20 Best Instructional Design MOOC / Non-credit Programs Online
Choosing an instructional design MOOC can feel overwhelming, especially when the options range from introductory overviews to specialised applications of technology. This page lists twenty courses from three major providers – Udemy, edX and Coursera – and highlights the price points currently advertised, which run from $49.00 to $119.99. The selection is ordered by our editorial ranking, not by any claim of superiority, to help you compare content, teaching approach and institutional affiliation.
The courses cover a broad spectrum: basic design principles, the use of AI tools such as Copilot, and the integration of instructional technology in varied contexts, including language learning, biblical education and software teaching. If you are a beginner looking for a solid foundation, the Udemy basics course may suit you. If you prefer university‑backed programmes or want to explore niche topics, the edX and Coursera options provide a range of specialised modules.
- Courses compared
- 20
- Price range
- $49.00 – $119.99
- Providers
- Udemy, edX, Coursera
- Last updated
- 18 Sep 2026
How these 20 courses were chosen
Every course below is a real, currently listed course from Udemy, edX, Coursera, matched to "Instructional Design" by our catalog and ordered by our CourseAsk score. Courses whose own title names the topic rank above those only tagged with it.
The grade on each entry scores how much the provider publishes about the course before you pay — the length and detail of the description, whether it lists learning outcomes and objectives — and whether a named university or institution stands behind it. A is fully documented and institution-backed; E is little more than a title and a price. Courses with almost nothing published are left ungraded rather than marked down, because an unknown course and a poor one are not the same thing.
There are no star ratings on this page — the course feeds we license do not include them, and we would rather leave a column out than fill it with a number we cannot stand behind. What we do have is price: these range from $49.00 to $119.99, as listed by the provider when we last updated the page.
-
1
The Absolute Basics of Instructional Design
Looking to grasp the foundations of instructional design in a straightforward, easily digestible manner?"The Absolute Basics of Instructional Design" is the ideal starting point for you. This course is your gateway to th...
$119.99listed price -
2
AI-Powered Instructional Design with Copilot
Offered by Microsoft
This course equips educators and instructional designers with the skills to leverage Generative AI. Learn to use Microsoft Copilot to streamline your workflow, design engaging learning experiences, and ethically integrat...
$55.00listed price -
3
Instructional Design
Offered by University of Cape Town
Gain up-to-date skills to build effective training programs as an instructional designer.
Price on site -
4
The Wonders and Challenges of Bible Education
Offered by Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Biblical figures play a central role in understanding the richness of the text and provide extraordinary educational opportunities for engaging students in meaningful discourse about its relevance for their lives. This c...
$49.00listed price -
5
A tanulás tanulása: Hatékony mentális eszközök, melyek segítenek megbirkózni a nehéz tantárgyakkal (Learning How to Learn)
Offered by Szegedi Tudományegyetem
A kurzus olyan, rendkívül hasznos tanulási módszereket mutat be, amelyeket a művészetek, a zene, az irodalom, a matematika, a természettudományok, a sport és más szakterületek művelői használnak. A kurzus során bemutatju...
$49.00listed price -
6
Teaching Impacts of Technology: Fundamentals
Offered by University of California San Diego
In this course you’ll focus on the fundamentals of teaching the impacts of technology, starting by exploring how you interact with and benefit from technology in a typical 24 hour period, such as the desire for instant f...
$49.00listed price -
7
Ubiquitous Learning and Instructional Technologies
Offered by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
This course will analyze currently available technologies for learning. Areas addressed include: learning management systems, intelligent tutors, computer adaptive testing, gamification, simulations, learning in and thro...
$49.00listed price -
8
Nachhaltigkeit lehren lernen
Offered by University of Zurich
Entdecken Sie die Zukunft des Lernens - Werden Sie ein Pionier:in in der Vermittlung von Nachhaltigkeit! Unser Kurs 'Nachhaltigkeit lehren lernen' bietet angehenden Lehrer:innen – insbesondere aber nicht nur – aus den Na...
$49.00listed price -
9
Learn to Teach Java: Boolean Expressions, If Statements, and Iteration
Offered by University of California San Diego
Learn to program with Boolean Expressions, If Statement, and For and While Loops in Java, and prepare to teach others using the free, online interactive CS Awesome textbook. In this course for teachers we'll guide you bo...
