Content Discovery & MOOCs

This is the "where do I learn X?" page. The honest answer in 2026: a curated YouTube channel + freeCodeCamp / Khan Academy + a single MOOC is better than ten apps. For the platforms behind these courses see OER; for self-running a MOOC see Open edX.

MOOC platforms

• ★ Coursera — paid + free audit; Stanford / Yale / Google / IBM; specialisations + degrees
  • certifications. Audit covers most lecture content for free; certificate / graded work is paid.
• ★ edX (now under 2U / Axim) — paid + free audit; MIT / Harvard / Berkeley / IBM; the original open MOOC platform. Open edX is the FOSS engine — see LMS platforms (self-host).
• FutureLearn — paid + free; UK / Open University.
• Khan Academy — free; see OER.
• MIT OpenCourseWare — free; see OER.
• Stanford Online, Harvard Online, Yale Online — university-direct.
• Class Central — free; the "Rotten Tomatoes for MOOCs" — aggregated reviews.

Subscription learning libraries

• LinkedIn Learning — paid + free with most US public-library cards (huge value).
• Pluralsight — paid + free trial; tech-focused.
• Skillshare — paid; creator-economy.
• MasterClass — paid; celebrity-instructor lifestyle.
• Domestika — paid; creative skills.
• CreativeLive — paid; photography / craft-flavoured.
• Brilliant.org — paid + free trial; CS / math / data / science; gamified short lessons.
• Wondrium / The Great Courses Plus — paid; humanities / academic.
• Curiosity Stream — paid; documentary-flavoured.

YouTube channels (free, often best-in-class)

Math / CS / engineering

• 3Blue1Brown — math intuition; the canonical math-explainer channel.
• Numberphile, Mathologer, Stand-up Maths — popular maths.
• Computerphile — CS topics in depth.
• Veritasium — physics / engineering.
• Two Minute Papers — ML research recaps.
• Andrej Karpathy — "zero to hero" deep-learning series; build a transformer.
• Sebastian Lague — game-dev / generative algorithms.
• CS50 — Harvard; full lectures.
• Crash Course (PBS) — many subjects.

Web / software

• The Net Ninja, Web Dev Simplified, Fireship, ThePrimeagen, Theo (t3.gg), Lee Robinson, Jack Herrington, Coding Garden, Coding Train (Daniel Shiffman), Traversy Media, Academind.
• Computerphile, mCoding, ArjanCodes — Python / general.
• NeetCode — algorithms / interview prep.

Hardware / electronics / maker

• bigclivedotcom, EEVblog, GreatScott!, Andreas Spiess, Hugh Jeffreys, The Hook Up.
• Stuff Made Here, William Osman — STEM-flavoured maker entertainment.

Science / general

• Kurzgesagt, MinutePhysics, MinuteEarth, SciShow, PBS Eons, PBS Space Time, PBS Infinite Series, SmarterEveryDay, Tom Scott, Steve Mould.

Languages / humanities

• Easy Languages (per language), Lingthusiasm, NativLang, The History of English Podcast.

Audio learning

• Hardcore History (Dan Carlin), In Our Time (BBC), Stuff You Should Know, Radiolab, 99% Invisible, Planet Money, The Daily — paid + free podcasts.
• Audible / Libro.fm / your library + Libby — audiobooks; see library systems / Koha.

Curated reading lists

• Teach Yourself CS — free CS reading list curated by ex-Google engineers.
• MIT Missing Semester — free; the dev-tool literacy course.
• roadmap.sh — community curated learning roadmaps.
• Awesome lists on GitHub — community curated topic lists.

Aggregators / discovery

• Class Central — free; aggregated MOOC reviews.
• YouTube itself — best educational-content discovery engine ever built; algorithm rewards long-watch educational content well in 2026.
• Reddit /r/learn[X], /r/[language]learning, /r/LearnProgramming — community curation.

Pick this if…

• Default broad MOOC, free audit: Coursera or edX.
• Library-card subscription: LinkedIn Learning (free with library card).
• Visual / gamified bite-sized: Brilliant.
• Math intuition: 3Blue1Brown + Khan Academy.
• Coding YouTube curriculum: Fireship + ThePrimeagen + Web Dev Simplified.
• Curated reading path: Teach Yourself CS or roadmap.sh.