Looking for free online courses for
your company or yourself? You'll find them on the Web. But
are these courses really "free"? And are they
really "courses"?
How can learning portals provide free
courses and still survive in the competitive e-market? To
answer this question, you must first understand the business
model that these sites are built upon. The free courses are
essentially content that is designed to lure customers to
the site. The sites make money from the value-added products
and services they sell to corporate and individual customers
and from advertising revenue.
Let's explore a few of these sites see
what's free and what isn't.
Learnthat.com
As a learning portal, Learnthat.com
offers a variety of free online courses and tutorials that
cover business and technical topics. Business topics include
"Putting Together a Business Plan" and
"Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace." On the
technical side, Learnthat.com offers courses and tutorials
on programming and software use. All courses are self-paced.
I browsed the business plan course
developed by The Mississippi State University Extension
Service. It's well organized, complete with topic outline,
annotations and links to worksheets. However, it is
text-based and lacks the necessary learning components such
as objectives, practice, feedback, and testing in order to
be considered a course. But it is free.
I also previewed a tutorial on
Macromedia DreamWeaver, an HTML editing and web management
program. The tutorial has animated screenshots and
step-by-step directions to perform specific functions.
However, the tutorial is only a demonstration; it's not
interactive. Unless you have the software you're learning to
use, there isn't much point in going through the tutorial.
The tutorial is free, but the software is not. Learnthat.com
provides a link to Amazon.com so you can purchase
DreamWeaver online. How convenient!
When I clicked on the link for company
information, I read that Learnthat.com also designs online
courses and offers consulting on computer and professional
education. This is how the site really makes money. The site
also receives revenue from links to advertisers. Click here
to visit this site.
Learn2.com
Learn2.com offers free tutorials. The
2torials, as they are called, offer "concise,
step-by-step help with many of life's most common issues and
questions." The topics in the Business and Money
category include Retain Employees, Write a Business Letter,
Choose Employee Benefits, and Negotiate a Raise. The
2torials are basically how-to instructions and do not
provide practice, feedback or testing. The 2torials serve as
content to attract potential buyers of subscription-based
courses.
Click on this link
to visit this site.
For a review of Learn2.com, please
read my article A Hitchhiker's
Guide to Learning
Portals.
Barnes & Noble University
Do you prefer an instructor-led course
and the camaraderie of classmates? Barnes & Noble has
established a virtual university that offers free online
classes with live instructors. The courses, which cover
several areas including business, education and technology,
usually run for several weeks and involve assignments and
class discussions. Freelance instructors teach the courses
and their bios and photos are posted on the course site.
In case you're wondering why B&N
is now in the education business, the answer is simple. All
of their classes recommend courseware available for purchase
at you-know-where. While browsing the description of the Web
Design & Management course, I discovered that the
recommendations also extend to computer equipment. After
all, you're going to need a computer to do the assignments
and a printer too. To help you shop online, there's a
convenient link to Dell.com.
Preview this site at by clicking here.
Tips for evaluating free courses
