Online Education: FREE vs Paid

Free Online Courses Vs Paid Courses Complete Analysis

There are many educational platforms that offer paid courses as well as free courses and on the other side, Youtube is all time favourite free educational platform. In this article we will do the complete analysis of free online courses vs paid courses.

It is being observed in Asian countries that people are not willing to spend money frequently for purchasing or accessing online courses.

People in developed countries are spending so much money to improve their skills and knowledge by purchasing online courses.

Huge difference in mindset. Right?

We all know that the number of internet users is increasing rapidly all over the world. The more people will get connected to the internet, the more they get to know about the power of the internet.

The traditional teaching system in schools and colleges are also changing. Many times a professor or a teacher suggests to students for buying a course or to watch the full playlist on Youtube.

In the world of education, the connection between technology and education now has become a global trend.

Here is the complete analysis of Free Online Courses Vs Paid Courses.

Free Online Courses Vs Paid Courses | Complete Analysis:

You will love the analysis given below and that’s the reason do share with others and tell the pros and cons of free courses and paid courses.

Free Online Courses:

The biggest online free education platform is Youtube!

We can learn anything we want to learn on Youtube without paying anything.

The other platform is Khan Academy that is offering free education all over the world.

Youtube- Pros and Cons:

While doing a course from Youtube, we see ads several times and that is the biggest drawback.

If the video has 20 minutes of duration, it may contain 2-3 ads. Such things are completely not good because we get distracted easily.

The ads will be always there where we see free stuff. In the case of learning new skills and acquiring new information, the ads can damage our grasping capacity.

You can use Adblock Plus browser extension to stop ads on Youtube but it only works when we open Youtube from a personal computer. Most of us nowadays prefer to learn from the mobile phone and the app does not have that kind of facility.

Auto suggested video, the videos in the right sidebar(for personal computer) and videos that are displayed in the home screen can also distract us.

Another bad thing about Youtube is, the algorithm will not show you more educational content because they have fewer advertisers for that category.

You will see more comedy and entertainment-based videos in your feed even if you only want more educational content.

Also, the largest online video streaming giant is playing with our psychology. The company knows that it is difficult to spend more than 1 hour on educational content because we have to use our brain while learning and understanding anything.

Youtube will try to drive you to another category like comedy and entertainment after some particular time period. They do this because they don’t want you to leave their platform.

No doubt, it is one of the greatest online free educational platforms but we should consider such things.

Also read: How Indian Youngsters are Consuming Youtube

Youtubers Create Funnels:

There are many Youtubers who create funnels in order to make money by selling their premium courses.

Generally, content creators offer free high-quality basic knowledge of the specific topic and then try to sell you premium courses.

That’s how the content creators on Youtube create a funnel and try to sell their own paid courses via Youtube.

Paid Online Course:

Free Online Courses Vs Paid Courses Complete Analysis

The platform that provides free education are limited. But, there are many amazing platforms that have established an amazing reputation in paid online education.

We can include Udemy, Udacity, edX, Lynda, Coursera, Byju’s, Unacademy and so on.

Here, the most important thing is that the course is paid.

So, the mindset of FREE is changed here and that’s why we become more responsible.

Also, there will be no ads! Sounds like just a small thing but we cannot ignore this thing from which Google, Facebook and Amazon make billions of dollars.

We can clearly see the quality of education in paid courses. The courses include animation and effective graphics make a huge difference in understanding a specific topic. The quality of the content matters a lot.

Most of the times, we as students can ask the question to the tutor in the questions forum. Youtube has the comment section but content creators generally do not respond to such comments.

Tutors provide free material after joining to their paid course. Such material can also helpful for us.

A platform like Udemy gives some free courses also. The paid courses in Udemy is also affordable that everyone who wants to learn a specific thing can buy and enrol easily.

There are many courses on which we get regular updates so that we get in touch with the newer things in a specific industry.

Conclusion:

I have not done research while writing this article. This article is 100% based on my honest opinions.

Youtube is also a great source and I have never underestimated the content that Youtube has.

But, in my opinion, paid courses are more effective with a view to learning new things.

One Small Request:

If you like this article, feel free to share with someone who really needs to read this.

 

About Anuj Vohra

Founder of Itsfacile.com and Saral Investment

View all posts by Anuj Vohra →

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