As the world continues to embrace remote lifestyles and work environments, one area that has been leading the charge is online learning. From institutions digitally expanding their campuses to emerging platforms where experts can share skills with amateurs and professionals alike, online learning platforms provide unparalleled access to educational resources and allow students from a variety of backgrounds to work towards a common goal.
Many online courses offer certificates of completion or even fully accredited degrees, with multitudes of studies available for those simply looking to grow their knowledge of the subjects they find most interesting.
Despite millions of students already participating, the edtech industry is still growing, with machine learning capabilities and additional technological advancements entering the mix to provide students with more rewarding learning experiences.
Online Learning Platforms to Know
- Course Hero
- Udemy
- Pluralsight
- edX
- Immersive Labs
- Skillshare
- Skillsoft
- Teachable
These are the companies offering online learning platforms that ensure students always have access to knowledge.
24 Online Learning Platforms to Know
Founded: 1999
Location: New York, New York
BrainPOP makes digital education solutions for learners in elementary and middle school. Its products are designed to be engaging and provide educators with access to insights that help them monitor progress and ensure their students are on track with skills for their grade level. BrainPOP says its technology reaches 25 million students each year.
Founded: 2015
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Elevate K-12 facilitates access to certified teachers who deliver live digital instruction. Its educators are equipped to cover 80-plus classes across elementary, middle and high school curricula. More than 600 school districts throughout the United States rely on Elevate K-12’s technology solutions to mitigate the impact of teacher vacancies.
Founded: 2009
Location: New York, New York
CAIS offers technology and services to support alternative investment strategies. Its platform comes with solutions for structured investments, including educational resources that offer in-depth information on different structured note types. The company also has a library of more than 175 on-demand online courses for independent financial advisors.
Founded: 2014
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Mainstay’s platform connects students with AI-powered coaching solutions to aid their higher education journey. Learners can access 24/7 personalized support through the company’s AI chat technology, and Mainstay partners with academic institutions on building and managing campaigns designed to help them reach their student success goals.
Founded: 2006
Location: New York, New York
TPT runs an online marketplace that provides teachers around the world with a vast library of resources to support K-12 education. Its product offerings include worksheets, grading rubrics, flash cards and lab assignments for subjects ranging from social studies and various languages to chemistry and biology.
Founded: 2012
Location: Austin, Texas
Aceable operates digital platforms for accessing driver education content, courses to prepare for real estate license exams and continuing education content to support healthcare professionals. Aceable serves millions of learners across multiple states, and the company says its goal is “making learning efficient, enjoyable and effective.”
Founded: 2005
Location: Fully Remote
Blueprint Test Prep’s learning platform merges innovative pedagogy and emerging technology to deliver a novel way to train students for professional exams like the LSAT and the MCAT. Using an AI-powered question bank for both tests and an AI tutor for sections of the MCAT, the prep is personalized to each student, allowing them to identify and address their areas of weakness.
Founded: 2006
Location: Redwood City, California
Course Hero is home to study resources, 24/7 homework help and textbook guides to provide students across top institutions with tailored reinforcement of the courses in which they are enrolled. The library of materials uploaded to Course Hero’s platform can be searched by either school or textbook to find the exact resource a student needs, with tutors available to provide total support.
Founded: 2010
Location: San Francisco, California
Udemy has provided over 50 million students with access to a vast library of online learning courses that bring together the best of professional development and personal enrichment. Courses in design, marketing, development, business, photography and much more are available, each featuring expert instruction and lifetime access that provides an environment for lifelong learning.
Founded: 2015
Location: Austin, Texas
Pluralsight is devoted to empowering modern tech workers with exceptional training on cloud technologies, covering a variety of cloud platforms and ensuring students have the tools they need to turn potential into reality. Individual courses that cover a variety of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud practices provide hands-on access to illuminating training materials in a self-paced environment, keeping tech professionals up-to-date with the capabilities they need to be innovative.
Founded: 2010
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Black Spectacles is a source of education and inspiration for architects with goals set on developing new skills and pushing their careers forward. The learning destination offers courses in ARE prep and software skills. Black Spectacles assists both students and working architects at any stage of their careers, delivering expert instruction to keep professionals up to date with innovation across the industry.
Founded: 2017
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Immersive Labs is an interactive online learning platform dedicated to empowering employees across industries with cyber skills that allow entire workforces to stand ready against online threats. The measurable, gamified platform provides on-demand access to training exercises that align human capabilities with cyber risks and imparts an understanding of how to stay current against evolving threats.
