Like every year, Class Central has compiled the best online courses of the year, based on thousands of learner reviews. Here are previous editions of the ranking: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

A decade has gone by since MOOCs’ popularization. The MOOC ecosystem has now reached over 220M learners worldwide and close to 19.4K courses. You can find our end-of-year series here, including our 2021 review of MOOCs stats and trends.

Methodology

Below, you’ll find the 20 highest-rated courses on Class Central that were released in 2021. We started by making a list of all the online courses released over the year. There were over 2,900 courses. Then, we sorted these courses according to the Bayesian average of the thousands of reviews published by Class Central learners. Finally, we truncated the list to retain only the cream of the crop.

Best Online Courses (2022 Edition)

Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
University of Tasmania via Independent
Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), offering university-quality education about TBI covering the spectrum from mild concussion through to severe injury.
★★★★★ (540 ratings)

Uncommon Sense Teaching
via Coursera
You’ll discover why you should help students use two different neural routes to help them be both flexible and fast in their learning.
★★★★★ (166 ratings)

School Counseling
Avianshilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore via Swayam
How to set right these children? What should be done to avoid these problem behaviours? How to identify and address these behaviours and intervene to mainstream them?
★★★★★ (150 ratings)

Managing Conflicts on Projects with Cultural and Emotional Intelligence
University System of Maryland via edX
Great program managers understand and heal bad communication habits and conflicts that arise within project teams and stakeholders. Learn how by leveraging emotional and cultural intelligence using the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM).
★★★★★ (112 ratings)

Learn Like a Pro: Science-Based Tools to Become Better at Anything
via edX
Do you spend too much time learning, with disappointing results? Do you put off studying because it’s boring and you’re easily distracted? This course is for you! In Learn Like a Pro , beloved teacher of learning Dr. Barbara Oakley, and learning coach extraordinaire Olav Schewe lay out techniques that can help you master any material. Based on easy-to-understand but cutting-edge neuroscientific research, Learn Like a Pro is like no other course on learning—join us today!
★★★★★ (96 ratings)

El rol de la digitalización en la transición energética
Galileo University via edX
En este curso aprenderás los fundamentos de la digitalización en el sector energético, partiendo de la problemática energética global y la necesidad de un modelo más sustentable hasta llegar a entender las principales tecnologías involucradas.
★★★★★ (75 ratings)

Exploring English: Food and Culture
British Council via FutureLearn
Improve your English language skills and learn how to cook some classic British dishes while exploring modern UK culture.
★★★★★ (53 ratings)

Let’s Get Started: Building Self-Awareness
University System of Maryland via edX
Effective leaders know themselves well. They capitalize on their strengths and manage their weaknesses using self-awareness.Learn how self-aware you are and how you can use self-awareness to intentionally develop your management and leadership skills.
★★★★★ (54 ratings)

Intelligenza Artificiale
University of Urbino via Independent
Il corso affronterà questioni etiche, sociali e culturali, parlando anche di cinema e di letteratura. Economisti, tecnologi e imprenditori parleranno delle applicazioni e delle prospettive di sviluppo del settore.
★★★★★ (49 ratings)

Strategic Communication for Sustainability Leaders
University System of Maryland via edX
Communicating science effectively is a critical skill for anyone involved in environmental policy or sustainability. Learn how to integrate effective visualizations into compelling narratives to clearly explain complex ecosystem processes.
★★★★★ (27 ratings)

Bridging Distance and In-School Learning – Blended Learning in Practice
School Education Gateway – Teacher Academy via Independent
The Bridging Distance and In-School Learning – Blended Learning in Practice MOOC will demonstrate these benefits and help teachers to design and plan for blended learning as part of their usual practice.
★★★★★ (26 ratings)

Introducción a Power BI para los negocios
Universitat Politècnica de València via edX
Te presentamos los componentes de Power BI, te mostramos la herramienta gratuita Power BI Desktop y te enseñamos a usarla para cargar y tratar datos de diversas fuentes, relacionar los datos importados e incorporar medidas para extraer la información importante y manejar las visualizaciones gráficas más habituales y utilizar los filtros para presentarla de la mejor manera posible.
★★★★★ (20 ratings)

Mathematical and Computational Methods
Georgetown University via edX
Physicists use math all of the time in nearly everything that they work on. This course will help you understand how math is interconnected and recognize that math involves a handful of simple ideas that repeat. By the end of the course, you will be able to re-derive important formulas from basic principles or know precisely where to look them up and use them.
★★★★★ (18 ratings)

Designing Project Information Hubs for Program and Project Performance
University System of Maryland via edX
The most valuable resource on a project is timely information. Why? Because information changes the decisions that determine project outcomes. Learn the planning skills and techniques needed to manage information across complex programs or projects.
★★★★★ (17 ratings)

Numerical Methods for Engineers
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology via Coursera
The course contains 74 short lecture videos and MATLAB demonstrations. After each lecture or demonstration, there are problems to solve or programs to write. The course is organized into six weeks, and at the end of each week there is an assessed quiz and a longer programming project.
★★★★★ (12 ratings)

Marketing digital en redes sociales
Universitat Politècnica de València via edX
Aprende todo lo que necesitas saber para que tu marca o empresa se posicione en el mercado, obtenga nuevos clientes, aumente sus ventas y rentabilice al máximo la inversión de publicidad en redes sociales. Conviértete en un buen community manager con herramientas gratuitas y aprende a crear un plan de social media y gestión de contenidos para tu comunidad.
★★★★☆ (10 ratings)

Imagery in Action
Esri via Independent
This course is for anyone who wants to learn—or learn more—about the many uses of imagery, the many types of imagery, and the rapidly growing integration of imagery with GIS.
★★★★★ (10 ratings)

Product Management Essentials
University of Maryland, College Park via Coursera
This course investigates the framework for success in product management by defining the product manager’s position in an organization and the key responsibilities.
★★★★★ (10 ratings)

Climate Change and Resilience in Food Systems
University of Leeds via FutureLearn
Learn new research-led strategies designed to mitigate the effects of climate change on agriculture and food systems.
★★★★★ (9 ratings)

The Digital Marketing Revolution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera
This course examines this issue by asking how the Digital Revolution has impacted marketing in an analog world. The learning approach will be highly interactive, meaning that you will have both the opportunity to engage in a variety of hands-on activities and to participate as a member of a rich learning community.
★★★★★ (9 ratings)