5 Best Online Platforms to Learn a New Skill

The corporate world is extremely cut-throat and fiercely competitive. For you to make your mark, you need to have certain skills and capabilities that go beyond your educational background. The skills you need to acquire depend on what career path you are embarking on. For instance, if you want to become a marketer, you need to acquire skills like digital advertising, storytelling, writing, and more. Acquiring new skills and knowledge is now easier than it was a decade ago. There are multiple ways for you to do so, one of them being online learning sites and platforms.

The pandemic has given us loads of free time at home and we have wasted a lot of it sitting behind a screen taking advantage of the TV Internet Bundles we subscribed to. Now that the world is opening again and is somewhat getting used to the new normal, it’s time to invest your efforts into polishing your resume by acquiring new skills. Whether you want to sharpen your math skills, learn basic coding, or develop artistic prowess, all you need to do is sign up to one of the seven best online learning platforms mentioned below and choose a course to your liking.

  • Coursera

Coursera is one of the few online learning platforms that offer real academic courses from real professors and universities, and that too at half the price of getting an online degree. It offers diverse courses from 200 different universities and organizations, including Yale and Google. For some courses, you may also receive certification through Coursera, which can help you enhance your resume and lead to professional benefits like promotions, raises, and more. The platform gives you a real college learning experience, so the professors of the courses are allowed to construct classes, assign and grade quizzes, give homework assignments, and upload videos.

  • EdX

EdX is a first-rate online learning platform. It was started by two prestigious universities, Harvard and MIT. The courses offered on this platform are taught by real college professors. They have a wide array of courses available but they mostly lean towards the STEM field. However, there are still a variety of courses in humanities, languages, design, and arts topics too. EdX is affiliated with a number of top universities worldwide, therefore, it also provides degree certificates that will aid in career development.

  • Udemy

This is a unified online learning platform that offers up to 100,000 courses on every topic imaginable. From cooking to painting, from language courses to complex STEM courses, you’ll find a course for just about anything on this platform. There are courses for soft skills like personal development, conflict management, and business etiquette as well that you won’t necessarily find in an academic setting. The platform allows instructors to create video and audio lectures and give quizzes and reading assignments to test the learning outcomes of the students.

  • Masterclass

If you are inclined towards making a career in a creative field like music, arts, acting, or cooking, Masterclass is your go-to learning platform. The courses are carefully curated by the professionals in their field and most consist of at least 20 lectures. There’s no better way to learn about these ingenious professions than to hear about them straight from the people who have been successful already. You can get lessons from kitchen maestro Gordan Ramsey, explore creative leadership with Anna Wintour, and learn the art of creating magic on screen from Shonda Rhimes.

  • Skillshare

This is another online platform that offers courses for improving creative skills. This platform goes beyond college-style classes and is relatively less formal. There are some business and marketing courses available on this platform but it mostly focuses on providing courses in creative fields like filmmaking, animation, photography, interior design, writing, and more taught by the experts in these fields. The courses are divided into a series of video lessons combined with quizzes and assignments to test the learning outcomes of the students.

Wrapping Up

If you are a working professional or are going to be one, acquiring a new skill is the wisest decision you can make because the trends are changing at all times that require you to stay on top of your game. The above-mentioned platforms can help you learn and master the skills that will help you achieve growth and prosperity in your career. You can gain the most challenging skills from the best instructors while sitting in the comfort of your home and the best part about online learning is that you can plan your learning schedule yourself. 

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