Please find above, part 1 of this article. Since last week, I have completed 6 courses, and signed up for about 30, with around 60 or so pending once I have completed my first targets.
So far, Udemy is the most genuine, with certificates issued as jpg files, which you can save to your computer for later collation into one document, or printing off as separate certificates. Quality of courses varies, but I have been quite impressed by the overall quality so far.
Alison.com, the other Irish site, also has a function allowing you to print off your Learner record, meaning that you have the option of paying for a certificate and helping to fund other learners, or simply printing off your record if you are not in a position to do that.
FutureLearn, a site offering free University courses from the UK, has many useful courses. Again, they fund the site via purchase of certificates, but the really strong point is networking with other students, so if you like to socialise, this is a good way to do it.
Open2Learn, a site offering free University courses from Australia, has a few interesting options, and I look forward to evaluating this one as I have signed up for a few courses here too.
Udacity and Coursera lack a search function for free courses, and so I have not signed up for any current courses, although I will get to it as I get through the initial burst of enthusiasm. Udacity is particularly useful if you want a job in silicon valley as far as I can see.
EDX has quite a number of extremely worthwhile courses, although they are so interesting that I have gone a little off track with my sign ups on this one. I am regarding these as self development courses, as they are not really relevant to my current course of study, but I figure the fact these are more challenging than most of the others makes it worthwhile.
I have also found several sites offering subject specific free courses, so it is well worthwhile to spend a bit of time searching for the topic that interests you. I do not like the idea that a degree is part time over one year, that seems to be creeping out from the USA. There is nothing wrong with calling a one year course a certificate, two years a diploma, and three or more a degree, and at least everyone in the marketplace knows what you mean, as opposed to this idea that a few months of blagging your way through a multiple choice option course gives you the same qualification as someone who has undertaken gruelling study for three to five years.
Anyway, have a look over the options, the initial links are in part one of this article series, and you are of course, well capable of searching all by yourself.
Ina