Into the Learning-Verse: Beginner’s Guide to Online Learning

Nowadays, the web is full of online courses scattered across a wide variety of platforms and the challenge is to find the best courses to suit your needs. The Class Central catalog brings courses from many providers into one place with a catalog of over 100,000 online courses in the online learning-verse.

What is Class Central?

Class Central was founded by Dhawal Shah in late 2011, to keep track of free online courses from Stanford that were starting to pop up, that later on became popularized as MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses.

Our goal is to make online education work for everyone. We aggregate courses from many providers to help you find the best courses on almost any subject, wherever they exist.

You can use Class Central’s search engine to find courses in your topics of interest, read course descriptions, and go through reviews to help you decide which courses to try. Filters help refine the search by level, duration, language and whether free or not.

You can also create a free account to create personal course lists, write reviews, and follow particular subjects, universities, and course providers. You do not need to complete your Class Central profile before starting courses.

Note that Class Central is not involved in running courses; our goal is to connect users to the right course.

In addition to our catalog, The Report by Class Central keeps tabs on the overall state of the online education landscape.

What’s in the Class Central catalog?

Courses are from universities, companies, organizations, and individuals. 

Universities include Stanford, MIT, and Harvard. (Here is the full list of universities.)

Companies include Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Organizations include the International Monetary Fund, IEEE, and Linux Foundation. (The full list of non-university course creators is here.)

Courses range from less than an hour up to many weeks in length. The time commitment may vary significantly from one learner to another. You can use the filters to find short, mid-length, or longer courses.

When searching for courses, use the filters to find various languages. Some courses also offer subtitles in different languages.

Are online courses free?

Most courses are free. Some are paid. On some platforms, there are two enrollment options:

• Free Audit — which gives you access to videos, readings, and forums for free.
• Paid Enrollment — which gives you access to all the content, including paywalled elements such as a certificate of completion.

Some platforms allow you to apply for financial aid or a scholarship. If accepted, you may be able to earn a certificate for free or a discount.

When searching on Class Central, free courses are labeled. You can filter for free courses and free certificates. Course pages include certificate information. If a certificate is not mentioned in the panel on a course information page, it is unlikely to be available.

How can I get a free certificate?

Some courses offer a free certificate or badge. See our Massive List of Thousands of Free Certificates and Badges and our collections of Free Certificates.

You can use the With free certificate filter while searching for courses.

How to find online courses?

To find courses on Class Central, you may:

• Search for keywords here — for instance, type ‘Algorithms’ or ‘Berkeley’.
• Browse by subject here — for instance, click on ‘Humanities’ or ‘Information Security’.

You can also start a search by clicking on the search field or magnifying glass icon at the top of any page. And further narrow the search results by using the filters.

How to enroll in an online course?

You can enroll in just a few steps from the course information page. Simply click on the ‘Go to class ⟶’ button. This will take you to the course provider page, from where you’ll be able to sign up.

If there is a Start learning button instead of Go to class, you do not need to sign up with the course provider. These courses generally don’t offer a certificate. 

When do online courses start?

Most courses have pre-recorded videos that can be watched at any time of the day or night suitable for you. Some are text-based and do not have videos. You can access your course at any time you are connected to the internet.

Some courses can be started at any time. Others start at regular intervals — every few weeks or months. Some are seldom offered — sometimes reappearing after a year of absence. Finally, some stop being offered entirely.

Do online courses have deadlines?

Most courses are self-paced — you progress through them as quickly or slowly as you want — while others run on a schedule:

• All the course material may not be available from day one. Instead, it’s released in fragments week after week, forcing students to pace themselves.
• Assessments may have deadlines, preventing learners from lagging behind.

But even when they involve a schedule, online courses remain flexible: you study when it suits you best, day or night.

How are learners tested in online courses?

Not all courses include graded items, but graded items can include:

• Auto-graded quizzes — quizzes that are automatically graded upon submission, such as multiple choice questions.
• Peer-feedback assignments — assignments that are graded by other learners according to a specific rubric.

Your performance on these determines your overall course grade.

Note that instructors don’t grade learners’ work.

Can I contact the instructor of a free online course?

Interaction between instructors and learners is minimal or non-existent. Many courses have mentors monitoring the course forums. Occasionally, instructors contribute to the discussion.

Learners are encouraged to help each other by answering questions. You are not allowed to post quiz answers, but you may recommend helpful resources, so struggling learners can work out the answer for themselves.

Academic credit for online courses

Class Central is not aware of any programs that allow learners to earn credit or an online degree for free. If you are enrolled or plan to enroll at an academic institution, you might wish to contact your academic institution to find out if you can earn credit through online courses from other universities.

Some providers offer online degrees. See Can I get a MOOC-based degree? These may be priced lower than on-campus courses, but are not free.

What is a MOOC?

MOOC stands for massive open online course:

• Massive because enrollments are unlimited and can run into hundreds of thousands.
• Open because anyone can enroll — that is, there is no admission process.
• Online because they are delivered via the internet.
• Course because their goal is to teach a specific subject.

MOOCs typically comprise pre-recorded video lessons, readings, assessments, and may have a discussion forum.

Although in the academic world MOOCs are strictly a particular type of online course, many people call any online course a MOOC, whether open or limited, free or paid. 

Class Central is interested in online courses in general.

Which are the best online courses?

The world’s most highly rated courses can be found at The Best Free Online Courses of All Time. This list is compiled from student activity and reviews on Class Central.

Or have a look at The Most Popular Online Courses of All Time list, which was compiled from enrollment numbers supplied by course providers.

Where to go from here?

Have more questions? Head to the Class Central Help Center to find answers to your questions.

Ready to start learning? Head to the Class Central Homepage to find online courses that meet your needs and interests.

Want some suggestions? Check out Class Central’s curated collections.