Which are the top eLearning platforms & their advantages and disadvantages?

Which are the top eLearning platforms & their advantages and disadvantages?

While there is a time and place for face-face learning, increasingly learning is being conducted online through the digital platform. Not only this method of education is easier to manage, but it also simplifies reaching a global audience. This is where eLearning platforms that make the most of modern technology come into play.

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That’s not to say the traditional model of education is perishing, but both academic institutions and businesses have identified that they can achieve more by utilizing digital technology. eLearning becomes very significant, especially during the times of COVID-19 pandemic where schools and colleges are shut down. eLearning platforms have even diversified allowing people to learn any course or skill they want to. 

Through modern tech, it doesn’t take long to develop a specific skill or acquire a certification. With the eLearning market soaring to a new level of success and expected to hit $325 billion by 2025, the industry is experiencing immense growth. 

So why not tap into this lucrative industry and set up an eLearning business. If you are an experienced educator in a specific subject and want to share your knowledge or skills with a global learner base, all you need to get started are the best learning platforms. 

These eLearning platforms allow you to:

• Create an online course website or integrate course within your existing site. 
• Upload your classes, add assignments, create engaging content, and interact with your learners. 
• Price your online course and accept payment.
• Build membership communities.
• Market your online classes to build an established online presence. 

What are the top eLearning platforms?

The best online learning platforms allow you to spend more time teaching your students efficiently and automating the sales processes. To be successful in your eLearning business, you need to create, organize, and deliver your online courses to your target audience efficiently. For that, you need an eLearning platform that supports your unique requirements. 

Here are some of the eLearning platforms that are well doing in the industry along with their pros and cons.

Udemy

Udemy is one of the top eLearning platforms with over 24 million learners, 35k instructors, and 80k+ courses. The first step to creating an online course on the platform is to sign up as a premium instructor. Once your account is approved, you can straightaway get into creating your courses. Adobe Photoshop CC 2021.

The eLearning platform’s huge repository is one reason why it is so popular among people. Udemy hosts courses in IT, design, business and marketing, science, health and fitness, and a lot more. Most courses are priced low and made available in different languages. Additionally, learners can also preview the courses to make sure the topic aligns with their choices before actually signing up for the classes. 

When creating courses, make sure your classes must be a minimum of 30 minutes long and have at least 5 lectures. Creating courses on Udemy comes with another advantage of easy promotion inside the platform itself. The platform offers marketing features like emails, affiliate programs, etc. which will help you promote your classes effortlessly. 

Advantages of Udemy

One of the major advantages of Udemy is its large learner base. Over 24k users of Udemy are potential students who would be willing to pay for your courses. But because your courses are on Udemy, you won’t be making sales right away. However, if you follow a strong marketing strategy, you can start making money. 

Here are some of the pros of Udemy.

Offer revenue share for tutoring fees

Udemy educators can set the prices for their courses and they receive revenue at 100% of tuition for new users and 50% for existing users. The platform also offers a decent commission on sales which is a massive benefit of using the Udemy platform. 

Participate in marketing promotions

Udemy often runs marketing activities and promotions which can help educators reach a large learner base on the online learning platform. These marketing promotions are optional; educators can choose whether to participate or not. 

Reliable technology and 24/7 customer support

The eLearning platform provides free customer support along with a wide range of helpful blogs to assist and support new users. 

Disadvantages of Udemy

Intense competition among educators

Udemy educators are at the mercy of ranking on the Udemy platform which is controlled by its own algorithm. As there is intense competition, it might be difficult to outrank other educators in particular subjects if you are new to the platform. 

Lenient return policies

Udemy offers guaranteed refunds to all learners within a month for any reason. Due to this, learners could sign up for a course, complete it, and get a guaranteed refund which will negatively affect your sales. 

Coursera

Coursera is another great online course platform that hosts some of the best courses from universities like the University of Stanford, Michigan, and Duke. 

As the courses are from some of the top universities, the format and cost of these courses might vary. However, they provide the flexibility to take any type of classes from one-time workshops to professional master certificates from top universities. Coursera is a free platform to join and you must log in to view the price of individual courses. 

Advantages of Coursera

Access to high-quality university courses

Coursera has many top-quality courses from top universities like Yale, Stanford, the University of London, etc. 

The structure and navigation

The basic approach of Coursera to deliver university-level courses to learners is highly appreciable. It has clear syllabi short essays, quizzes, and deadlines. Another clear advantage is the easy navigation within courses. The grading of assignments as well as feedback from teachers is returned in an impressive manner. 

Free courses with paid certifications

Coursera offers different types of pricing options for learners when it comes to enrolling for courses. There is a subscription program, specialized courses, and advanced online degree programs for different prices. The eLearning platform also offers free access to some courses using the audit option where you just have to pay for certification if you need it. 

Disadvantages of Coursera

Peer assessments

For some courses, the eLearning platform offers the basements of final exams by other learners. While this works at certain times, it might not lead to accurate feedback for your assignments. 

Plagiarism in coursework

Many learners complain of other learners copying their assignments. Some students will find out this while doing peer grading. While it is a serious offense and is combated on colleges with strict policies, it has become more widespread in this digital age. Coursera has a plagiarism detection software to find out this problem. 

