One of the most important assets of a business is its people. Hiring the right people who are a good fit for your business culture can be challenging. But once you’ve cleared that hurdle, it’s time to invest in you and your team so that you can avoid the costly ramifications of high turnover: re-hiring, re-training and onboarding, development and the ground lost when you have a job vacancy for an extended period of time. This is where securing one of the best online learning platforms for growing skillets and training comes into play.
According to OnStaff USA, training directly impacts employee satisfaction and engagement, both critical to an organization’s retention and success. Gallup data shows that the employee engagement which hit new highs during the pandemic has dropped back to just slightly higher than the pre-pandemic rate of 35%, to 36%.
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An online learning platform gives businesses a leg up with continuing education for you and your employees, elevating the knowledge across a wide range of subject matter. More importantly, skill-building can lead to more engaged employees, eager to put new knowledge to work. Online learning may be live instruction or recorded content that can be viewed whenever it’s convenient for a team or individual learner through a portal. If you or your employees are looking for training and growing, why wouldn’t you invest in an online learning platform?
Every business has specific needs, especially if their “in-house” employee training is lacking entirely or if it just needs to be shored up. The most economical way to elevate the skills of you and your team is through an online learning platform. Whether you’re looking for flexibility to offer content and training that is relevant to different departments, or you have people in specific roles that need skill-building tools, there is enough range in online learning platforms to accommodate you. The following list contains the best online learning platforms and will compare them based on area of focus, price, and features:
Beginner to Expert: Best overall
With more than 155,000 video courses, Udemy lands at the top of our list for best online learning platforms. Design, development, marketing, IT and software, personal development, business, photography, and music makes Udemy a go-to resource for a wide range of skill-building – beginner and advanced. Content is taught by over 1,500 experts and real-world practitioners and is geared toward all learning styles.
With the world’s largest selection of courses it’s no surprise that more than 28 million students have learned basic or advanced Python – a computer programming language – through videos, articles, coding exercises, and more in these popular courses.
Pricing does vary from course to course, however, thousands of courses are available across a variety of topics starting at $14.99 or you can schedule a demo of Udemy for Business for unlimited access to the top 5,5000+ sources, anytime and on any device.
It’s in the Details: Best for Data Learning
Drawing the smarts of industry experts, Pluralsight offers thousands of courses designed to “upskill” your technology knowledge at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels in software development, machine learning and AI, information and cybersecurity, and more. Labs and interactive courses provide hands-on opportunities to learn by doing. You’ll also find course content aligned with industry certifications.
Individual Plans
Team Plans
Explore Your Passion: Best for Creative Fields
Looking to drive a culture of creativity? Look no further than Skillshare. From animation to UI/UX design with loads of creative content in between, Skillshare is there to help bring your vision to life. Find the support of fellow creatives through online learning that opens the door to unlimited access to thousands of ad-free classes with a premium membership starting at $13.99/month, after a free seven-day trial.
The online learning portal is user-friendly to ease onboarding and management of your team as they navigate to digestible, flexible and hands-on content.
Sign up for Skillshare today! New members get the first seven days of Skillshare Premium for free.
High-Profile Teachers: Best for Celebrity Lessons
Arts & Entertainment. Home & lifestyle. Business or Writing. MasterClass has assembled an impressive roster of subject-matter experts for your personal and professional development. And if you miss a live session, you can always view on-demand at a time that’s convenient for you.
Let’s look at how you and your team can build skills with this online learning platform:
Reaching New Goals: Best for College-level Classes
If you’re looking for unlimited access to more than 100 subject areas to empower your team to master new skills, look into Coursera for Teams. This online learning platform suits businesses with 5 to 125 learners. A 2019 users’ survey shows that 87% of those learning for professional development report career benefits like promotions, raises, and starting a new career.
Platform highlights include:
Team Pricing: $399 per user/year – For teams and smaller organizations with unlimited access to the entire course catalog.
Access to Top Schools: Best Pedigree
From skills-based training to graduate-level courses and a path to a master’s degree, edX is the go-to for discerning learners. Starting at $349 per learner/per year, you get access to an impressive catalog of self-paced courses and professional certificates. Enterprise pricing is also available for larger organizations.
