There are quite some interesting questions out there on which online learning platform to use for your school. That is because it can be hard for some schools to determine which one would be the best option. It can be challenging to decide whether you should choose Moodle, Edmodo, Clever, SmartNotebook or another online learning platform.
There are quite other options you could choose from. In this review I will be showing you best options that are widely available for you to decide.
FlipGrid
FlipGrid is a conversation-starter enabling students and teachers to share videos about a relevant subject. Starting guides and webinars are available to teach you and your students how to use this unique platform. Best of all, it’s free!
Zoom
Zoom became the #1 choice for meetings and webinars for its ease and functionality. Why not use this video conferencing tool for online classes, too?
Zoom requires the use of a passcode to take part in real-time video lectures. Not only does this provide a secure learning environment for kids, but it also allows for safe interactions between students and teachers.
Slack
Slack is an instant messaging tool that helps you and your students communicate instantly.
Teachers can set up channels geared toward separate topics, and Slack ensures data is secure so only teachers and students access lessons. Once you create a start hub, students can easily access everything they need for their studies.
Bloomz
Bloomz is a wonderful app that opens communication between parents and teachers. Easily line up parent-teacher conversations, receive class updates and track behavior with this user-friendly platform. Translation is available in over 100 languages to make learning accessible for everyone.
ClassDojo
Parents can join their kids in class through any device with this platform. ClassDojo gives students a way to receive praise for their skills, and parents have the option to share happy moments captured in classrooms.
Microsoft Teams
Classrooms are a true team environment when teachers and students can swap thoughts and ideas. Microsoft Teams makes it easy for you and your students to work together as you exchange videos, homework assignments and engage in chat conversations.
Prodigy Math Game
Prodigy’s adaptive, game-based learning platform can help students fall in love with learning! Prodigy Math Game challenges students to complete questions, earn rewards and battle friends, all while answering curriculum-aligned questions.
Plus, your free teacher account gives you access to all of Prodigy’s teacher tools. Use them to:
- Align Prodigy with your classroom lessons
- Differentiate math instruction for every student
- Track student progress and deliver in-game assessments
Whether students are learning in the classroom or at home, Prodigy is a great way to keep them engaged as they build math skills.Sign up now
Kahoot!
Nothing gets kids more excited than a good classroom quiz (and a little healthy competition). Kahoot! was created to work with live video conferencing tools such as Zoom, Skype and Google Meet and blends educational games with fun questions to promote learning.
Kahoot! also encourages kids to create their own games and share with other students.
Gimkit
Gimkit Live unleashes clever educational content where students answer questions at their own pace. Each time they answer a question correctly, they receive in-game cash they can re-invest to buy upgrades and power-ups.
Quizlet
Quizlet uses flashcards and games to make learning more enjoyable. Study modes and sets are suited to each student’s learning style, which makes small accomplishments feel like victories.
Quizlet helps kids to learn a variety of subjects, including:
- Art
- Math
- Science
- Humanities
- Languages
Classroom management platforms
Classroom management platforms are timesaving tools that make learning run smoothly. These ingenious platforms help you time tasks, manage and improve students’ behavior and create a respectful and supportive environment.
You can also use these platforms to communicate with parents and enhance educational experiences at school or at home.
Udemy
Udemy is one of the most popular online course marketplaces on the web. This educational platform has more than 40 million students and 50 thousand instructors and subject matter experts creating online courses.
Udemy makes course creation possible for everyone with the possibility of acquiring new skills. In doing so, it offers a range of online learning materials including PDF documents, PowerPoint, text, and video content amongst many others.
It is open to instructors to join Udemy and start teaching online, but it takes a huge piece of the pie from the revenue and has control over pricing and discounting the course.
Pros:
- There is no setup cost. (for instructors)
- It is geared towards self-paced learning and video courses.
- There is no need for highly technical knowledge.
- There is an Udemy app available for iOS and Android.
Cons:
- There is very limited interaction with students. (both for students and instructors)
- There is high competition between course creators. (for instructors)
- There is no possibility of personal branding. (for instructors)
- It has control over prices and often sells courses for incredibly low prices. (for instructors)
- There is no data ownership or control over branding – It keeps emails, user data, and does not share this information with their instructors. (for instructors)
- Visibility depends on your own marketing, the platform only promotes courses that are already popular. (for instructors)
Who is it for?
Students: Udemy has a course for almost every discipline, but always read the reviews before buying one. Quality is not consistent.
Instructors: It’s great for teachers, instructors, educators, and freelancers who are just starting out.
Pricing / Revenue (for instructors):
- No starting fee but very high commissions on sales of up to 75%.
- 50% per course sale when students come through organic search on Udemy or search engines.
- 75% when students come through their paid user acquisition channel.
- 97% on course sales when you sell through your own links. Udemy keeps a 3% administration fee.
*Pricing information retrieved from Udemy Support on 10th July 2020.
Coursera
Coursera is an online education platform with 23 million users, that is dedicated to offering high-quality online training courses worldwide. While partnering with world-class universities and businesses, it provides students the opportunity to receive certifications from renowned institutions upon joining their paid courses.
