Alternative Learning

 This site is a search engine for courses from the UK, you can select your specifications (make sure to include "Online and Distance if you planning to be studying online). It includes only recognized institutions. It might save some time searching through multiple sites.

http://www.hotcourses.com/
Most may already be aware of this, but the English system and levels of education are different than the American system. You'll want to know what qualifications the course you're interested in is offering you.

I wasn't accustomed to the English system prior to looking at these courses. This article clearly explains the "US/international equivalency" for the English levels of qualification.

As a personal opinion, I wouldn't pay for any course that offers a diploma under level 3.

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A friend of mine saw this and sent it to me. I checked it out and it looked good. If you're interested in other colleges and courses like the one offered below see my previous post Get Certified!

From: Nyra
Hi there budding students and learners!

I was researching online colleges and universities some time back, looking for good diploma courses, etc. After a lot of hunting I found a UK based online college, that those of you interested in studying online may find appealing. They have all kinds of courses ranging from aromatherapy to electronics, very self paced and the materials very satisfactory, I have been learning a lot! Plus the cost is not very much! Anyway, take a look and it might be what you're looking for
www.Stonebridge.uk.com
Hope it's a help, Enjoy!

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What I like about certification is that it generally is not as time consuming as taking on a degree program or something of that sort (depending on the certification you're after), but at the same time it does give you the requisite knowledge for those fields and provides you with something more substantial than a free online program or course.

If you're already skilled and knowledgeable in a certain area then it's worth it to become certified.

Expert Rating offers certification in a huge variety of fields, however, some do not take this too seriously, I was looking for a course that would give me certification as a personal trainer and in online forums I found alot both for and against doing a course with certification on this site (see it here). I did find it helpful to look at all the topics and get ideas for areas that I'm experienced in and would like to progress/receive certification  in, then taking that subject that I saw on Expert Rating I googled and found good courses that would provide better training and certification in that specific field. It's your choice in the end, whether to go for it or not.

Oxford College has non degree courses in a variety of subjects, they're mostly less than 400 hours to complete and the name obviously holds alot more water than the above mentioned site.

Penn Foster College also provides Career Training with Certification in a variety of fields.

I'm looking for more credible and accredited institutions that offer short courses and tests for certification, so if you know of any please leave a comment.

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