Free Platforms for Teaching Online Courses

More and more high schools are embracing online courses to reach more students and all times of the day. While you can spend a lot of money for online course software, you don't have to. Here are seven free platforms for teaching online courses.

This list cannot begin without mentioning Moodle first. Moodle is an free platform that is commonly referred to as a course management system or virtual learning environment. To use Moodle you have to either install it on your own server(s) or have someone host it for you. If you don't have a server of your own, a quick Google search for "Moodle hosting" will lead you to plenty of companies that will host Moodle for you. To learn more about Moodle watch the video introduction below.

Claroline is an open source program that gives users the freedom to create their own online classroom. Using Claroline teachers can produce assessment activities, post and collect assignments, build a wiki, monitor student activities, and create chat rooms or discussion forums. Claroline is available as a free download for Mac, Windows, and Linux systems. Claroline is not a hosted service so you do need to have someone host your installation of Claroline. You can, however, demo Claroline online here.

Udemy is a new free platform for teaching courses online. Anyone can sign-up for Udemy and start creating courses in minutes. Udemy offers a variety of tools for delivering content online. Course creators can publish slideshows, publish videos, and create mash-ups of slideshows and videos synched together. Course creators can also hold live online sessions through Udemy's virtual classroom platform. Watch the video below to learn more about Udemy.

RCampus is a free, web-based, platform for creating and conducting courses online. Using RCampus teachers can create a course, collect students' assignments, and maintain a gradebook. RCampus provides all of the tools you would expect to find in an online course management system. Through RCampus you can post assignments, host discussion forums, post videos, post images, post links, collect assignments, and manage a gradebook. Watch the video below to learn more about RCampus.

Learnopia is a free service that offers hosting for online courses. Learnopia is also a place to find and take online courses. If course creators make their courses free for others to take, then hosting is free. Currently, there are courses on Learnopia that are free and others that require a payment.

eDhii is a service that allows you to create or take self-study courses online. eDhii course creators can offer their content for free or charge a fee for their course content. Course creators only pay a fee if they choose to charge for their course's content. Course content can include text, images, and videos. People in search of a lesson or course can search eDhii's listing of courses and lessons by topic.

Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) is an online community of people sharing their knowledge through university-level courses. Experts volunteer their time and resources to create and facilitate courses in their areas of expertise. The courses and their associated materials are free. However, enrollment in each course is limited in order to provide an environment in which the course facilitator and their students can interact in meaningful ways. Learn more about P2PU in the video below.

 

 

 

SimpleVLE is a virtual learning environment where the user can create classes, design tests, quizzes, and/or exams. You can also create content, design lessons, upload files, assign homework and/or other tasks. Create a profile at www.simplevle.com today and starte creating online content for your class.

Top Class Management Tools

1. SimpleVLE: Custom web-based testing services from SimpleVLE allow you to easily create secure online exams using multiple choice and true or false question types. Other test options include time limits, password protection, and many others. You can even insert video and/or images into your actual test questions as well. The site is 100% free - No test or class size limits Test results are automatically graded & instantly available to the instructor and/or the student based on viewing options chosen by the instructor.
2. ATutor: Administrators can install or update ATutor in minutes, develop custom templates to give ATutor a new look, and easily extend its functionality with feature modules. Educators can quickly assemble, package, and redistribute Web-based instructional content, easily retrieve and import prepackaged content, and conduct their courses online. This is an open source tool.
3. Bubbl.us: Teachers can use this tool for brainstorming and class discussions.
4. Dokeos: Dokeos is a learning management system used in more than 600 companies and public administrations to manage e-learning and blended learning programs. This is open source software.
5. dotsub: This tool will be helpful for teachers of foreign languages. For a fee, dotsub will translate videos using subtitles and students and teachers can upload their own videos and create subtitles.
6. Drupal: Drupal is an open source project that offers a flexible framework to set up a social learning environment or a more traditional learning environment.
7. EduTools: The EduTools site has been re-launched as a community-driven site, beginning with the Course Management System (CMS) site. They continue to offer feature-by-feature product comparisons and decision-making supports. In addition, the site now includes the ability for any user to submit reviews for new products that haven’t already been reviewed or to add their own feedback on specific products and feature implementation.
8. eFront: Easy to use, visually attractive, SCORM compatible, open source e-learning and human capital development platform.
9. LAMS: LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) provides teachers with a highly intuitive visual authoring environment for creating sequences of learning activities. These activities can include a range of individual tasks, small group work, and whole class activities based on both content and collaboration.
10. Merlot: A free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students of higher education. Links to online learning materials are collected here along with the ability to connect with peers.
11. Prezi: Teachers can use this presentation tool to organize and share ideas with other educators.
12. RCampus: RCampus is a system that allows teachers, students and administrators to manage courses, build virtual portfolios, create websites, join virtual communities, and assess school work with rubrics.
13. Sakai: Sakai is a community of academic institutions, commercial organizations and individuals who work together to develop a common Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE).
14. Schooltool: SchoolTool is a project to develop a common global school administration infrastructure that is freely available under an Open Source license. SchoolTool encompasses three sub-projects including a calendar and resource management tools, a student information system, and the ability to track which skills students are acquiring in their classes and at what level of competency.
15. Sloodle: Sloodle is an open source project that aims to develop and share useful, usable, desireable tools for supporting education in virtual worlds, making teaching easier. If you have enough technical support or nous, and your own server, you can download the Sloodle source code and install it on your own Moodle installation. Otherwise, you can try out a few elements on the Web site.
16. StudySync: With resources such as peer reviews, weekly writing practices, and an extensive digital library, StudySync is an essential tool for teachers preparing students for academic success.