Online learning is spreading in the fastest way ever. Covid-19 has been playing a central role for online courses to become more and more accepted and adopted. The journey of free online courses dates back to the beginning of the 2000s, and it started to become wider spread at the beginning of the 2010s (with the founding of Coursera, edX, and similar platforms.)

You can learn everything online thanks to free online courses. This should be regarded as a milestone in human history and might have the most equalizer influence on society. Here are some free online open course platforms and some popular courses. #Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

MIT OpenCourseWare

"OCW is a free and open publication of material from thousands of MIT courses, covering the entire MIT curriculum. That's every MIT department and degree program, ranging from the introductory to the most advanced graduate level. Each OCW course includes a syllabus, some instructional material (lecture notes or a reading list), and learning activities (such as assignments or exams). Many courses also have complete video lectures, free online textbooks, and faculty teaching insights. While some OCW content is custom-created for online use, most of it comes straight from the MIT classroom." (source: MIT OCW)

One of the most valuable courses in MIT OCW is the Artificial Intelligence course given by Prof. Patrick Henry Winston. You have access to all course materials, including video lectures for this course. Note that this free online course is regarded as one of the best points to start your artificial intelligence and machine learning journey.

Coursera

"Founded by Andrew Ng in 2012, Mountain View, California, Coursera is an online education company that serves over 20 million registered learners by partnering with 140 of the world's best universities and education institutions. On Coursera, anyone, anywhere can access over 1,000 online courses and Specializations in dozens of fields to achieve meaningful career, educational, and personal enrichment goals throughout their lives." (Source: Crunchbase)

Although many courses are paid ones in Coursera, there are free online courses, as well. One of the most popular courses in Coursera is the Machine Learning course given by Andrew Ng, a Stanford Professor and the founder of the platform. The invaluable aspect of Coursera is you are not just watching the videos, but you must also finish the assignments to get certificates. The works receive feedback from experts, and they are good points to start building your portfolio.

edX

edX was founded by an MIT Professor (Anand Agarwal) in 2012 as a non-profit massive online open courses platform and was later acquired by 2U. It gives you access to all courses on the platform free. You can watch the videos and finish the assignments. Only getting a certificate is paid, and you can get a considerable discount as a scholarship to get certificates. Most of the courses on edX are invaluable. Don't forget to check and find the ones that you might be interested in.