online learning platforms

5 Online Learning Platforms for Career Development – Free Resources

by Olatorera Oladeji

The world is a global village. As such, many things that were impossible before now have become possible. One of them is learning in the comfort of your home. Now, you can further your career goals through online learning platforms for career development. There are as many platforms for career growth as there are tools for professional development. You only need to take advantage of the opportunities from remote learning.

Some of these online learning platforms for career development are free. The only cost accruing to you is the cost of internet data spent on the platforms. The opportunities are fantastic when you can sit in the comfort of your home and access knowledge that may change your life forever.

This article briefly discusses some of the available online platforms for career development. The aim is to motivate you to take professional development training available on these platforms for career development and enhancement. 

Top 5 Online Learning Platforms for Career Development

  1. YouTube

Steven Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim founded YouTube in 2005, and Google acquired it a year later. It has become a platform with more than Two Billion registered users with many resources available to those users.

YouTube has various materials in various industries and sectors that will be useful in your pursuit of career development. Several content creators have simplified difficult courses or modules for easy assimilation and retention.

There are long videos and short videos that serve different purposes to you as a viewer. Just click on the search button and locate what suits you. Although you do not get a certificate for the courses taken on YouTube, it can be a great start. In addition to feeding you knowledge, YouTube also qualifies as one of the free online learning platforms for career development.

Read also: How to make money from YouTube in Nigeria

  1. Coursera

This is one of the most famous online learning platforms for career development in the 21st century. Stanford University Computer Science Professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller founded it in 2012. 

For the best experience, Coursera partners with various universities to offer remote courses and certifications in many subjects. Over 150 universities (primarily American) have offered more than 4,000 courses through this remote platform.

Coursera offers a full Master’s Degree in courses such as Accounting, Data Science, and Business Administration from the University of Illinois. Therefore, you do not need to travel to have your Master’s degree. You can get it on Coursera from the comfort of your home. 

It is one of the excellent online learning platforms for career development and growth.

  1. Udemy

Eren Bali, Gagan Biyani and Oktay Caglar founded Udemy in 2010. It has over forty-six (46) million registered users and counting. 

It is a basic understanding that people take courses to develop and improve their job-related skills. Udemy is different from other online learning platforms for career development. This is because some employers have created coursework and training for their employees, as an alternative to physical training.

So, apart from users seeking to gain knowledge to advance their career-related skills, some employers developed coursework through Udemy Business. They target these courses for their employees and make them available on Udemy for easy accessibility to the employee without affecting the office workload. 

Some courses are free while some require payment. The courses range from design to business, entrepreneurship, management, and programming. With the Udemy app available on the Play Store and Apple store, you can use your phone. It affords easy access to courses that may have been otherwise difficult to access and makes Udemy a great online platform for career development. 

Read also: Vocational skills in Nigeria

  1. edX

Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched in 2012. Fourteen different languages are used to teach on the platform. Also, over 150 higher learning institutions in various continents have partnered with the online learning platform.

This platform provides weekly learning and interactive learning exercises. These interactive exercises make it seem like a physical class where students meet up to discuss what they learned. This effectively reduces the excuse that online courses do not have interactive fora for their students.

In addition, there is an online forum where students post questions and receive responses. It helps the learning process, as those questions and answers may help shape your understanding of the coursework. Some courses need a laboratory for effective learning, and they have provided online laboratories for such occasions. Some courses are free, but students must pay for the examination to get a certificate.

edX is one of the most detailed and sophisticated online learning platforms for career development because it possesses various tools that aid such learning.

  1. Udacity

Sebastian Thrun, David Stevens, and Mike Sokolsky founded Udacity in 2018. It currently has over 1.6 million users. Udacity grew out of free computer classes at Stanford University and has become a major online platform for career development. 

It offers several certificate courses, including an online open degree with the Georgia Institute of Technology. There are free and paid courses in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Upon completion of courses, you will receive certificates. You do not need to travel, or leave your job or comfort zone to acquire knowledge for career development. 

Consequently, Udacity has helped several people kick start and develop their careers in many ways in their comfort zone.

Read also: Useful tips for LinkedIn optimization

There are several other online learning platforms for career development that didn’t make this list. Some of them are Allison, FutureLearn, Khan Academy, Iversity, FX Academy, and Academic Earth.

These platforms have eased barriers and made education more accessible to anyone in the 21st century. Several people now dare to take steps into new career paths. Some have been encouraged to be better in their respective fields. In all, these remote learning platforms have enhanced learning and given increased chances of career advancement.

How many of these platforms have you consistently benefitted from? Share in the comments. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and enjoy free webinars on career growth.

Also, would you like to join our Whatsapp community to have insightful conversations and receive updates on upcoming career webinars? Send a message now.

About Author

Avatar of Olatorera Oladeji
Olatorera Oladeji
Torera Oladeji is a Nigerian lawyer. She has a flair for writing and has decided to explore that passion. She is fun loving, enjoys her own company and hopes to be an established writer soon. She is currently a volunteer with Insight.ng

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1 comment

Avatar of UDAYA JOEL
UDAYA JOEL August 21, 2023 - 2:22 pm

The blog you posted was really nice and helpful. Navigating the realm of online learning platforms can be both exciting and overwhelming, especially for a college student seeking to augment her education. To help you in your pursuit of knowledge, we’ve compiled a list of the 15 best online learning platforms tailored for college students.
I posted a similar blog based on the content of your topic.

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