Online platforms for education is the need of the hour. The answer to curtailing costs for parents and delivering quality education, across the globe is online learning platforms. Online learning platform is an electronic platform often called technology platform through which curriculum & materials, assessment, communication between educators and parents, student engagement/interaction can be facilitated.
This post will help you compare the most popular online platforms and decide if they are right for your school.
Udemy
Udemy is one of the most well-known educational platforms offering a number of peer-reviewed courses taught by instructors from around the world. Udemy offers many standard designing tools for course creators: videos, calculation sheets, documents, presentations. Unfortunately, on the downside, Udemy doesn’t allow for a seamless exchange between the teacher and the students. Additionally, there’s almost no quality control of the courses which are being published. Therefore, a good peer-review rating is a crucial element when choosing a class at Udemy. As it is geared towards self-paced learning mode, there’s no big community support and neither is the possibility of feedback from the teacher.
WizIQ
While it’s dedicated to traditional classroom learning rather than professional training and development, this LMS platform allows teachers to create their own unique online courses. WizIQ is an award-winning educational platform, which delivers interactive learning experience. Online courses created with WizIQ can also be offered for sale and with the possibility to turn them into MOOCs (massive open online courses), they can easily be made into a source of revenue. WizIQ also offers digital tutoring software for those interested in giving personal instruction on a chosen subject. WizIQ doesn’t have a very transparent pricing policy – for every potential client is given an individual quota after contacting the sales team.
edX
Together with Coursera, edX are two holy grails among the LMS focused on delivering college-quality of education. Created by a Harvard and MIT graduates, edX is a higher-education oriented platform hosting online courses from different universities. While it isn’t quite suited for professional training in the workplace, you can attend a Yale business program or Harvard physics class for free. EdX’s interest lies in improving the global accessibility to top-class resources and educators. The choice offered by edX is however way smaller than on other platforms and limited to very specialized fields. EdX also doesn’t support microlearning and its policy still advocated traditional learning methods, with listening to lectures and writing essays. Its focus is chiefly on natural sciences, leaving humanities and arts on the last position. It’s therefore clear, that not necessarily everyone will be satisfied with what they’ll find on this platform.
BlackboardLearn
BlackBoard learn is aimed at higher-education teachers and students, who need to be able to store and share the materials in the cloud. Apart from teaching, it can be used for corporate and governmental training programs, although there are other LMS that offer more built-in features for less. It’s mobile-friendly, which caters to the younger users’ habits, as it enables then to attend classes anywhere. Blackboard delivers content without fuss but takes away some of the fun other LMS provide along with great functionality. Blackboard is not free, however, there’s no clear pricing on their website and one has to request for a quote.
Coursera
Coursera is an educational platform, which like edX, aims at delivering college-level education and quality training globally. It offers online degrees, specialized courses, and one-off activities, delivered by renowned partner universities from all over the world. Most of the courses at Coursera require active participation, feedback, writing tasks and attending lectures. The effort pays off, as after completing a course, one can apply for a certificate with a relevant stamp on it. Coursera is free for university students (except for degree courses) but requires admission fee from everyone else.
Skillshare
Skillshare counts among well-known educational platforms focused on delivering practical skill-oriented courses for its dynamic range of students. It is primarily limited as an educational video platform, where teachers and educators explain the topic in a series of clips. Skillshare is a community-based platform, meaning everyone can potentially become a teacher and it’s easy to gain feedback and support at the community forum. Contrary to EdX or Coursera, Skillshare focuses on teaching pragmatic skills helping with building an online presence (useful in the era of social media marketing), supporting small businesses or simply for entertainment purposes. Skillshare offers free two-month trial and after the access is based on a monthly subscription.
Thinkific
As a well-designed LMS platform system which makes creating your training courses feasible and easy, Thinkific offers a variety of templates and graphics to facilitate the design of your course. It’s mostly aimed at entrepreneurs, online educators, coaches and trainers, who wish to expand their reach and perhaps update their educational tools. Unfortunately, Thinkific is not free, and to access the full range of design and marketing tools, a monthly subscription plan is required.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is an educational platform that chiefly focuses on business and technology-related fields. The platform’s courses are delivered in video form in seven different languages which makes it adequately accessible, depending on your geographical location. LinkedIn Learning comes as a premium feature for LinkedIn users with upgraded profiles and aims at providing new, better qualifications for those searching for new opportunities at the job market. LinkedIn Learning is a good place to learn, more difficult to teach as becoming a coach there requires a lot of effort. The quality of the courses are not always easy to assess beforehand and requires some research.
Kajabi.
