Free Online Courses with Certificate

One important criterion for human development is constant self-education. People are always striving for something new, trying to get from this knowledge the way to other opportunities. This refers to accomplishments during school or university, ordinary domestic life, accomplishments in the workplace, and general development.

With the advent of digital technology and smart equipment, the exchange of information has reached maximum speed, and with it the quantity of information has increased. Users can search for an article on the Internet or send a message to someone, buy a book or watch a useful video on any topic in two clicks. Where previously it could take up to a year to transfer information, now knowledge can be exchanged in less than a minute. People look at news feeds, read other users in social networks, communicate and send the created content to their audience on a daily basis. In addition to basic digital communication, this also includes education as an important part of personal development.

The development of a new "era" of education

There are hundreds of different Online learning platformswhere teachers or young practitioners share their experiences with other people. These can be live lectures, pre-recorded seminars, beautiful presentations, and interactive quests. There are already so many ways to gain knowledge, and each of them is based on the requirements of the target audience along with its capabilities. For children, interactive quests or mini-games have been invented, where in an interesting way the child receives new information in parallel with entertainment. At the same time, for the younger age there are educational toys, music books and even children's laptops with primitive electronics. All of this refers to marketing and following trends, but it was originally created to develop a new way of communication and compatibility with the world of technology.

If we talk about a more mature audience, separate large online schools and distance education services are being created for them. Learning on such platforms is already partially replacing the standard approach to gaining knowledge, including studying at universities and specialized institutions. There are many experts on the labor market who have graduated from special schools and already have a voluminous portfolio with project achievements. The development of online education is also influenced by trends with the use of marketing tools. In social networks or on thematic resources you can find a lot of advertising and "denim" articles about the strengths of distance learning. They talk about the freshness of the information received, practical assignments, and employment with a high salary. These factors motivate potential audiences well, while creating increased demand and new projects in the future. Catalogs of educational resources are updated regularly, as evidenced by the general popularity of this topic.

Another significant factor in the popularity of online education is the forced transition to a distance form. Because of the new quarantine restrictions, most businesses, along with training centers, switched to a remote form of work. Initially this approach was immediately subject to criticism from both sides, but gradually the online format became commonplace, and by some criteria was able to surpass the standard mode. The dynamic flow of new students and increased demand for educational services has been noticeable since the beginning of 2020. Many employees went on "unscheduled" vacations and had time to study in the new format. The audience wanted to take courses remotely and receive a certificate without being tied to a location, adding to their portfolio or improving their current qualifications.

The decisive factor in the success of distance education is the development of new technologies. The development affects the labor market in parallel with the emergence of new professions, the expansion of staff, and the creation of new departments. The standard universities or training centers do not yet provide most of these profiles, so future experts seek knowledge online. This includes constant changes in the training base, as new specializations require regular updates and refinements. More often than not, universities do not have time to update the educational program, so graduates will not be considered a priority by large companies in the labor market. In the top of these professions the first positions are often taken by the IT field (programming courses), including Big Data data analysis, designers, QA-engineers, SMM, as well as Internet marketers. In 2021, these are already separate professions that require great skills together with practical experience, which a "classical" university cannot provide.

Based on these factors, the future student browses the pages of online certificate courses and determines a more promising field for himself or herself. The level of education and the freshness of the acquired knowledge will determine the job search and salary, which generally affects the overall quality of life. However, there are many offers online from various companies, where the difference in price and the final document for the portfolio stands out. Most of the potential audience is looking for online courses with a diploma from leading schools or training centers.

Issuing certificates

Receiving a document at the end of training cannot be attributed to the strengths of only one type of education. Many free portals also issue certificates to their students, which will be a good addition to the candidate's resume and portfolio. Any training should be accompanied by a document, which confirms that the student attended the classes and received a specific qualification (new profession). Employers take these marks seriously on applicants' CVs, so taking courses without a final document will have almost no effect on your future career.

If the listener doesn't need a certificate of completion, you can find any open lectures or even slices of lessons on YouTube to study. There is no need to pay money and allocate time to keep track of the class schedule, including homework and tests. Formal proof of knowledge is required only for job search and position level.

Paid or free online courses with a certificate

The number of new educational projects and ready-to-use materials on the web is constantly increasing, as evidenced by many online course rankings. If a user searches for "free online education courses," the system will produce hundreds of different results, including a number of promotional links. However, not all of the results shown fit the requirements of the prospective student. Some of the posted offers may not include a final certificate, or may not provide teacher feedback. Other schools may not teach a profession from scratch remotely, offering only additional courses. On the financial side, some audiences are only looking for free educational materials. There is no fixed price for digital training, but studying the policy of popular companies, you can see an analogy with a minimal difference for the same learning base.

There are many thematic forums or author articles on the topic of comparing free and paid education. Experts gather information from the reviews of former students and attach personal observations, helping the audience to solve this "dispute". However, each type of education has had its strengths along with disadvantages, which you need to be aware of beforehand. A basic note about the difference between paid and free education will help the listener correctly distinguish the differences of distance learning professions.

