Khan Academy

                                                     






                                                                    

Khan Academy is a non-profit organization providing online education platform. It is founded by educationist Salman Khan in 2006. It is focused on personalized learning which provides tutoring experience and is available for free to anyone around the world via internet. It provides assistance to students to understand concepts of subjects at their own pace. Khan Academy has video library with over 6000 videos on various topics.  It has thousands of automated exercises with continuous assessment. Now its educational platform is being used in classroom in many schools as well.

Khan Academy introduced several badges to encourage learning. Some of the badges are easy and some are extremely hard to earn depending upon level of learning.

Initially Khan Academy was  focused only on Maths and Science but now learning materials are available in Humanities, Economics, Finance and Computing from very basic level to advanced level. It has the materials even for test preparation of SAT, GMAT, CAHSEE, IITJEE and MCAT.

Upto June 2014, Khan academy has launched its website 23 languages and its videos in 65 languages. This project is funded by several donations like Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ann and John Doerr, Lemann Foundation, Google, Carlos Slim Foundation etc.

In 2012, an offline version of the platform, called “KA Lite”, has been launched to help people who do not have internet access. KA Lite has been installed in more than 30 schools and orphanages around the world. Recently, Khan Academy launched its "#youcanlearnanything campaign", designed to encourage lifelong learning and acknowledge the role of struggling in skill development.

Coursera

Coursera is an education company which is collaborated with various universities and organizations to provide MOOC. Its vision is to provide world class education freely to everyone. Currently Coursera is providing more than seven hundred online courses developed by the world’s top educational institutions.

All the courses on Coursera can be accessed without paying any fee. It also provides tutoring, verified certification and introducing students to potential employers and recruiters on payment basis. Many of partner institutes are using online platform of Coursera for blended learning.  

Courses are available in various areas including humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, and computer science. In addition to English, study can be done in Chinese, French and other languages also.  Most of the courses have start and end dates, while some can be joined any time. Each one includes study material as well as short video lecture. 

Assessment is based upon take interactive quizzes, assignment, project or exam. In many humanities and social science courses peer assessments is used, where students can evaluate and provide feedback on each other’s work.  

Udacity

Udacity is one of the leading online education provider which teamed up with Google, AT&T and other tech giants for Open Education Alliance (OEA). OEA intends to provide students around the world with a curriculum and skills they need to pursue careers in technology. Its partners include Google, Autodesk, Cloudera, Intuit, 23andMe, Khan Academy and Georgia Tech.

Udacity focuses more on vocational courses for professionals which are project based with personalized support. Currently Udacity is offering more than thirty five courses which are divided into six categories-Data Science,Web development, Software Engineering, Android, Georgia Tech Masters in CS, Non-Tech Classes. Instead of exams, evaluation is based upon project. Udacity’s online courses are rigorous and its projects are built by tech leaders like Google, AT&T, and Intuit, to develop relevant industry skills. After enrollment Udacity offers courseware, coach and project with feedback. It also provides verified certificate  recognized by industry. 

Access to course, video and exercise is free of cost. Without paying any fee, you can also view and manage your progress. But for in class project, project feedback, code reviews, personal guidance from coach, personalized pacing support and verified certificate, you have to pay fee. Students can enroll in one or more courses at any time. The course can be completed at the student's preferred pace.  

edX

edX  is a nonprofit enterprise which provides an open-source online learning platform for highest quality education. It is founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University. Its interactive free of cost courses are available to public on various topics including biology, business, chemistry, computer science, economics, finance, electronics, engineering, food and nutrition, history, humanities, law, literature, math, medicine, music, philosophy, physics, science, statistics and more.

Unlike  standard model of online education which depends  only on video content, edX offers an interactive experience for students. Students can participate in  quizzes to receive instant feedback, discuss the subject on course boards and work in online laboratories. Its technology is open-source, so the platform will be continuously improved by worldwide collaborators. edX offers self-paced learning and discussion groups. Certificate of achievement can be earned after successful completion of course for a modest fee.

The edX platform also serves as a laboratory from which data is gathered to better understand how students learn. 

edX updates

edX is going to expand its horizon by  offering courses for high school students. This will help to address a “readiness gap” that leaves a significant number of high school students unprepared for college studies.

edX is  also launching courses for employers and employees in the professional sphere. It will charge for professional education courses starting next year. The subjects would include leadership, IT, business, education, engineering, energy, medicine and big data.

Free Education for All

It is well said that "If there is will, there is way". If you want to learn new subjects, you can learn for free. There are various open educational resources  providing free access to their educational materials, textbooks, webinars and video lectures. You only need a computer and internet connection to educate yourself. The course materials and educational resources can be viewed and downloaded.  If someone wants certification, it can be available with little fee. Wide range of courses from science, arts and technology are available freely.Using these educational resources can be fun and one can learn new skills. Various courses can be taken at individual's pace in comfortable environment of home. Even you can connect to people from all over world during these courses.

The leading  open e-learning resources  are: MIT Open Courseware, edX, Open Yale, Open Michigan, Webcast.berkley,  Open Courseware Consortium, Flooved, Coursera, Udacity etc. Some of the sites like Codecademy and  learnstreet are quite good to learn coding.