Plan individualized curriculums with the platform’s content experts to ensure you and your team members are gaining the most value from learning tracks like:
Track usage and progress on one convenient dashboard and send custom messages of encouragement. You’ll also benefit from personalized content recommendations that help you map your team’s needs.
Future Forward: Best for Tech
For real-world experience shared in an online learning platform, Udacity teams with industry technology partners such as Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Intel to teach skills in all facets of digital technologies.
Featured programs include:
Start with pre-assessments to design custom learning programs that meet your or your employee’s skills where they are and get them to where you want them to be. If you’re looking for tech-specific training that can start to build the skills of your workforce for tomorrow, check out Udacity.
You’ve Got Issues: Best for Problem Solving
Brilliant encourages its online learning platform users to “forget everything you memorized and learn how STEM actually works.” Interactive visualizations, hands-on lessons, and instant feedback stand in place of lectures for rapid improvement.
Try a free preview for access to:
Add to the features with a Premium account to unlock all courses and daily challenges. Guide courses include:
Try Brilliant today, or give a gift subscription or learn more about group plans!
Technical Learning: Best for Developers and Learning Code
Complex challenges for technical skills are brought down to a manageable size to help you tackle your obstacles to doing better business with Codecademy‘s online learning platform. Beginner courses teach data analysis, full-stack engineering, Java, HTML, and more. Intermediate courses build on the fundamentals to elevate skills even further.
All Business: Best for Professionals
You can get more out of a social platform meant for professionals; it’s also an online learning platform business-, creative- and technology-based training. Formerly known as Lynda.com, a premier online learning service, that LinkedIn acquired allows you to identify opportunities to enhance your business’s performance, or you may decide it’s improved customer service. LinkedIn Learning has a track for that. Or human resources. Same. Or leadership and management. LinkedIn has you covered. But it doesn’t stop there.
If you have a creative department, graphic design, illustration, animation, and web design are among the creative topics. Cloud computing, database management, mobile development, and security are just a few tech-related topics.
Features include:
Pricing:
Start a 1-month free trial today!
Award-winning Streaming: Best for Video Documentaries
Want to encourage your team to think outside the box? Some of the best ideas are those adapted from prior innovations, other industries, and different walks of life. Curiosity Stream can unlock the imagination in new ways with video documentaries, ranging from science and technology to nature and history, and more. With an affordable subscription, you gain instant access to thousands of titles sure to entertain and inspire.
Pricing:
You can also buy individual gift cards that are redeemable for an annual subscription to recognition peak performers or as a customer appreciation gesture:
An online learning platform is an investment in yourself and in your business that can pay dividends across your business with more engaged and loyal employees with valuable skill sets. There is a wide range of pricing, based on the number of learners you have and the length of time you want to provide learning opportunities.
Typical features at a business or team level include a dedicated dashboard for monitoring progress, customizable learning tracks, collaboration with a content manager who can help you define curriculum, and some certification-level courses. All open access to industry professionals or academic leaders to ensure you are learning from a range of subject matter experts.
The best place to start is to evaluate your specific needs: Are you looking to enhance your skillset as a business owner, reward individuals, or advance the skills of your entire team? Is it one specific group, like mid-level managers, that can benefit from skill-building, or do you see opportunity across departments? Do you have beginners that need to level up or more seasoned pros who need exposure to new technologies in a rapidly changing field like IT? The best place to start is with a free trial that could be tested by a hand-picked few to determine whether it’s a good match for your team.
Businesses, large and small, are enjoying the benefits of ongoing training through an online learning platform. It’s easy, convenient, and customizable based on your business goals. An evolving workforce that is shifting to full- or part-time remote, looping in your team with an online learning platform is a great substitute for in-person training with more flexibility and mobility. In most cases, it’s more economical than hiring live facilitators with varying levels of expertise and rigid training calendars. Access to the best teachers has never been easier!
With more than 155,000 video courses we recommend checking out Udemy to begin your online training today!
Last updated on by Joshua Holdeman