Best High-End Online Course Platform for Professionals ($119/month)
Kajabi is the best high-end course builder tailored toward information business, not tiny course creators.
It’s best when it comes to email marketing automation. Automation is a crucial component of pre-sale, pre-webinar, drip course, and upsell emails – and Kajabi does it best.
Their “Pipelines” feature lets you create fully-automated marketing campaigns and funnels. These are pre-built frameworks for lead generation, with pre-written copy optimized for conversions.
It also features powerful course site themes, the ability to sell digital products, a customizable checkout, and blogging functionality.
Overall, it’s the best high-end course platform with more built-in tools and features, but it costs a little more than others on the list.
Kajabi Pros:
- Best all-in-one software for a true information business.
- Wistia video hosting is excellent.
- Major focus on sales and marketing tools.
- More built-in tools than other platforms.
- Can offer monthly recurring subscriptions.
- Integrated with Stripe and PayPal.
- Big names use Kajabi, including Amy Porterfield.
Kajabi Pricing:
Kajabi pricing is mainly based on the number of courses and active members you have:
- Basic ($119/month): 1 website, 1 admin, 3 products, 3 pipelines, 10,000 contacts, and 1,000 active members.
- Growth ($119/month): 1 website, 10 admins, 15 products, 15 pipelines, 25,000 contacts, 10,000 active members.
- Pro ($319/month): 3 websites, 25 admins, 100 products, 100 pipelines, 100,000 contacts, and 20,000 active members.
Where Kajabi really excels is its marketing automation tools. You can segment users in your list, send emails at certain times based on advanced triggers, and send professionally branded messages.
If you’re an established business and want to try one of the more advanced platforms on the market, Kajabi is a solid choice.
Start your free 14-day trial of Kajabi today.Try Kajabi
Teachable.
Best Online Course Platform for Beginners ($29 – $249/mo and One Month Free)
Teachable is an option if you want a fast and easy course builder.
I consider it the best for beginners getting their feet wet in the course world as it’s one of the cheapest options and easy to use.
You can choose to use their free plan (with $1 + $0.10 for all transactions) or select one of their three plans ranging from just $29/month to $299/month.
I recommend their most popular Pro Plan at $99/month as it’s the first plan with zero transaction fees.
Teachable also gave me a unique and limited-time promo code (200 left):
Use PROSOCIATE1MFREE at checkout to get one month of their Pro Plan for free.
Teachable Pros:
- Very easy setup.
- Unlimited everything – bandwidth, students, courses, and coaching services.
- One-click checkout.
- Optimized storefront and sales pages.
- Live Zoom courses on their pro plan.
- International payment plans in 130+ currencies.
- Graded quizzes.
- Custom course completion certificates.
- Website theme customization.
- Can have 5 user accounts on their pro plan.
Teachable Pricing:
- Basic ($29/month): 5% transaction fees, 2 admin users, drip content, course builder, members-only community.
- Pro ($99/month): Basic features, plus no transaction fees, 5 admin users, advanced reports, and course certificates.
- Business ($249/month): Pro features, plus advanced coding customizations, 20 admins, bulk student enrollments, and group coaching calls.
Get started with your Teachable Pro Plan and use my promo code PROSOCIATE1MFREE at checkout to get one month free.Try Teachable
Podia.
Best All-In-One Online Course Platform for Webinars, Downloads, and Memberships ($39/month)
Podia is an all-in-one online course platform with over 50,000 members that is great for digital downloads, webinars, and memberships.
Its main types of courses include:
- Standalone courses that include images, video and audio files, MP3x, PDFs, quizzes, and more.
- Pre-sell your course by taking payments before launch.
- Cohort-based courses with a future start date.
- Drip courses deliver your course in a section-by-section format.
- The ability to add coupons and memberships.
They truly excel with their membership options. You can grow your own online community by interacting with members, bundling products for specific groups, offering tiered plans, and connecting with Facebook Groups and Slack.
Podia also acts as a webinar platform to host either live or on-demand webinars.
Another awesome feature is the ability to run your own affiliate program inside of Podia. You can view all of your affiliates in one place, view helpful reporting, and make payouts based on your own customized commission structure.
There is 24/7 support, no transaction fees, and a simple three-step process to get your course website up quickly.
Although they don’t charge fees, their payment processors have transaction fees of 2.9% + 30¢.
Pricing:
- Mover ($39/month) – Unlimited everything, zero transaction fees, sell courses, digital downloads, and 5k emails sent per month.
- Shaker ($79/month) – Everything in Mover, plus the ability to create membership communities, add affiliates, and 15k emails sent per month.