$49.00listed price -
10
Learn to Teach Java: Writing Classes and Arrays
Offered by University of California San Diego
Learn to program using Class design and 1-D Arrays in Java, and prepare to teach others using the free, online interactive CS Awesome textbook. In this course for teachers we'll guide you both in learning Java concepts a...
$49.00listed price -
11
Teaching Impacts of Technology in K-12 Education
Offered by University of California San Diego
2% That’s the estimate of how many high school students in all of California took a Computer Science class in 2015. And yet, computers and data are everywhere. Just consider a typical 24 hours in your life … how many dif...
$49.00listed price -
12
Prompt Engineering for Educators
Offered by Vanderbilt University
Unlock the transformative potential of AI in education with the "Prompt Engineering for Educators" specialization, tailored specifically for the teaching profession. This program will guide educators through the process...
$49.00listed price -
13
Teaching with Art: Using Inquiry, Activities, and Themes
Offered by The Museum of Modern Art
Modern and contemporary art can be dynamic tools for fostering empathy, critical inquiry, and social awareness. This Specialization empowers educators to use art as a catalyst for student-centered discovery. Guided by le...
$49.00listed price -
14
Learn to Teach Java: ArrayLists and 2D Arrays
Offered by University of California San Diego
Learn to program with ArrayLists and 2-D Arrays in Java, and prepare to teach others using the free, online interactive CS Awesome textbook. In this course for teachers we'll guide you both in learning Java concepts and...
$49.00listed price -
15
The Teacher and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Offered by University of Colorado Boulder
Social and emotional learning, or SEL, programs have flourished in schools during the last decade. These programs vary widely but most share a concern for five individual, student competencies: self awareness; self-manag...
$49.00listed price -
16
Generative AI and ChatGPT for K-12 Educators
Offered by Vanderbilt University
Despite what you may have heard, ChatGPT and other generative AI tools offer exciting possibilities for innovative teaching and personalized education. This hands-on specialization is designed for K-12 educators looking...
$49.00listed price -
17
Online Learning Design for Educators
Offered by Macquarie University
This specialization is for educators seeking to improve and expand their repertoire of online teaching skills related to the design, development and delivery of effective and engaging online courses and lessons for schoo...
$49.00listed price -
18
Academic Information Seeking
Offered by Technical University of Denmark (DTU) & University of Copenhagen
This course will introduce you to the basic elements of academic information seeking - we will explore the search process from defining a strategy to evaluating and documenting your search results. Attending the course w...
$49.00listed price -
19
The Teacher's Social and Emotional Learning
Offered by University of Colorado Boulder
Social and emotional learning, or SEL, programs have flourished in schools during the last decade. While this growth has been impressive, inadequate attention has been paid to teachers’ social and emotional learning. In...
$79.00listed price -
20
Capstone Project: Teaching Impacts of Technology
Offered by University of California San Diego
In this project-based course you’ll review the Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles course and exam description guide to prepare for the “Explore Task”, where students must research a recent computing innovatio...
$49.00listed price
Best Instructional Design MOOC / Non-credit Programs Online compared
Prices shown are the provider's listed price when we last updated this page. Confirm on their site before enrolling.
What the prices here tell you
The 19 priced courses on this page run from $49.00 to $119.99, with the middle of the range around $49.00 — a spread of $70.99. The options are closely priced, so cost is unlikely to be your deciding factor. A higher price on this page usually reflects who is behind the course rather than how much material it contains, so it is worth opening two or three at different price points and comparing their syllabus before deciding.
Who is behind these courses
These courses come from Udemy, edX and Coursera. The platforms differ in how they sell: some charge once per course, others expect a subscription, and the listed price is not always what you pay at checkout after a promotion. 11 of these are produced by a named university or institution, including University of Cape Town, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Szegedi Tudományegyetem — which usually means a fixed syllabus and a recognised certificate, rather than an individual instructor’s own course.
Before you enrol
Open the provider’s own page and check three things this comparison cannot tell you: when the course was last updated, what the syllabus actually covers in its later sections, and what recent learners say. Prices shown here are the provider’s listed price when we last rebuilt this page on 18 September 2026 — they change often, and a promotion can move them substantially. We earn a commission if you enrol through our links, which costs you nothing and never affects the order courses appear in.