The whole point of distance learning is to make education more accessible and convenient. This is why we have curated a list of the best online resources for studying online. Whether you are in grad school or about to begin high school, you can use these free resources to take you through your journey and kick start your career. You can even find resources to upgrade your career. VirtualMe is all about removing boundaries, economic growth through education and teaching you to use your limitations to inspire creativity.
The Best Free Resources for Online Students:
Writing and Presentation Tools
If you do not yet have access to Microsoft Office, you can download WPS. It is a free word pressing system for creating word documents, spreadsheets, presentations etc.
Grammarly- Everything that you write and every piece of copy that you produce is a direct reflection of you. Grammarly is perfect for proofreading, correcting grammatical and spelling errors. It even has a built-in plagiarism checker and suggests ways to improve your writing. You can use the free or paid version. See the full review here.
Slides Go- perfect for creating amazing interactive presentations that are innovative and forward thinking.
Canva- Canva is one of the easiest to use design tools available for free. You can create just about anything and customize it to your liking including websites,presentations, flyers,cars etc.
Google Slides- I find Google Slides especially useful for group projects because of it's interactive nature. You can add all of your group members to one project or multiple projects and everyone can work collaboratively, providing comments and feedback on the work being done.
Other Writing,Recording & Presentation Tools: Notepad, APA quick guide, Digital Notebooks
Online Textbooks
Textbooks can be expensive but there are various open source libraries to download them for free. Try:
Your university library
Github Student Packages
The Github Student Developer Package allows you free access to a variety of usually paid resources for free up to a year including Canva Pro. This option is great for those pursuing Computer Science or Software Engineering.
Developer Tools: GitHub, Digital Ocean, Unity, Front end Masters, Heroku, Datacamp, MongoDB, Next.Tech, Crypto Lens etc.
Website Hosting- Namecheap, Name.com, Bootstrap Studio, etc.
Distance education scholarships
Scholarships- Distance Learning Scholarships
Distance Education Institutions
University of the People is a tuition free online institution that allows you to pursue associates to master's level programs including computer science, education, business administration and public health. As a past student and ambassador, myself, you can be a citizen of any country and still earn your degree online.
Accreditation
Always ensure that your program/institution of choice is accredited and accepted by your country or potential employee.
Preparing to be an online student?
Narrator/ Audio Tools
Podcastle AI is a great tool to have available when you have a busy schedule. You can use this Google Chrome extension to read your articles/turn them into podcasts as the name suggests for you. It is especially useful if your eyes are tired and you want to listen instead of reading the material yourself. Find the tutorial and link for download here as well.
Audio tools that allow you to record yourself are amazing to have. You can record your study material as you learn it and listen while in traffic or during breaks. It is an awesome way to reinforce what you had previously learned.
Your Career
Job Scan for Resume Optimization- Job Scan literally shows you how to optimize your resume based on they keyword descriptions used in the job advertisement. You will need to paste the job description into their software and then your resume. It will then complete a quick analysis of how well your resume matches up with the job then tells you where to optimize your information for a better match! Yes, almost like an ATS system at your disposal.
Best Websites to learn new skills
Internship
Internships- The Borgen Project, Forage, Chegg Internship, JP Morgan&Chase, MHRCET
When looking for potential employers, always create a list of companies that you would like to work for and go to the careers section of your website. Submit your resume. LinkedIn is also a great resource for reaching out to potential employers and for new opportunities.
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Check out more free resources and tips by selecting our study tips category.
Feeling overwhelmed by the amount of reading you have to do? Check out Know Your Pearls and unlock the best way to study and to know what to study.
VirtualMe is a proud proponent of creating economic opportunity through distance education.
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