Best online learning platforms – If you are a student, it is important to understand that there are many ways to learn. Studying, practice and dedication are key elements to learning.Online learning platforms are no substitute for studying or practice, but can be used in conjunction with them.
Here is the roundup of Free Online Learning Sites for students to get started with online learning. You will be glad to know that there are hundreds of learning tools available online that you can study without fees. But the only problem is finding the right website on which you can learn at your best pace. We tried our best to compile this list of free online learning sites after hours of research and here’s what we came up with!
Evernote
Next up is Evernote, another amazing note-taking app for students. Evernote empowers students to capture digital information and process hand-written notes to their Evernote notebooks. Students can take notes in a variety of formats like text, audio, pictures, annotated web page clippings, video recordings, and more. With stylus-compatibility, Evernote makes note-taking a breeze for students.
Evernote neatly organizes all classroom notes into virtual notebooks. With powerful search, finding docs, PDFs, photos, and even handwriting is quick and easy. Evernote also has this amazing feature of scanning your handwritten notes and adding them to your online notebook, making it easy for students to keep all their notes in one place.
Evernote also supports collaboration as students can present notes and ideas with others using the built-in presentation feature. Additionally, students can save emails from teachers inside Evernote, keeping them near their notes for context.
Some cool features of Evernote include:
- Web Clipper to quickly bookmark content for research
- Extract text from images for faster note-taking
- Digitize hand-written notes easily
Pricing:
- Free plan with limited functionality
- Pro plan starts at Plus ($34.99 per year or $3.99 per month), Premium ($69.99 per year or $7.99 per month), and Evernote Business.
FutureLearn
FutureLearn lets you learn online from universities and companies all over the world, including Anglia Ruskin University, King’s College London, Monash University, and the University of Wollongong. On top of their university partnerships, they also partner with specialist organizations such as Accenture, Amnesty International, the British Library, and UNESCO.
From personal development video lessons to employment-related course content, FutureLearn definitely deserves its place near the top of our best online learning platforms list.
Some options on FutureLearn’s online learning platform include:
- Understanding Fashion: From Business to Culture
- Work-Life Balance and the Impact of Remote Working
- Allergies: When the Immune System Backfires
- Cognitive Behavioural Skills to Treat Back Pain: The Back Skills Training (BeST) Programme
Microsoft Powerpoint
We are sure you have heard of Powerpoint, the presentation tool by Microsoft. Released way back in 1987, Powerpoint has been around since the internet and continues to be the preferred system for presentation and slides worldwide. Powerpoint’s slide designer is intuitive and easy to use. Students can insert images, text, fonts, and even 3D objects to their slides and let their imagination run wild.
Apart from using a mouse or a trackpad, students can use a stylus, touch, or even their voice to design their presentations with Microsoft Powerpoint. Powerpoint also has a feature called Presenter Coach which lets students practice their speech and get recommendations on pacing, word choice, and more using the power of AI.
If you have a group presentation, students can co-edit and co-create a presentation using Powerpoint’s real-time collaboration features. With templates in over 40 categories, creating presentations is fast and easy.
Some cool features of Microsoft Powerpoint include:
- Available on mac, pc and has mobile apps for iOS and Android and even works as a chrome extension
- AI-based recommendations and training
- Familiar interface
Pricing:
- Free plan with limited features
- Paid plans:$126.89/one-time/user
Edmodo
Edmodo is an educational tool that connects teachers and students, and is assimilated into a social network. In this one, teachers can create online collaborative groups, administer and provide educational materials, measure student performance, and communicate with parents, among other functions. Edmodo has more than 34 million users who connect to create a learning process that is more enriching, personalized, and aligned with the opportunities brought by technology and the digital environment.
Socrative
Designed by a group of entrepreneurs and engineers passionate about education, Socrative is a system that allows teachers to create exercises or educational games which students can solve using mobile devices, whether smartphones, laptops, or tablets. Teachers can see the results of the activities and, depending on these, modify the subsequent lessons in order to make them more personalized.
