12 Online Learning Resources for High School Students

Are you struggling with calculus homework? Does your busy schedule make it difficult to attend after-school tutoring, or do you lack the budget for tutoring? Are you curious about coding, but your school doesn’t offer advanced classes? If you’re looking for extra help or lessons outside of the classroom, then you should consider online resources for students.

These tools and platforms can help you learn at your own pace and explore new subjects on your own time. In this blog, we’ll introduce some of the best online learning resources for high school students and explain how they can benefit you.

• What are the Best Online Learning Resources for High School Students?
• Khan Academy
• Coursera
• edX
• MIT OpenCourseWare
• Udemy
• Udacity
• Open Yale Courses
• Harvard Online
• Skillshare
• Codecademy
• Academic Earth
• FutureLearn
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Takeaways

What are the Best Online Learning Resources for High School Students?

Online learning resources include websites and platforms that offer courses, tutorials, practice exercises, and educational content accessible via the internet. For high school students, these resources can supplement classroom learning or allow you to explore new topics not covered in school. The biggest benefit is flexibility, letting you choose what, when, and how to learn.

Whether you need help with AP exam prep or want to explore an interest like programming or art, here’s a quick overview of some of the best online learning resources for high school students:

Let’s talk about each resource below.

1. Khan Academy

Cost: Free

Khan Academy is a vast online library of lessons and practice exercises covering K-12 subjects and beyond. The content ranges from elementary topics through high school and early college curriculum. You’ll find full courses for high school math, sciences, humanities, and even computer programming.

The platform also partners with institutions to offer official SAT practice and AP course materials. For example, you can follow the entire Algebra 1 course on Khan Academy (with instructional videos and practice problems) to reinforce what you learn in school or fill gaps in your understanding. There are also enrichment topics like Pixar’s “Pixar in a Box” for aspiring animators and partnerships that host content from sources like Crash Course.

If you need extra help in a class, Khan Academy is like having a free tutor available 24/7. You can relearn a tough concept at your own pace, pause or rewind a video, do practice problems until you feel confident, and never worry about “falling behind.”

The platform’s practice problems adapt to your skill level and help identify gaps in your knowledge, which is especially useful in subjects like math, where concepts build on each other.

2. Coursera

Cost: Free for audit mode; $24 monthly / $160 yearly for certificates and degrees

Coursera is one of the largest online learning platforms, basically a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider, partnering with top universities and organizations worldwide. It hosts thousands of courses across a huge range of subjects.

These courses are created by professors from institutions like Stanford, Yale, and the University of London, as well as by industry leaders like Google and IBM.

For high school students, this means you can find courses to enrich your understanding of school subjects or explore interests beyond your school’s offerings. There are also many skill-based and college/career preparatory courses. For example, Learning How to Learn, which teaches study techniques, or Applying to U.S. Universities by the University of Pennsylvania, which guides you through the college admissions process.

This online learning resource for students lets you experience real college-level courses while still in high school. For example, if you love physics and want more than your high school offers, you could take Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space by the University of Arizona.

Many courses are free to audit, meaning you can access lectures and readings without payment. However, if you want graded assignments and a certificate, you typically pay a fee or apply for financial aid.

3. edX

Cost: Free for audit mode; starts at $25 for additional features

edX is another major MOOC platform, originally founded by MIT and Harvard. It hosts courses from more than 160 leading universities and institutions around the world—including MIT, Oxford, Berkeley, Microsoft, Google, and many others.

edX covers a very broad range of subjects, similar to Coursera. For instance, the site has a dedicated section for high school AP courses. Beyond APs, high schoolers can use edX to take college intro courses. In fact, some of edX’s most famous offerings include Harvard’s CS50, MIT’s series of introductory physics courses, and UC Berkeley’s courses in literature and chemistry.

You can enroll in any course in the audit track for $0 and view the lectures, readings, and ungraded assignments. However, if you want additional features like graded assignments, unlimited course access beyond a certain number of weeks, or a completion certificate, you have the option to pay for an upgrade. But for the typical high school student, you can use edX without paying.

4. MIT OpenCourseWare

Cost: Free

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a massive online repository of MIT course materials from over 2,500 courses across the entire MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. The depth is full college-level, so you’ll need to be mindful to choose the materials appropriate to your level.

For example, if you peek into an advanced course like Quantum Physics II, you might be lost if you don’t have the background. However, if you’re looking at an intro course like Single Variable Calculus, which is similar to an AP Calculus BC or college calculus class, you can likely handle it with some effort as a high schooler, especially if you’ve had calculus in school.

Even if you don’t complete entire courses, tackling some MIT assignments or readings can deepen your understanding. For instance, working through MIT’s problem sets in mechanics might give you a better grasp of physics principles than typical high school problems, making you extremely well-prepared for competitions (like Physics Olympiad) or just enriching your knowledge.

