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The Best Platforms with Web Courses for High Schoolers

Technology is a wonderful thing. For the first time in history, we have unlimited information at our fingertips. But at the same time, it’s easy to feel lost about how exactly to make the best use of the information available. As a high schooler, the opportunities to increase your learning are endless with web courses!

For a high school student, online classes are a great way to explore your interests, complement your current classes, prepare for standardized tests, deepen your understanding of various topics, learn new languages, etc. From an admissions perspective, taking web courses can demonstrate your intellectual curiosity, particularly when you apply this newfound knowledge into something else (for example, applying your web developer skills to design a webpage for a local pet shelter). But which web course should you take?

We’ve narrowed down the list to the following web course platforms to help! Most of the resources offered below are self-paced and free of charge, with optional paid versions. Check them out and get learning!

Web Courses - General

These sites offer resources in a variety of topics:

• Coursera is the main provider of MOOCs - massive open online courses. The site has a more traditional classroom format in terms of structure: lectures, assignments, and discussion boards. Top schools all over the world contribute lessons, covering topics from bioinformatics to Mandarin Chinese. Classes are free to audit, but you can pay to receive an official certificate after you complete the web course. You can also find online master’s degrees and certificates.
  • Sample courses: Python for Everybody; Learning How to Learn: Powerful Mental Tools to Help You Master Tough Subjects; In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting
• edX is another household name for open-source higher education. This non-profit was founded by Harvard and MIT. Like Coursera, edX offers free web courses with paid certificate options. Notably, some universities, like Arizona State University, have partnered up with edX to offer college credit through specific online courses. In addition, you’ll find standardized test preparation courses, professional certificates, and micromasters.
  • Sample courses: Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science; AP Microeconomics; Deciphering Secrets: Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Toledo (Spain)
• Khan Academy started off as a simple platform where founder Salman Khan recorded short YouTube videos of himself explaining various concepts. Since then, it has expanded to cover a myriad of educational topics and materials for educators to use. Khan Academy also offers standardized test prep and allows you to track your progress and complete practice exercises through their web courses. Compared to other items in this list, Khan Academy includes more educational resources for high schoolers and younger students.
  • Sample courses: Pre-algebra; Grammar; Computer Animation
• Open2Study was founded in Australia. While it doesn’t represent “star” instructors or institutions, all web courses are free and upon successful completion, students receive a certificate. You will find a more structured and centralized organization, with courses starting every 5 weeks and designed to be completed over 4 weeks. One useful feature for students is “Where to from here?” which lists related undergraduate and graduate majors and “Where could this lead me?” which lists careers related to the topic of the course.
  • Sample courses: Writing for the Web; Sociology; Mining Engineering
• Alison offers over 1,000 web courses for free with a paid certificate option. Similar to the micromasters offered by edX, Alison offers “Learning Paths,” a group of related classes of increasing difficulty meant to focus your knowledge on a specific area (e.g. Google and Business). A big minus for this site, though, are the ads you have to watch as you click through a topic.
  • Sample courses: Fundamentals of Chemistry; ACT Math Exam; Fundamentals of Google Android Development
• Open Culture has a similar goal of accessible education but casts a wider net. They not only offer 1,000 web courses from top universities, but they also gather and curate content like books, movies, and educational resources. Their free courses include MOOCs and certificate courses, as well as free audio and video lectures. Overall, a great source of supplementary material.
  • Sample courses: MIT’s Introduction to Poker Theory: A Free Online Course; Let This Be a Lesson: Heroes, Heroines, and Narrative in Paintings at Yale
• For school-specific web courses, check out a given school's own website. Stanford Online, Open Yale Courses, UC Berkeley Class Central, MIT OpenCourseWare, and Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative are all good examples.

Web Courses - Coding

The following web courses will help teach you how to code:

• Codecademy is an online platform dedicated specifically to teaching how to code. You can browse by subject (web development, programming, data science, design) or by language (HTML & CSS, Python, JavaScript, Java, SQL, Bash/Shell, Ruby). There is a free version and a paid “pro” version with extra features. Codecademy makes learning more interactive and “gamified” by incorporating a point system and badges to track your progress.
• Udacity is geared more towards tech skills that are highly desirable in the job market. To that end, their web courses are often built in collaboration with big tech companies like Google and IBM. So, a Java for Beginners class would include a practical component (e.g. how to apply that programming knowledge to Android).

Web Courses - Languages

Become bilingual with help from these web courses:

• Duolingo takes a “gamified” approach to language learning, with points, timed challenges, and levels. Moreover, Duolingo offers mobile apps to take your learning on the go. Studies have shown that Duolingo is particularly effective for beginners, but is a good supplement for anyone. ^[1] There are tons of options for languages, from Norwegian to High Valyrian (yep, that fictional language from Game of Thrones).
• Babbel is another popular language learning platform. The first lesson in any language is free to try, but access to the full web course comes at a cost. Babbel offers fewer languages than Duolingo and focuses mostly on European languages. They set themselves apart by creating lessons customized to each language and for their early focus on real-life conversations. The example they give on their website describes an English speaker trying to learn French who experiences a different course than an Italian speaker who is also learning French. Finally, a New York study showed that users learned Spanish faster using Babbel than with Rosetta Stone or Duolingo.^[2] So, if your target language is offered, it might be worth the cost!
• Memrise also takes a “gamified” approach to language learning, but it’s particularly strong in helping users memorize vocabulary. The site’s mnemonic flashcards make associations to help you remember the content. Memrise doesn’t teach grammar or speaking, though, so it’s probably best to use this one in conjunction with another language learning program.

Whether it’s expanding your resume, exploring your academic interest, or just wanting to learn for the fun of it, all of these platforms offer web courses to help! Take advantage of the opportunities that the internet offers and follow your interests. Demonstrations of intellectual curiosity can have significant impact when you apply to college.

^[1] Vesselinov, R. and Grego, J. The Duolingo Effectiveness Study. New York 2012

^[2] *Vesselinov, R. and Grego, J. The Babbel Efficacy Study. New York 2016