selection of innovative platforms
Top 5 domestic and foreign platforms
Highbrow
This platform makes it possible to train soft skills. The service offers more than 300 courses, these are short lessons that allow you to quickly get the information you need. Lectures last literally five minutes, respectively, they do not give a deep immersion in mathematics, foreign languages or programming.
But this is not the goal of the project. It helps people, for example, learn to cope with stress, read books with maximum benefit for themselves, memorize most of what they read, or find common language with difficult people.
Lectures are sent to the mail every morning, so you can get a new skill along with your morning cup of coffee. Courses are in English.
Pluralsight
This is a foreign platform, which is positioned as an educational system for “working professionals”. In other words, the platform is designed to improve and deepen the knowledge and experience of already working professionals. The main directions are software development, data science, information security and other areas of IT-related topics.
The platform recommends using “paths”, i.e. a series of thematically related courses on a specific topic. This can be an in-depth study of the programming language, the study of certain software, immersion in various directions of infobiz. You can take individual classes, the platform allows it, but the “paths” allow you to grow relatively quickly professionally.
Now the platform library contains about 7,500 lessons and hundreds of “paths”.
MEGACAMPUS
An educational social network that combines the concept of online courses with the concept of a social network. The bottom line is that the overwhelming majority of people are used to group learning – at school, university, refresher courses, etc. Therefore, the element of the social network is very important in learning.
The platform solves the problem of not only learning, but also socialization, since during the study a person is in a group. For example, some homework is done together. Some of the courses provide for training in groups, the participants of which have social obligations to the rest of the community.
It is group learning that allows students to get to the end. Platforms offering one-to-one learning have a rather low efficiency – only 3-5% of students reach the end of the courses. But the educational social network is different, here the “reach” to the end of the courses is higher, users are more actively involved in the educational process.
The platform also allows experts to create their own courses and monetize them. In this way, educators are encouraged to add effective learning content.
Skillshare
Another platform tailored for group learning. True, it is less cramped than in the previous case, but still, this platform stands out against the background of regular online courses. Most of the conventional educational platforms, as mentioned above, offer one-to-one learning.
Skillshare provides interaction between members of the community. Anyone can become a teacher if they have something to talk about. In addition, Skillshare users receive feedback and support from other members of the community.
At the same time, the platform helps to gain practical experience in any profession. Theory is also given here, but still the main direction is practical skills and experience.
ProgKids
A domestic platform that helps children gain programming skills. Now it is one of the key skills, which is equal in importance to the knowledge of foreign languages and mathematical abilities.
At the same time, the platform helps to learn programming through Minecraft and Roblox games.
At the start, you need to download the game, launch it and start programming – from simple to complex. No additional settings are needed. Overall, this is a great option for kids and teens who dislike traditional learning systems and find learning to be boring.
Signs of quality educational projects
While working on my own platform, I have formed a clear understanding of what features high-quality educational projects should have, which can be called projects of the future:
The project must solve an important problem. If the educational platform, product, does not meet the needs of the client and does not meet his expectations, then the user will not reach the final. Most of the users will go out of the way, and, moreover, will remain disappointed with online learning.
Students must complete courses. Here, you need to use such tools as support and feedback from the community, opportunities for quick implementation of results, additional content.
The product must offer what traditional educational platforms cannot offer. People need to build up their expertise when trading on marketplaces, making money on social networks, managers need a team, for example, testers, but they are not trained in universities. This and other knowledge and experience should be offered by educational platforms.