Based on expert data, along with information from graduates of online schools, we can identify the main advantages of paid education:

• Comprehensive approach. fragmented study of the discipline can affect the overall perception and understanding of the educational material. For example, online english language learning requires knowledge of the information from the elementary level. Without understanding the principle of tenses, the student will not be able to model complex sentence structures in the future;
• The program does not provide mentor feedback, which is a disadvantage of this type of program. In the United States, the government has also begun to implement a new program to help students succeed in their careers. The constant support from the teacher guarantees the assimilation of the passed material and helps at the moment of homework or project works;
• job search assistance. More often than not, popular educational projects assist graduates in their job search, including resume writing with pre-interview training. These services are already included in the general curriculum, so investing in education can pay off faster.

If we talk about free educational projects, their strengths should be highlighted by these content theses:

• the financial side. For the entire period of study the student does not pay money for lectures or other forms of classes, while receiving all the allotted learning base within the course. In such situations, students sacrifice only time, as it is most often difficult to find a good online course in Russian;
• a similar variety of topics. There are many learning centers online that have developed separate free programs in various specializations, including trial classes with introductory lectures. Along with this, the student receives open lessons, lecture excerpts, books, scholarly publications, and free master classes;
• The first step to a comprehensive education. A free course can influence a student's ultimate decision to go into a particular area of science, or to change courses and look at another area. Sometimes schools do not have a refund policy, so no refunds will be given back to students when they change interests.

Analyzing the strengths of free online courses with a certificate you can understand that such programs keep students in tone and help them at the beginning of mastering the profession. Such classes are unlikely to be useful to experts with work experience or practical knowledge, so they are designed more for beginners. However, finding free classes should also be taken seriously, so you should study their structure and criteria for the overall usefulness of the training before enrolling in a course.

Types of free courses with a certificate

The field of free distance education is overflowing with programs and formats with varying levels of knowledge or freshness of information. When searching for free professional development courses for educators online, the listener may not find the right academic foundation, as this is a narrower specialization. This category also includes accounting distance learning courses, which require a voluminous level of knowledge with extended experience. The category of specialized programs also includes retraining courses remotely with a focus on project work. Based on this, you can determine for yourself the difference between comprehensive paid training and open-access lessons. The latter most often contain superficial material or an initial base for further study of a particular discipline. By browsing through popular resources you can collect and structure free online learning into separate types:

• Entrance Programs. This type of distance education is found on the platforms of popular online schools or specialized training centers. Short general lectures play an introductory role to familiarize the student with the structure of further material in paid lessons. They are usually accessed through an application, or schools publish them freely available on websites and video hosting sites. Sometimes such programs are released in the guise of marathons, master classes, and open webinars.
• Courses on general or auxiliary topics. This type is also found in paid digital education projects as an additional learning base for general development. This category includes short lessons in soft-skills, how to present oneself correctly at job interviews, the development of emotional intelligence, and a start in a particular profession. Similar classes can be found for students on free services or social networks.
• Authoring courses on external platforms. This item includes comprehensive programs from universities or colleges that are published on external educational portals. Many lectures or collections of teaching materials are publicly available on projects like Coursera, Stepik, MOOK, or Moodle. They contain more information compared to trial lessons, and after listening to the current material the student does a quiz. At the end of such courses the appropriate certificate is issued on behalf of the platform with a note of the author (university or training center).
• Guides, checklists, memos, articles, and more. A popular type of useful information in the education-sphere that is created for free. It can be found on school platforms, thematic resources, social networks, large communities, as well as in the form of advertising. Checklists and guides are often motivated by additional conversions or interesting advertising for the target audience. They are not suitable for getting a profession, but will be a good addition to the main educational base for learning.

If we analyze educational programs for the future, there will be more free online courses in 2022, along with paid comprehensive classes. The education market is developing in parallel with the technology and requirements of companies, so there is no need to fear closing access or removing materials from platforms. It's important for prospective students to consider the quality of the training and the convenience of taking the course, as well as its validation for their future careers. If there are no free materials and introductory lessons on the platform, there are many thematic resources online with school discussions and independent reviews. Based on the finished evaluations, you can form a general idea of the school's performance or the quality of the training base.

Conclusions

In 3 years, many interesting and useful educational projects have appeared on the Internet, where training online with a certificate is provided. Lectures, marathons, live webinars, guides, defense of the final project - all these are components of the new format of mastering the profession. When searching for the best school, the student should rely on the criteria and typology described in the article. Pre-studying the structure of digital learning helps to save time and not encounter outdated information along with a haphazard learning base.

Free distance learning courses with a certificate allow the student to compare, evaluate, and form a personal opinion about projects at no cost. If, after listening to an open lecture, the student is interested in further study, then he or she can plan to purchase a comprehensive educational program.