Dive in with us as we uncover gems from around the world and across the world wide web!

Weekly Spotlights

June 22-28: LessonPaths

LifeHack: “LessonPaths is another great tool for those looking for a more usable and convenient way to access learning material. On this site, users create link playlists of their favorite learning materials from other sites. Users then rank these collections, making it easy to find many different high quality, accessible sources on a given topic.

June 9-21: CodeAcademy

According to LifeHack.com, “Codecademy is a website dedicated specifically to teaching coding. Where other coding sites follow an example/practice session workflow, Codecademy includes a live practice window. You can practice coding while still viewing the lesson material. The courses at Codecademy are well written and easy to follow and the website is organized very nicely. Codecademy features a centralized dashboard where you can monitor your progress, plus organizes lessons into complete modules. This lets you learn an entire language without needing to pick the next course manually.”

June 1-8: Harvard Extension

According to LifeHack.com, “Harvard Extension features free online education courses from Harvard only. This is another excellent source for top notch course material, though the course variety is less rich than multi-school sites. Additionally, Harvard Extension allows you to search for courses by professional certificate. This makes it much easier if your online education goal includes certification.”

May 25-31: TedEx

LifeHack: “Another great destination for more general learning is TED-Ed. From the same people that brought you the all encompassing, motivational web series, comes a site chocked full of educational videos. Most include impressive animation, and all are ten minutes long or less.

Not only is TED-Ed an excellent site for the curious, it also includes supplemental materials and quizzes on the videos. This makes the site extremely useful in formal education settings, as well as in entertaining ways to brush up on new discoveries and topics.

May 16-24: Memrise

Memrise is a free online education site that offers ease of convenience and use. Available both as an app & on a desktop, "Memrise is a particularly powerful tool if you are studying a language," according to LifeHack.com. This makes it a great resource for #EnglishLanguageLearners! Memrise encompasses other topics too, although some of the course material is content generated by users. Memrise is special because they integrate games into learning materials, mixing entertainment with learning (LifeHack). Tried it out? Let us know what you think of Memrise!

May 9-15: UDEMY

According to LifeHack.com, Udemy “allows users to build custom courses from lessons. Working with many top professors and schools, the site mixes the customizable platform of other sites with a heavy emphasis on top quality content.”

May 1-8: Coronavirus Adult Literacy Resources

Are you an English Language Learner worried about COVID-19? Do you need practice with your literacy skills? Georgia State University recently created a site containing adult literacy COVID-19 resources. Topics include:

• how it spreads,

• how to protect yourself and your family,

• how to help your children while they are at home,

• how to wear a face mask, and more.

The various topics contain infographics, pictures, visuals, and/or text written in plain English. You can choose between "easier" or "harder" language options. These resources are an excellent way to practice and improve your comprehension skills while also gaining important knowledge about COVID-19.

April 22-30: Alison

Alison is a free education site that offers certification in areas such as workforce safety and health, sustainable business, customer service, and digital literacy. "It’s a great option if users need certification for their learning," says LifeHack. Alison also offers its users school curriculum in various diploma courses such as science, marketing, and math. "Alison offers courses mainly in business, technology, and health," LifeHack explains, but it also includes language learning courses in areas like grammar and using English for business and travel. Check it out!

April 15-21: Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a nonprofit who offers free online courses in math, science, humanities (language arts topics like storytelling and grammar, and social studies topics like world history), college and career readiness, and more. For those who want to advance your career or who are working on your GED, this is a wonderful website full of information!

April 6-15: Academic Earth

Academic Earth offers free online courses in various subject areas such as healthcare and computer science. It also offers playlists which are lectures recorded in universities all over the world on topics such as money, music, war, and food. For those working towards your GED, this is a great resource for studying mathematics!