Using this online learning resource for students can also ease the transition to college in terms of knowing what to expect: the level of independence, the difficulty of exams, and the need to self-study from notes and readings.

5. Udemy

Cost: Varies per course

Udemy operates on a pay-per-course model, which typically starts from $19.99. The good news is that courses are almost always heavily discounted. The platform is known for its frequent sales, and it’s common to see a course that’s listed at $100 go on sale for $10–$20. That means, if you time your use of Udemy right, you’ll never pay full price for the courses you want.

There are also quite a few free courses on Udemy on shorter topics like time management and basic photography.

Unlike Khan Academy, Coursera, or edX, which have structured curricula from educational institutions, Udemy’s courses are created by individual instructors (who could be anyone: a school teacher, a professional expert, or just a knowledgeable hobbyist). This means the quality can vary, but it also means you’ll find courses on just about anything.

For high schoolers, one big advantage is finding help in specific areas where you need it. Suppose geometry is challenging for you this semester. You can buy a Geometry Masterclass on Udemy for around $10 and get a thorough review of all the theorems, explained in a way that differs from your teacher’s approach, which might help things click.

You could also find a beginner course in the fields you want to explore but your school doesn’t offer, such as game development or 3D modeling.

6. Udacity

Cost: Free for certain individual courses; $249 for a monthly subscription

Udacity is best known for its Nanodegree programs, which are paid, typically costing a few hundred dollars per month for several months of study. However, this online learning resource for students also offers many free individual courses. The free content includes the video lessons and quizzes of a course, but not the extras like project review or mentor support.

For example, high school students would typically be okay with the free Introduction to Python Programming. However, if you want to try your newfound skills and knowledge on creating a project and getting feedback on it, then you can get the paid version of Intro to Python.

Another reason Udacity is great is its focus on project-based learning. High school CS classes might cover Java or Python syntax and algorithms, but Udacity pushes you to build actual projects like web apps and simple algorithms.

The tech you learn on Udacity is up-to-date with industry trends as well. This knowledge can help in competitions (like coding competitions and hackathons) or advanced STEM clubs.

7. Open Yale Courses

Cost: Free

Open Yale Courses are actual Yale College courses (mostly at the freshman level, some sophomore) that were recorded live in the classroom. They span a range of subjects, but are particularly strong in the humanities and social sciences.

Each course typically is the full semester’s set of lectures. Some courses include the exam questions or essay prompts that were given in class with guidelines. You can attempt them if you want to test yourself or see what kind of essays Yale expects. However, answer keys/solutions are not always provided. Some classes also have extra materials like images, links to external resources, or lab demos.

For example, Introduction to Psychology consists of 20 lectures and includes two exams. The depth is at a college 101 level, so it assumes no prior background, but it moves at the pace of an elite college class. High school students with strong reading and comprehension skills can definitely handle the content, though they might need to pause and look up terms occasionally.

This online learning resource for students is a chance to sit in on classes from an Ivy League university and learn from renowned professors.

8. Harvard Online

Cost: Free for audit mode; starts at $50 for paid courses/certificates

Harvard Online offers curated online courses from Harvard spanning a wide range of topics, from technology and innovation to leadership and communication. Courses vary in format and length, with some being short “micro-courses” that you can finish in a few hours to more intensive, multi-week classes.

The cost depends on the course and on whether you want a certificate or just access. As a high school student, you’re probably just concerned about learning and skill-building, which you can get from free courses. Taking advantage of the free access courses also lets you explore interests without commitment.

However, if you want a course completion certificate as proof that you finished and passed, you’ll pay a fee. For instance, the CS50: Introduction to Computer Science certificate costs $219. If you finished a course within the field you want to have a career in (in this case, you wanting to be a programmer), then considering getting the certificate might be good since it shows you explored your field outside the classroom.

Many courses are self-paced or asynchronous, so you can fit them around schoolwork or other responsibilities.

9. Skillshare

Cost: 7 days free trial; $13.99 per month

Skillshare offers a free trial, after which you need to pay a subscription fee. You might sometimes see a small number of classes labeled “free” on Skillshare, but these are limited in number and often short or promotional. The majority of the more than 30,000 classes still require a Premium membership.

This online learning resource for students is different from other academic platforms because it’s geared towards creative skills, hobbies, and practical know-how. Skillshare’s classes are typically shorter and more project-oriented, and instructors are often industry professionals, artists, or enthusiasts rather than professors.

With classes on illustration, graphic design, photography, video editing, creative writing, music production, crafting, and productivity, it’s very popular among creatives and entrepreneurs. This makes Skillshare a great resource for students who love the arts.

However, similar to Udemy, anyone can be an instructor on Skillshare (although the platform has quality guidelines). That means not all classes are equal in quality, but the platform’s user reviews and view counts can let you know which classes are well-received.

