educational institution curriculum to help further one’s career.
Udacity
Udacity allows users to take real-world projects from industry experts, one-on-one mentor, personal career coach and career services, and a flexible learning option.
The platform allows you to find the right education learning path by exploring by school or by skill.
Like other education platforms, while there are free courses to take certificates attract a fee.
This is a professional networking site. Not only does LinkedIn enable you to connect with people you know, but it also enables you to connect with the people your LinkedIn connections know.
With more than 5, 000 courses and personalized recommendations, you can discover, complete and track online education courses related to your field and interests. There are limited number of free education courses on LinkedIn. Some of the courses you can get learn on LinkedIn include: data science and analytics, online marketing foundation, project management, body language for leaders and Excel.