Founded: 2010
Location: New York, New York
Skillshare is a virtual space for creative workers — like designers, illustrators, writers, photographers — to come together to grow their craft and take the next steps in their career’s journey. Courses that span all skill levels are available on the platform so experts can develop nuanced skills while beginners can comfortably focus on experimentation, all taught by experienced professionals with a passion for passing their skills down the line.
Founded: 1998
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Skillsoft delivers learning capabilities to modern workforces via a digital platform that features over 165,000 tools and multiple languages to grow knowledge over a range of subjects. The platform’s list of available courses include skill-based training in data science, machine learning, security ops and Python programming as well as conduct, sexual harassment and workplace compliance courses to promote productive and responsible workplaces.
Founded: 2014
Location: New York, New York
Teachable is a platform for unique, creative and dedicated individuals to share the skills that made them experts of their craft while making more money from their passions. From email marketing to music theory and even sourdough baking, Teachable features a pay-as-you-go model that allows students to dive as deeply into a specific subject as they want while being able to take multiple courses at once to build skills across domains.
Founded: 2013
Location: New York, New York
360Learning offers a collaborative learning platform in which teams are able to come together to create, ship and improve courses together, furthering knowledge in skills like sales enablement, software adoption and field training across entire industries. Users are able to upload courses to 360Learning libraries to continue training their teams well into the future and make onboarding a breeze — facilitating stronger workforces from each employee’s first day.
Founded: 2015
Location: San Francisco, California
Using the insight of successful celebrities and role models, MasterClass teaches the necessary skills to break into a wide range of fields and industries. With a monthly subscription, users receive access to video lessons from over 150 instructors, able to gather first-hand professional information on topics like science and tech to sports and food. Figures Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ninja and the Duffer brothers are a few of the many to gain behind-the-scenes knowledge from.
Founded: 2011
Location: Fully Remote
Udacity provides curated industry courses and resources to create job-ready tech professionals. Offering lessons across eight different learning areas, the company sources relevant information from industry leaders as well as provides opportunities for nanodegree programs and hand-on projects, all to ensure students are gaining the necessary skills for their career. For businesses, Udacity also can partner to provide a train-to-hire scholarship program, in which they discover and prepare candidates specifically for their business goals.
Founded: 2012
Location: Denver, Colorado
As the world and our workspaces become increasingly remote, Elsmere Education partners with leading universities to build robust online programs that provide students with the tools they need to succeed in their field. Elsmere focuses on increasing program retention rate and enrollment growth over time, implementing scalable growth tactics to create clear pathways to graduation for all students in attendance.
Founded: 2012
Location: Denver, Colorado
Galvanize operates several coworking facilities and training centers across the United States, focusing on coding and corporate success in its course offerings. Full-time and part-time bootcamps in software engineering, data science and Python fundamentals are available both in-person and online. Their courses allow students to take the next step in their careers and pick up new technical skills while managing ongoing responsibilities.
Founded: 2014
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Otus is an all-in-one education platform for facilitating K-12 learning, allowing educators to facilitate a blended learning environment where students can continue growing whether they are at school or at home. Educators can utilize the platform to build curriculum and measure student progress over time, with standards-based grading, differentiated learning and communication tools included as well to provide multiple ways of facilitating student success.
Founded: 2014
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Packback’s platform utilizes artificial intelligence to engage students in discussion on the topics they are studying, focusing more effort into comprehension rather than grades. The Packback “Digital TA” provides students with a constructive, real-time feedback loop to facilitate curiosity and skill development while working with them to construct effective questioning, responses and argumentative skills that help them grow within the classroom and well into the future.
Founded: 1997
Location: Austin, Texas
360training provides regulatory-approved online training that meets government and employer requirements for professionals working within the real estate, food and beverage, environmental health and safety, and other industries where risk mitigation is a priority. Access to courses at any hour of the day gives 360training students unrivaled efficiency to achieve the next step in their careers, with more than four million courses completed on the platform to date.
Founded: 2012
Location: Fully Remote
Coursera offers online courses, certifications and degree information from over 5,000 accredited resources. Users can learn subjects and skills related in fields from data science to the arts, with many courses that are self-paced and eligible for academic credit. Collaborating with over 200 U.S. universities and companies, Coursera prepares students to apply for advanced degrees or prepare professionals for positions at Google, Meta and similar.
