E-learning platforms have been gaining a lot of popularity among students and learners due to the global pandemic. The global e-learning platforms are projected to surpass $ 243 billion at a 5.08% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) in 2022.
E-learning platforms are online learning web spaces that provide online classes through pre-recorded videos, live videos, or any means of communication virtually.
E-learning platforms connect students and teachers virtually, which is an easier method of learning rather than the traditional method of learning. Online learning platforms provide students with educational content, courses, and resources.
So the future of e-learning platforms looks booming. Some e-learning platforms around the world provide free services and some are paid or registered.
How do e-learning platforms benefit you?
1. Easily Traceable
E-learning platforms provide trackable content. It is easy for the teachers and students to track their progress and analyze further content.
When you are done watching a particular lesson, it keeps the record and tracks how many lessons you took and how much you completed.
Most of the e-learning platforms provide quizzes or MCQs (Multiple choice questions). This tracking process is very useful for the instructors as they will be able to know how effective the course was for the learners, and for students, they can see the result and learn accordingly.
2. Multiple options in one platform
There are multiple courses available on one platform. In e-learning platforms, you can choose the courses according to your needs and desires. Whereas most colleges or schools have a limited number of courses in one institute.
If a student wants to explore more courses, e-learning is the best platform where you can get multiple courses in one place, and it is also very cost-efficient in comparison to colleges or universities.
For instance, Udemy provides a wide range of courses from soft skills, technical, lifestyle and so much more. This helps students become multi-skilled.
3. No skills required
In e-learning platforms, you can enroll in courses, without any prior qualifications or skills. But of course, there are some exceptions.
To take courses in the E-learning platforms, you do not need to give any tests or exams to pursue the course.
You can be a complete beginner in a topic and still enroll in the course. This might be very helpful for the student who has very little knowledge and experience.
4. Certification
The online learning platforms also provide a certificate or degree, after the completion of the course you took. These certifications can be a great advantage to their career.
Some e-learning platforms like Coursera provide online degrees where you can pursue various Master’s and Bachelor’s courses.
In online learning platforms, the students have to pass the tests or quizzes that the course provides after each lesson or at the end of the course. Some platforms only proceed ahead if you pass the tests.
5. Courses can be taken any number of times.
As the content of courses will be there for a long period, students can take the course multiple times until they completely understand it. So whenever there is a need to go through any information it is easily accessible for you to attend.
You can have access to recorded classes and also the resources provided for the course.
How to use e-learning platforms?
E-learning platforms are very easy to use, you just have to sign up to get access to their content. Some e-learning platforms are subscription-based, some are free to use and some need to be paid.
While looking for the course, you have to look at the contents, curriculum, and instructor of the course. All the details of each course are provided on the platform.
The course you took may be live, so you have to schedule the live lectures. You may have to take your live course from zoom, skype or google meet.
If the course is pre-recorded, you can learn at your speed and need.
You can look at the resources and assignments provided according to the course by the instructor. You can submit your assignments through emails or other alternative ways and also interact with your instructor via available sources.
What are the leading e-learning platforms?
- Udemy
Udemy is an ed-tech platform, an online learning platform, and also a marketplace. Udemy has a community of learners and instructors, anyone with the skill can upload courses on Udemy.
Udemy provides soft skills as well as hard skill courses. Udemy globally has 46 M learners, 60k instructors, 175k courses, 644 M course enrollments, and 9500 enterprise customers in 75 languages.
- Unacademy
Unacademy is an ed-tech platform based in India. The platform started as a youtube channel. It provides exam preparation classes, and its target students are college students.
Unacademy provides courses for 10+2 students, college students, and students who are attending the exams like CAT, GATE, UPSC, etc.
- Digital Gurkha
Digital Gurkha is an online learning platform based in Nepal, that provides technical skill courses. Digital Gurkha was established in 2017 as a digital marketing agency, but now it has pivoted to an ed-tech platform.
Digital Gurkha provides paid as well as Free courses. Digital Gurkha makes it easy for students and teachers to meet virtually. Digital Gurkha also provides certification after the compilation of the course.
- Skillshare
Skillshare is an American online learning platform. It is membership-based.
Once you buy the membership, you can get access to any courses in skillshare.
Instructors on skillshare earn their revenue through royalty payments and referrals.
Each skillshare class has short lessons and projects, materials, or resources related to the course provided by the instructors and students can also get feedback if they share their work.
- Coursera
Coursera is a global e-learning platform, with 82 million learners around the world. It was launched in 2012 by two Stanford professors. Coursera has partnerships with more than 200 plus universities and companies.
In Coursera, you can even get online degrees. Coursera offers degrees from leading universities and companies for anyone, from anywhere, through online learning.
What can you learn on an e-learning platform?
One of the major differences between physical learning platforms and e-learning platforms is that anyone can learn anything or take any course in e-learning but in physical classes, you need to have certain qualifications to pursue a course.
For instance, a business student wants to get an idea or learn about the IT field. He/she needs to have certain qualifications and skills to even apply for any IT course in physical learning platforms like colleges or universities.
There are some popular courses in e-learning in Nepal like the stock market, digital marketing, and IT-related courses. You can access any of these courses on e-learning platforms.
Moreover, you can also pursue your hobbies as e-learning platforms also provide soft skill courses. Some courses in e-learning platforms provide certification and some don’t.
Some e-learning platforms like Masterclass also provide courses from Influencers, where you can get to know how his/her experience was in a particular field and get to learn from them.
Who uses e-learning platforms?
The number of users of e-learning platforms has been increasing lately. We don’t need to attend our lectures in a classroom anymore. We do not need to physically meet our teachers, the students can stay anonymous.
Though learning from a classroom and physically meeting with everyone is not a bad thing, e-learning has made it 10x easier to learn or pursue any course in the comfort of your own home.
There are mainly four types of e-learning platform users. They are:
- Learners
These learners can be anyone on the internet, it can be you, it can be me. These are just people who want to learn from e-learning platforms.
They could be from anywhere around the world, taking the help of e-learning platforms to gain some knowledge with ease and comfort.
- Schools/colleges
Due to the recent covid-19 pandemic, many schools and colleges have implemented e-learning.
They use e-learning platforms to provide needed resources, record classes, and live classes to all of their students.
E-learning platforms can be a very preventive way of learning for schools and colleges during the surge of a pandemic.
- Professionals
The professionals who are experts in some field and want to share their knowledge and experience, at some cost or maybe free, use e-learning platforms.
During the covid-19 pandemic, there were many of these online classes using e-learning platforms like yoga classes, stock market classes, and mental health classes.
- Corporate Training
Many companies use e-learning platforms to train their employees. Before entering the company, an employee should know all the basics and how the work culture in the organization.
Furthermore, if a company has an FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in another country, it can train its employees overseas, without traveling anywhere.
E-learning platforms are also very cost-effective as you don’t need to travel anywhere and all the needed materials will be provided online. Also if there is some notice or any important announcement to make, it can be done through e-learning platforms.
Conclusion
The use of e-learning platforms is enormous and growing every day. e-learning platforms provide all types of courses, and you can learn without having certain qualifications or skills to pursue any course. The E-learning platform is used by not only students but also companies, schools, and professionals.
E-learning platforms have many benefits like easy access, trackable content, certification, and multiple options in one platform. We discussed some of the leading e-learning platforms how we can use e-learning platforms to our benefit and what we can learn on e-learning platforms.