- Earthquaker ($179/month) – Everything in Shaker, plus dedicated account manager, personalized onboarding, and 50k emails sent per month.
Overall, if you’re looking for strong membership functionality and the ability to increase your sales with the help of affiliates, Podia is a unique and worthwhile course builder to try out.
You can sign up and give it a test run with a free 14-day trial.Try Podia
LearnDash.
Great Online Course Software LMS for WordPress Users ($13.25/month)
LearnDash is a WordPress plugin and the one platform you need to sell courses with a WordPress site.
This popular WordPress LMS plugin is used by some big websites using LearnDash include Yoast, Infusionsoft, the University of Michigan, and WP Elevation.
One of their first helpful features is their “Focus Mode,” which blocks out all distractions when students run through a course.
LearnDash’s full-featured course builder meshes well with their email drip campaigns. You can build a great online course on your own website and match your content with an email drip schedule to send lessons according to a program.
Their Gradebook* technology takes LMS to another level. This technology gives students an overall grade based on quiz and homework scores, creating a weighted average for teachers to review.
In addition to grading, course points award points for actions, and badges and certificates award students for course activities.
If you’re a teacher looking for grading systems that compete with the features of college curriculums, LearnDash is the best LMS plugin.
You can get started today with a $40 discount and a full 30-day money-back guarantee on their annual plans.Try LearnDash
Ruzuku.
The Ridiculously Easy Online Course Platform ($74.75/month)
Ruzuku allows you to create a step-by-step online course with their learning platform, PDFs, and text in minutes. You can quickly create course outlines, edit and reorder your steps with ease, launch your course, and generate sales in no time.
Ruzuku integrates with tools like MailChimp, Infusionsoft, and payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal to accept payments – and they don’t charge transaction fees.
They’re also known for their desirable community. When you join Ruzuku, you’re not buying a teaching tool; you’re joining a team to help your students learn.
Called “the ridiculously easy course creator,” Ruzuku comes with some excellent features listed below:
Finally, their platform offers unlimited courses to unlimited students on all paid plans.
You can get started with a 14-day free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee.Try Ruzuku
Academy of Mine.
The Enterprise Online Course Platform Custom-Built to Your Business ($499/month)
Academy of Mine is a high-end eLearning platform founded on personalized customer success and philosophy of customization.
It’s truly a learning management system that works best in different business niches. A standard feature of any plan is completely free development hours to help set up and launch your course with customized integrations.
One of their goals is not just to set you up and help you launch. They also want to help sell your course with their marketing tools and analytics dashboards.
Personalization is at the heart of its strategy. Are you a healthcare company that wants to create a full curriculum for continuing education credits (CECs)? They can help with that.
Are you an insurance company that requires continued training due to constant changes in a particular legal code at the state level? Are you looking to create online courses to manage your facility?
That’s also no problem with Academy of Mine.
While these enterprise offerings may be overkill for typical users, they are necessary for small to medium-sized businesses needing a robust training system for their employees or clients.
If this sounds like the eLearning solution you’re looking for, you can get started today with their 30-day free trial.Try Academy of Mine
EdApp
Leading LMS system used worldwide by big and small institutions equally. EdApp is a top-notch award-winning educational platform which is available for free for all users, private or corporate. It offers simple design solutions and templates, to make creating and sharing courses as simple and efficient as possible. EdApp also offers ready-to-learn courses designed by world’s top specialists, which you can simply add to your curriculum. EdApp’s priority lies in microlearning – they design their software so that it works best with mobile devices, making it possible to learn any time, anywhere. On top of a staggering variety of curses, EdApp offers a data-driven Authoring tool, allowing you to create your own well-organized and effective courses. You can also make them as visually appealing as possible: EdApp is integrated with Canva powerful design tools and allows for indefinite customization.
Train your teams using the best educational platform
No credit card required.
Google Classroom
The educational tool proposed by the software giant is more than a decent solution for schools, which suddenly had to switch to online learning. Although not entirely free, it offers a fully functional free tier, which allows for conducting distant teaching. Google Classroom uses well-known G Suite tools, such as Google Docs, calculations’ sheets, online presentation tools and video call tool (Google Hangouts). Its simple and well-known design, basic functionalities available for free and high accessibility rates, all make Google Classroom a straightforward choice for school and university courses, where there’s no need for high-end supplementary options and tools.
Conclusion
There has been an increased interest in the use of online learning platforms and courses for various educational level students and teachers. Online learning has become trendier and trendy and, as a student or a teacher, you might want to know more about specific educational platforms that you could enroll or grade your students assignments on.