Bit.ai
Kicking off our list is Bit, an amazing online note-taking tool that helps anyone create awesome notes, assignments, reports, and other classroom documents in minutes. Bit is the dream tool for both students and teachers as it helps transform classroom education and makes it more functional, fun, and interactive. Some of the key reasons why you should use Bit.ai in your classroom includes:
Workspaces to keep everything organized: Students use Bit as their digital notebook. Bit organizes files and documents into “Workspaces,” making it easier for them to keep data from different subjects into different workspaces. Since note-taking is most effective when notes are organized, Bit allows students to keep their assignments, class notes, report research, and other resources organized in different workspaces and folders for easy access.
Real-time collaboration to promote co-learning: Bit supports real-time collaboration that allows students and teachers to work together on assignments in real-time from the comfort of their homes. This is particularly helpful nowadays as students and teachers are collaborating online due to the coronavirus outbreak. With the presence of real-time chat, teachers can highlight stuff that needs changes and give feedback.
Create media-rich, interactive notes: Researches have found that if students read text alone, three days later they only remember 10 percent of the information-but adding a picture to the text increases recall to 65 percent. This is why Bit assists students to create media-rich notes. Add images, spreadsheets, YouTube explainer videos, PDFs, podcasts, and more to add context around your notes and cultivate deep learning.
Better learning experience: Teachers use Bit to create media-rich reports, assignments, homework, and documents for their students to give them a more immersive learning experience than sharing boring text-only PDFs. Teachers can add anything to their documents- videos, Gifs, images, Word documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, etc. – basically anything on the internet with a link.
Some cool features of Bit include:
- Workspaces to organize notes and documents
- Document tracking provides teachers with the ability to see how many students have viewed their document, and how many have actually spent time reading it.
- Real-time collaboration between students and teachers
- Embed feature to embed documents on any website even google sites.
Pricing:
- Free with limited functionality
- Paid plans start from: Standard ($12/month), Plus ($20/month), Enterprise (contact sales).
Bookwormhub.com
Despite its name, bookwormhub isn’t just for bookworms. It’s one of those free online productivity tools that’s ideal for tackling overwhelming loads of homework. With bookwormhub, students can submit assignments for free. From there, they can see the profiles of experts who can help, and select the one they want. The site is especially helpful for completing challenging writing assignments, and features experts in several subject areas — from economics to biology. Students do have to pay for the expert assistance, but rates are reasonable and clients can expect a good return on their investment. They can track the progress on an assignment, offer suggestions, and leave reviews once it’s been completed.
Projeqt
Projeqt is a tool that allows you to create multimedia presentations, with dynamic slides in which you can embed interactive maps, links, online quizzes, Twitter timelines, and videos, among other options. During a class session, teachers can share with students academic presentations which are visually adapted to different devices.
Thinglink
Thinglink allows educators to create interactive images with music, sounds, texts, and photographs. These can be shared on other websites or on social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. Thinglink offers the possibility for teachers to create learning methodologies that awaken the curiosity of students through interactive content that can expand their knowledge.
OneNote
OneNote is a free note-taking app by Microsoft. OneNote acts as your digital notebook, allowing students to keep all their information organized digitally. You can create multiple notebooks and add notes inside of them for every subject or topic. Need faster note-taking? Quickly click a picture of your whiteboard or slide and OneNote will enhance its quality to make it easier to read.
OneNote supports both handwriting and stylus support so users never have to compromise on their note-taking style. Students can also record lectures and sync notes with audio to provide a quick context.
Students can also lock their notes with passwords, add sticky notes for reminders, collaborate with fellow students and edit in real-time, and auto-sync their notes across various devices.
Some cool features of OneNote include:
- Annotate slides and documents
- Write on top of images, printouts, or add sticky notes
- Multiple organization options
- Digital highlighter and digitization of notes
Pricing:
- Free
Conclusion:
Everyone has to start somewhere. When you’re just getting started on your new path to learning, it can be confusing trying to figure out where to start. Should you join a paid course or take advantage of the free material out there? I know all of us want to save our hard-earned money for more important things, such as travel and yachts, but sometimes we all just need a little push in the right direction.