Coursera offers individual courses, specialized courses, and degree programs that support on-demand video lectures, homework exercises, peer-reviewed assignments, and community discussion forums.
Pros:
- It offers a variety of learning options and activities.
- It awards students with different types of certificates and degrees.
- It offers high-quality educational tools and instructor interactions. (for instructors)
Cons:
- It is limited to educators in partner institutions. (for instructors)
- Its course creation options are less flexible compared to other platforms. (for instructors)
Who is it for?
Students: Anyone who wants to learn from prestigious institutions, whether they are looking for an one-off course, a certification or online degree.
Instructors: It is aimed for professors who are based at a HE partner institution or business.
Pricing:
Coursera offers free courses, subscriptions and one-off payments depending on the course or program.
Skillshare
Skillshare is another popular course marketplace that has more than 4 million students and up to 24,000 lessons in various disciplines. Course lessons last from 20 to 60 minutes and are made out of a series of small videos, class projects, and a student community that encourages interaction through discussion forums.
Classes are divided into 4 categories:
Creative arts: from graphic design to fine art, cooking, and music production.
Technology: including data science, web design, and e-commerce.
Business: finance, accounting, project management.
Lifestyle: teaching, languages, gaming, and wellness.
Pros:
- It offers a supportive discussion forum where students exchange feedback.
- It provides the ability to take many courses for the same price.
Cons:
- Its class content is limited to only four categories.
- There is no certificate of completion or any other formal recognition.
Who is it for?
Students: It is suitable for students interested in the creative arts, technology, business and lifestyle classes as mentioned above.
Instructors: It’s great for instructors who are in the creative field and want to make a side income. Instructors can make money through Skillshare’s royalty system and their referral program.
Pricing:
Students: After a 14-day free trial, the pricing is $15 per month for access in all the courses.
Instructors: Free to join, but it comes with specific class guidelines you need to follow.
Skillshare pays instructors based on minutes watched from their course and premium referrals.
edX & Open edX
EdX.org (course marketplace) and Open-edX are two sides of the same coin. EdX is the learning platform where students find online courses from various universities and Open-edX is an open-source content management system. They were created by a team of scientists from Harvard University and MIT with the goal to provide online university-level education across the globe.
EdX.org has powered more than 8,000 online courses from 100 prestigious universities and businesses that are currently offering higher education in many disciplines. They mainly specialize in the sciences – engineering, computer science, data science, math, humanities, business, and management.
Pros:
- It is free and open-source. (for instructors)
- It has an app that is available on iOS and Android.
- Its online classes are interactive, allowing students to chip in.
Cons:
- Its discussion forums seem to be outdated and difficult to navigate.
- It requires technical knowledge or hiring a developer/web-designer to implement. (for instructors)
- It comes with the additional costs of a self-hosted server and its maintenance. (for instructors
Who is it for?
Students: EdX has a very diverse library of courses suitable for most ages looking to learn a subject or new skills.
Instructors (Open-edX): It’s great for businesses who can afford a team or outsource the development and maintenance of the platform in their own servers.
Pricing for Instructors:
Free to join, but there may be additional costs on procuring a server and system support and in getting expert help from Open-edX’s service providers or freelancers whose pricing varies according to your project’s requirements and budget.
For more information on Open-edX course creation expenses check out this guide.
LearnWorlds
LearnWorlds is our very own cloud-based platform that comes as an all-in-one solution offering the ability to build your online academy while creating unique, interactive, and social learning experiences.
Our platform brings everything you need in one place, making the process of creating online courses easy and affordable at the same time. On top of that, it’s designed to give you the right marketing tools to help you promote and sell online courses.
Pros:
- It is very easy to set up and create courses.
- It does not require any technical skills to use.
- It comes with built-in course authoring capabilities.
- It offers a modern and customizable course player.
- It offers a state of the art website builder.
- It has built-in e-commerce, marketing, and affiliate features.
- It includes a variety of learning tools & assessment engines.
- It offers a robust prerequisites system.
- It comes with a built-in online community and discussion.
- It supports SCORM and HTML5 files.
- It offers a responsive 24/7 customer support with onboarding for new customers.
Cons:
- It has no pre-built sales funnels.
- It has limited gamification options (badges only).
- It does not support TinCan.
- It offers limited email marketing capabilities.
LearnWorlds also comes with the most powerful website builder for elearning sites, with website, page and zone templates, fully customizable branding, controlling who sees which zones/pages and controlling the navigation experience of the users. Watch the video below for a quick preview and try it out yourself from here.
Who is it for?
It’s ideal for entrepreneurs, individual instructors, educators, small/medium businesses, professional trainers, and internal training for companies that want to train their employees.
Pricing:
It offers a 30-day free trial and then subscription pricing plans at:
- Starter plan: $29/month (plus $5 per course sale)
- Pro trainer plan: $99/month
- Learning center: $299/month
- High Volume and custom corporate pricing are available
Pricing Information retrieved from LearnWorlds on 1st of September 2020.
Conclusion
One of the best ways to supplement your child’s education is by using an online learning platform. These platforms are effective because they enable students to learn at their own pace in the comfort of their own homes. Many schools also use these types of programs in order to keep classes manageable in terms of student-teacher ratio.