Contents
Is it really so difficult to study in the university? Why should you use online services instead of offline institutions?
It is an open secret that the time when studying at the university was the most common way for obtaining new knowledge is in the past. As a matter of fact, there is a number of other modern methods of education, which can help you to forget about the period, when you had to spend a half of the day in your way to and from the university just for listening the tutor’s lecture on this or that topic.
The name of this go-to guy is the Internet. It is worth noting that the Internet is very powerful nowadays. The opportunities it opens are amazing. You can even make an order on a special essay writing service and ask them to write my essay online. What is more important it is constantly increasing its position as a source of knowledge.
Electronic encyclopedias, libraries, thematic sites offer a huge amount of knowledge on any subject. Regardless of your location and education background, you can educate yourself and enhance your knowledge about any field, without paying for it or paying just a symbolic price.
In this article we are going to tell you about the most useful sites, which can assist in your attempts to become a specialist in any desirable sphere.
Which online services should you definitely use?
-
Coursera
Coursera is an education-focused site that offers online courses, specializations, and degrees in a wide range of subjects. You can find any course of the most reputable university of the world, for example, Stanford or Yale, just making several clicks.
After the successful research of the course, you will be offered to watch video lectures (videos are often divided into parts for a duration of 15-20 minutes), make weekly exercises and peer-graded assignments, read the recommended articles, and participate in different quizzes. Sometimes in order to complete your course, which lasts on average six weeks, you will be required to prepare a final project or take an exam. In fact, each training course is available on a free basis, but in case you want to get a certificate with personal verification you will need to pay 30-40 US dollars.
-
edX
edX is an online platform for massive open interactive courses from the world’s best universities. The key advantage of this course provider is that it hosts a variety of courses, which are absolutely free for their users.
-
Coursmos
In case long-term courses are not your pair of shoes, your perfect choice will be an online micro-learning platform named Coursmos. This platform is aimed at providing you with new knowledge just in a few minutes.
For this purpose, Coursmos offers courses, which are divided into four or five video lessons for a duration of no more than three minute each. Thus, the total length of the Coursmos’ course usually does not exceed fifteen minutes.
-
TED
TED is a great platform, which posts talks of expert speakers on education, science, business, technology and creativity online for free distribution. These talks are extremely interesting and exciting, because they share the experience of those, who are full of ideas and ready to spread these ideas.
That’s why, if you want to get some fresh ideas for your future business or just an inspiration to make this world better you can easily find all these things in TED Talks. Moreover, all videos in this site are with subtitles in more than one hundred languages – it means that you will be able to understand the talk even if your English skills are not very high.
-
BBC Future
Another useful platform, which provides expert analysis about the big ideas shaping the world, is BBC Future. Numerous articles and videos about science, health, technology and other important aspects of modern life are available for everyone, who aims at becoming smarter every day.
-
YouTube EDU
Free education is also brought to masses by YouTube EDU. Among a vast variety of videos, posted in YouTube, it can be difficult to find those with educational content. For this purpose, there is a special platform of YouTube, which contains only educational videos. As you understand, all of them are free for viewers.
-
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a bibliographic database, which allows to search for digital or physical copies of academic journals and books, conference papers, theses and dissertations, abstracts, technical reports, and other scholarly literature.
There are also a number of educational websites with their own specialization. For instance, such platforms as Udacity and Mozilla Developer Network can be more than helpful for those, who are keen on technology. Creative thinkers can easily use, among others, CreativeLive, an educational platform with free live classes for representatives of creative professions, and Digital Photography School, the website with tips for photographers.