Skillshare

Skillshare is one of the best eLearning platforms that focus on creative education. The platform is great for creative artists as it is an exclusive platform for video-based courses in a wide range of creative subjects like photography, drawing, design, creative writing, illustration, a lot more. 

You can join the platform for free and access free courses which are generally one hour long short video courses. Additionally, the platform also offers a subscription that provides access to more courses and allows users to download courses to watch them offline. 

Advantages of skillshare

The large customer base of creatives and artists

If you are an educator who offers content for a creative audience, Skillshare makes a great platform to get started. 

Great quality of courses

Skillshare features professional and high-quality creative courses. They can help with outline your online course according to the needs of the learner base. 

Disadvantages of skillshare

Runs through a royalty system

Every month, 30%-50% of premium subscription revenue of the eLearning platform goes to a royalty pool for educators. The remaining revenue is allocated for marketing courses, supporting the platform, and running the daily operations. This makes it challenging for new educators to receive the revenue they deserve. 

Only email support is provided

If you want to contact the customer support team, the only way to connect with them is via email in addition to the support articles on the platform. 

EDX

Edx is also an eLearning platform that is similar to Coursera as it hosts many courses from reputed universities in a broad range of academic fields. Some of the university partners of the platform include IBM, Harvard, MIT, and Berkley out of which many of them offer micro degrees and professional certificates. Most of the classes are offered for free, but owning a verified course certificate requires learners to pay. Most courses are self-paced but start on a certain date and run for a couple of weeks. 

Advantages of Edx

Courses from top universities

The eLearning platform contains courses from top universities that seek to revolutionize education using innovative technology. 

Great user interface

Edx features a simple and great user interface that allows users to navigate smoothly through the platform. 

Disadvantages of Edx

No free certificate

The platform offers courses for free, but certifications must be earned by paying a fee

No forum for discussions

Edx doesn’t feature a forum for users to conduct discussions over the topics they have doubts about. 

Teachable

Teachable is an all-inclusive eLearning platform that allows you to create professional and appealing courses. If you are not tech-savvy but still want your learning platform to have powerful features to turn your website into an eLearning business. Teachable is the right platform for you. 

Advantages of Teachable

Create beautiful looking courses

Not all eLearning platforms allow you to create beautiful and quality looking online courses. Teachable is one such platform that allows you to create beautiful looking courses even if you don’t know the basics about designing 

No tech set up

Teachable is one of the best online learning platforms that suits even the basic user who is not well versed with digital tech. As there is no difficult technical stuff involved, you can focus on the rest of the things in your eLearning platform. Moreover, the platform is the best option for beginners who don’t have to worry about things like design, hosting, or setting up the sales page. 

Simple analytics

Teac bale features easy to understand analytics tools that help you to analyze who completes your courses and how much money you are earning. 

Disadvantages of Teachable

Integrations

One of the major disadvantages of teachable is integration. In most cases, the platform recommends using Zapier where you can set up a minimum of 2 integrations for free and more of a monthly price of $20. 

Transaction fee

Teachable charges transaction fee for both free and basic plans on the top of normal credit card processing fees. 

Udacity

Udacity is another technology and business-focused eLearning platform that has around 12 million users and over 300 employees. The platform is based on Open Massive Online courses (MOOC) which offers the best eLearning experience for anyone who wants to register on the platform and start learning. 

Started as an online learning experiment by 2 educators from the Stanford university Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun, now it offers some of the excellent courses from the innovative field for aspiring young learners to excel in different phases of their career. 

Advantages of Udacity

User-friendly platform

Udacity is one of the top eLearning platforms known for its simplicity and user-friendliness. It features a fairly simple and easy to understand home page that is perfectly created and informative. 

Best quality courses

In collaboration with industry-leading partners like AWS, Google, Nvidia, and Mercedes, Udacity develops its own top quality content. 

Improve your resume

As Udacity has a high reputation in the institute having a Nano degree certificate from Udacity can help you excel professionally. 

Disadvantages of Udacity

Course difficulty

Mostly, Udacity offers courses that are complex. Unlike a simple eLearning website, the eLearning platform maintains a standard of a university degree for their online courses. 

Preparation

To enroll in the courses in Udacity, you need to spend a lot of time preparing in advance as the courses are incredibly difficult to master. 

Creating your own eLearning platform

While there are a lot of reputed eLearning platforms in the industry, if you want to empower and educate your learner base with a powerful eLearning software, the best option is to create one for yourself. 

And here in Creiden we help you do just that; Using our thorough process:

We recently collaborated with one of the leading experts in the healthcare and management industry in the Middle east to develop his e-learning courses platform for healthcare and risk management courses (KASH) and you can read all about our process and behind the scenes of this project from here 

Conclusion

eLearning platforms can help you launch a profitable eLearning business, grow your audience, and teach your students the topics you are skilled at. Each platform comes with its own advantages and it is important to choose the best online learning platform that aligns with your business requirements and goals. The success of your courses relies on the quality of your courses and how well you can promote your brand.