Instructor Corner

Profile image for Dhawal Shah

Written by Dhawal Shah Last updated on September 26th, 2023

How are courses added to Class Central’s database?


To make our course listings, we periodically collect information directly from the larger MOOC platforms, including Coursera, edX, and FutureLearn. If you have a course on one of those platforms, your course should be automatically added to Class Central.


We also list courses from some smaller platforms and independent MOOC providers. If you believe your courses belong on Class Central, you can let us know by contacting us here.


I found errors in my course on Class Central. What should I do?


Let us know! The best way to reach us is at [email protected].


How can learner reviews contribute to the success of my MOOC?

Class Central has helped more than 60 million people find great courses online. We are a trusted source of information about which courses are available, wherever they exist. More than 200,000 learner reviews help people sort through course listings and make a selection. When courses have many positive reviews, they show up higher in search results and are featured throughout the site.  


In addition to reviews of individual courses, we publish lists and rankings throughout the year, often featuring well-reviewed courses. These lists and rankings can be picked up externally and viewed by thousands, or even millions, of people. For example, one article was published in Quartz; was picked up by Inc., Lifehacker, and Mentalfloss; and generated a lot of buzz in big communities like reddit, Hacker News, and Slashdot.


When courses get a lot of reviews, they are featured in our annual rankings, such as the Best Online Courses of the Year (2022 Edition) or the Best Online Courses of All Time. (More on how these rankings are generated below.)


How can I get more reviews for my courses on Class Central?


To get more reviews, we suggest two methods. Many of the courses with the most reviews use both.


  1. Email your students and ask them to submit a review. You can do this in one of your updates to learners towards the end of the course.
  2. Include reviewing the course on Class Central as an optional step towards completion of the course. Many professors include this as a last step.


While the first method is very effective in the short term, the second is more effective in the longer term.


To find the dedicated review link for your course on Class Central, first navigate to your course using this link.


The blue Write review button will take you to the dedicated review page for your course, which you can share with your learners.


Class Central Rankings: What they are and how they work


Class Central publishes three kinds of rankings:


Our monthly most popular lists only include courses that are starting during that month. The most popular courses are determined by the number of Class Central users who Bookmark a particular course. Courses have been Bookmarked more than 15M times.


The Best Online Courses of the Year is drawn from courses that were offered for the first time during that particular year. We rank the courses by the Bayesian average of user ratings on Class Central.


Finally, the Best Online Courses of All Time is also tallied based on learner reviews. All MOOCs are eligible, so long as they are still being offered. We take the Bayesian average of ratings on Class Central and remove closed courses and those with only a small number of reviews. If a course has multiple parts, we only include the first part in the Best Online Courses of All Time selection.

Class Central's Help Center represents our best effort to answer the most common questions new learners face. It may not be completely accurate in every circumstance.

Never Stop Learning.

Get personalized course recommendations, track subjects and courses with reminders, and more.

Someone learning on their laptop while sitting on the floor.