10. Codecademy

Cost: Free for basic lessons; starts at $11.99 for full content

Codecademy is an interactive online platform where you can learn and level up programming and coding skills. It’s very beginner-friendly and famous for its hands-on approach, where you write code in the browser and get instant feedback as you go.

This online learning resource for students covers many programming languages and technical skills: Python, Java, C++, JavaScript, SQL, web development, data science topics, and even some newer stuff like learning the basics of machine learning or data visualization.

Codecademy doesn’t usually have video lectures. Instead, it presents short explanations or instructions, then asks you to do something (like “Change the code on line 3 to print ‘Hello, World’”), and you type in the code editor. It’s interactive and gamified, such as letting you earn badges and tracking your progress streak.

However, you shouldn’t rely only on Codecademy if you’re aiming to get into the top computer science schools. It’s certainly great for absolute beginners, those wanting to learn syntax and the basics of a new language quickly, and practicing and reinforcing coding concepts through repetition.

It’s not too ideal if you’re looking for very advanced topics (like building a complete software application beyond a small scope) or non-coding CS topics like networks and computer organization.

11. Academic Earth

Cost: Free

Academic Earth is pretty much a curated library of the best academic videos across the internet. The platform features full course recordings (like a semester’s worth of lectures for a class) as well as video electives and playlists that combine lectures from different sources into thematic series.

To clarify: Academic Earth doesn’t create its own content, but it’s great for finding high-quality educational videos quickly, without needing to search across multiple university websites (like Yale Open Courses and MIT OCW). For high school students, this means you’re accessing real college courses at top universities. These can help you explore interests or get a feel for college lectures.

For example, Fundamentals of Physics from Yale covers topics like classical mechanics and electromagnetism in depth. They’re probably beyond AP Physics level, but if you’re looking for extra challenge or really love the topic, then you’ll want to check that out.

This online learning resource for students could be great for supplementing what you’re learning in class. It’s also an excellent platform for exploring topics that a typical high school curriculum wouldn’t offer, such as Multivariable Calculus or higher Philosophy. If you follow through an entire course rather than just a few lectures, it’s an achievement that shows self-motivation and passion.

12. FutureLearn

Cost: Free; starts at $14.58 per month for full access

FutureLearn is a UK-based MOOC platform that specializes in short courses from universities and organizations around the world, including many institutions in the UK, such as Cambridge University.

FutureLearn’s style and feel are a bit more social since courses often encourage discussion between learners. Courses often have international students, so discussing topics with people from different countries can also give you new perspectives.

When you join for free, you can access the course videos and quizzes typically for the length of the course, plus a short window after. However, the free tier does not include getting a certificate or indefinite access to the materials—and in some cases, graded tests or final exams might be locked.

The focus areas include everything from literature and history to science and technology, often with an international or practical perspective. FutureLearn also provides micro-credentials and fully online degrees, but for high schoolers, the short courses are likely the most relevant.

If you’re studying World History, you might take England in the Time of King Richard III to get a more focused story from a UK perspective. If you love medicine, Exploring Cancer Medicines would be great.

Since FutureLearn’s free access is time-limited (like 5 weeks), it encourages you to keep a pace and actually finish the course while it’s open. That makes this online learning resource for students would be great if you sometimes procrastinate on open-ended learning.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the best resources for online learning?

Some of the best resources for online learning are Khan Academy, Coursera, edX, MIT OpenCourseWare, Udemy, Udacity, Open Yale Courses, Harvard Online, Skillshare, Codecademy, Academic Earth, and FutureLearn.

2. What are some free online learning resources?

Excellent, completely free online learning resources are Khan Academy, MIT, OpenCourseWare, Open Yale Courses, and Academic Earth. Other resources, like Coursera, edX, and FutureLearn have many free courses too, but they also have paid options if you want full access (such as graded assignments and getting a certificate of completion).

3. What should I consider before choosing a paid online learning platform?

When choosing a paid online learning platform, assess what you need that the paid platform offers. For example, Coursera’s paid tier gives graded assignments and certificates, but if you only want knowledge, the free audit is enough. Consider the platform’s subject focus too. For example, Skillshare is great for creative skills, but not for advanced physics.

4. Which online learning resources for high school students offer college credits?

A few online resources allow high schoolers to earn credit or advanced standing. For instance, edX offers some “MicroBachelors” programs. Coursera also partners with universities on certain courses that issue eligible credits or certificates (for example, the University of London on Coursera has an “Introduction to Computer Science” course that could count if you enroll in their program).

Takeaways

• Online learning resources for high school students give you the freedom to personalize your education to your interests and goals. You could use them to supplement what you’re learning in school or to explore interests more deeply.
• Online resources demand self-motivation and discipline since many of them are self-paced. However, managing your learning can also help you be more disciplined in studying for school.
• Looking for other opportunities to explore your interests? Get your profile evaluated to know what subjects in school and extracurricular activities you should take.