Learning Skills Online - The New Normal

Let me say this first, I know that learning skills online is not a new idea. It has been there for a long time, but the kind of thrust being seen now was never seen before. With lockdown in place and people stuck at home, professionals who wish to make the most of this time have take to online skill learning. One cursory look through my LinkedIn feed shows me that more people than ever are taking online courses and upskilling.

What are the avenues for online learning?

For starters, the resources available for learning online can not all be listed here. A simple google search will give you a list of websites which offer courses in multiple stream and target varied skills required in different professions. Some names from the top of my head include Lynda.com, Udemy, CoursEra, and LinkedIn Learning.

There are several other websites, including those of Universities offering MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) to students willing to learn.

How much do you shell for Online Learning?

This is my favorite part about online learning. Many platforms, like Coursera, Lynda.com, provide the option of a free subscription for first month and then begin charging a nominal fee to access the available courses every month.

But that's not all. There are several websites, specially those of International Universities, which allow a student to audit a course for free. If your target is to learn something new (and not just to get a certificate) this could be ideal for you. I have audited a few of creative writing classes online and have learned some neat tricks.

The auditing option without course completion certificate may not appear lucrative to people in the technical fields and they can easily complete the course and get the certificate after paying the fee.

SWAYAM: India's Homegrown E-Learning Platform

SWAYAM, though launched in 2017, became talk of the town only recently. SWAYAM stands for 'Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds'. The platform offers courses in science, technology, arts and humanities streams. The credits earned after completing SWAYAM courses are also transferable. Since the lockdown, the number of learners on the platform has increased.

Within 15 days of the first lockdown, HRD Ministry reported an increase of over 50,000 learners on the platform. In April 2020, HRD Ministry reported that 26 lakh studnets were taking 574 different online courses on SWAYAM. 

Six SWAYAM courses also made it to the top 30 online courses of 2019 list curated by Class Central, a free online course aggregator from top universities like Stanford, MIT, Harvard, etc.