Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 or novel coronavirus and the strict quarantine measures imposed, many people have been advised to stay home and avoid large gatherings of people. As a result, in the Metro Manila area, classes have been suspended since March 10, 2020. Furthermore, the city lockdown is expected to last until April 15, 2020. Because of that, a lot of people are going to face boredom due to the lack of events and outside activities. With that, many have been wondering about what they can do at home or about the kind of distance learning they can use at home. Here, we have some recommended free, freemium or subscription-based learning platforms and websites that you, your children or your friends can use at home.
Class Central, edX and Coursera
Class Central, edX and Coursera are considered to be among the top search engines and platforms for online learning at the university level. In fact, they offer thousands of free online courses from the Ivy League universities, namely Brown, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania, and other universities from around the world. You can select classes based on your preferred category of learning. Whether you like Computer Science, Data Science, Programming, the Humanities, Business, Art & Design, the Natural Sciences, the Social Sciences, Health & Medicine, Engineering, Mathematics, Education & Teaching, Personal Development, etc., these websites have some online classes for you.
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Skillshare
Have you ever wanted to develop your skills in the creative arts, entrepreneurship, design, technology and other fields? Then Skillshare is the website for you. A majority of the courses offered focus more on interaction, experiential learning and examples rather than lectures. In order to participate in a class, you must engage yourself in a project. You can sign up for classes through subscription and you get to interact with some of the best in the industry, including those who have become very popular and famous. On the other hand, you can also go for the free membership platform where you get to participate in a limited amount of classes and instruction for a month.
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Udemy
Are you interested in learning job-related skills and furthering certain skills for employment prospects? Then Udemy is for you. Interestingly, 80% of Fortune 100 companies use Udemy in order to teach employees certain skills for their jobs. PowerPoints, videos, PDFs, audio files, live streaming and other content tools are used for their online classes. There are both paid and free classes on the platform depending on the preferences of the audience and the instructors. With regard to the classes, there are many that are accredited and with technical certifications. Various famous magazines and newspapers have also praised Udemy and its various features.
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Scholastic Learn at Home
Scholastic Corporation, the publishing, education and media company for parents, children, teachers and students, has released a free online platform for learning as well. Children from Kindergarten to Grade 6 and above can learn through interactive videos, fun games and activities online, and other interesting features. In some online activities, you can learn Math lessons with K-Pop stars and enjoyable science trivia as well. You can also engage in writing and research projects, virtual field trips, geography challenges, etc.
Website:
http://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
Khan Academy
Are you keen on improving your skills in educational subjects, particularly mathematics? Then you can try out Khan Academy. Khan Academy offers short lessons with videos, supplementary practice exercises and other materials for students and educators alike. In fact, all resources and lessons offered by the website are free of charge to all users. Furthermore, there are online practice courses as well for the SAT, the Advanced Placement program, etc. Because of his efforts, the founder Salman Khan was given recognition by TIME Magazine.
Website: https://www.khanacademy.org/
With that, we in AHEAD hope the best for our students, especially in this time of crisis. We believe that students can do their best in their learning, even outside the four walls of the classroom. With these online platforms, we believe that people can still manage their time well at home and learn new things and skills. By using certain platforms, you can kill time productively and develop yourself even in the midst of all the class and work suspensions.