The goal of this document is to provide an open source framework for online education taxonomies.
At Class Central, we aggregate thousands of free online courses also know as Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. MOOCs have brought affordable, university-level learning experiences to willing students across the world, free from the constraints of geography and socioeconomic status. For the first time in history, courses that were limited to a small number of students are now open to anyone in the world with an Internet connection.
With a simple interface and thousands of reviews we have helped more than 2.5 million people around the world decide which online course to next. We are building an ecosystem around these courses to help guide learners towards their education goals.
We believe that learners are not always sure what they want. The most searched keyword on Class Central is python while the most popular course is Learning How To Learn. The courses that people want to take are not always the ones that they search for.
For learners to be a able to stumble upon courses that they didn't know exist, a well defined taxonomy is crucial. On top of this taxonomy, we limit our catalogue by only allowing courses that meet a quality bar. This enhances the discovery process. You can find the taxonomy live on our subjects page below:
The majority of MOOC’s and OER’s center around the idea of high quality highly available education that is closely aligned with college level material. Therefore we designed the taxonomy that is as parallel to a college level curriculum as possible.
The taxonomy is a three level hirearchy in discreasing order: subjects, categories, keywords.
Though the current version reflects the current crop of online courses, it is built to be dynamic with the growing set of courses. We achieve this by setting a threshold by which a topic can be become a category or top level subject i.e if a topic has more than 20 courses its promoted to a category and if a category has 100 courses it is promoted to a Subject.
Finally, we aggregate a data-set of keywords to allow ease of decision making when assigning a course to a category or subject. Currently the process of categorzing a course is done manually. But in the future, this data-set will also allow us to automate this process.
This Open-source taxonomy philosophy will be available with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
acting, cinema, cinematography, cubism, dadaism, documentaries, film, film noir, filmmaking, futurism, hollywood, physical theatre, scripts, shakespeare, surrealism, television, theatre
3D, abelton live, animation, animators, computational arts, digital, digital imaging, digital media, FinalCut, game design, graphic design, moviemaker, multimedia, music engineering, music production, music recording, phoneography, SLR camera, studio production, video games, visual arts, vocal recording
beatles, beethoven, blues, brahms, carnatic music, classical music, ensembles, guitar, improvization, jazz, mozart, music, music appreciation, music ensembles, music history, music theory, musical notation, musicianship, opera, percussion, rock, rolling stones, songwriting, string quartet, viola, violin, western music, world music
alberti, bramanti, architecture, art, avant-garde, art history, baroque period, comic books, contemporary architecture, contemporary art, da vinci, drawing, fashion, frank lloyd wright, goya, graphic novels, modern period, modernism, museum, painting, photography, rembrandt, the renaissance, textiles, warhol
biomimicry, conceptual models, creativity, design, design principles, design thinking, feedback, fitt's law, geodesign, HCI, human-centered design, human computer interaction, ideation, innovation, interaction, interior design, needfinding, product design, prototyping, user experience, ux, visual analysis, visual design, visual representation
additive manufacturing, biz dev, business analysis, business development, business models, business strategy, competitive strategy, e-commerce, global business, global trends, it management, lean, lean operations, lean six sigma, life cycles, logistics, process improvement, product development, sap, service logic, six sigma, substinance marketplaces, supply chain, supply chain management, sustainable product development
accounting, accounting, cycle, asset pricing, bonds, budgeting, business finance, computational investing, corporate finance, cost behaviour, credit risk, finance, financial accounting, financial engineering, financial literacy, financial markets, financial planning, global capital markets, investing, money, monetary system, personal finance, risk management, stock markets, stocks, wall street
adaptive leadership, corporate culture, culture, human resources management, leadership, management, operations management, project management, project planning, strategic management
entrepreneur, entreprenuership, futurism, growth hacking, innovation, scaling, social entrepreunership, startups, venture capital, ventures
business communication, business ethics, business writing, career counseling, coaching, communication, conflict resolution, decision making, employability, negotiations, networking, numeracy skills, onboarding, personal branding, presentations, problem solving, public speaking, skills, storytelling, strategic thinking, success, time management
branding, content strategy, digital analytics, digital brand engagement, digital marketing, growth hacker marketing, market analysis, marketing, online advertising, services marketing, social media marketing
abstraction, algorithmic thinking, algorithms, automata, complexity, computability, computer paradigms, computing, concurrency, cryptocurrency, cryptography, data structures, discrete optimization, parallel programming, text retrieval, theoretical computer science
analytics, apache spark, apache storm, BI systems, big data, business intelligence, data analysis, data analytics, data cleaning, data collection, data mining, data science, data sets, data visualization, data warehousing, d3.js, hadoop, informatics, mapreduce, model building, qualitative methods, R, R programming, statistical inference, visualization, weka
AI, artificial intelligence, artificial vision, autonomous, classification systems, clustering, cognitive systems, computer aided translation, computer vision, discrete inference, machine learning, natural language processing, neural networks, NLP, pattern recognition, prediction systems, predictive analytics, recommender systems, regression modeling, reinforcement learning, robotic vision, robotics, supervised learning, translation systems, unsupervised learning
bioinformatics, biological data, biostatistics, dna methylation, dna sequencing, genetic algorithms, genomic data science, genomics, genotyping, sequencing
common core, early childhood education, first year teaching, k12, primary, primary education, secondary, secondary education, youth education,
digital literacy, gaming literacy, hacker spaces, maker spaces, STEAM, STEM, tinkering
academic success, adult, adult learners, college, college admissions, college applications, college prep, dissertations, higher education, research, research projects, student success, study skills, universities
coaching, educator, foundations of teaching, instructional methods, student centered inquiry, student centered learning, teaching, training
blended learning, collaborative tools, cooperative learning, course design, creative classrooms, differentiation, digital curation, digital learning tools, educational technology, flipped classrooms, flipped teaching, inquiry science learning, mobile learning, OER, open educational resources,curriculum design
badges, digital badges, e-learning, gamification, mooc, moodle, oer, online education, online learning, online pedagogy, open educational resources, virtual classroom, virtual instruction,
AB, AP, BC, college readiness, exams, GMAT, prep, preparation, refresher, review, SAT, STAT
arduino, asic, beaglebone, cellular Spectrums, data networks, development boards, digital signal processing, diodes, dsp, electrical engineering, embedded systems, fiber optics, haptic, haptic systems, information theory, integrated circuits, linear circuits, microcontrollers, mos transistors, nano-sensors, nonlinear optics, optical fiber networks, photonics, photovoltaic systems, pv, radio frequencies, raspberry pi, registers, sensors, signal processing, signals, transistors, solar cells, vhdl
aeronautical engineering, aerodynamics, cad, computer aided Design, dynamics, dynamics, engineering mechanics, equilibrium, fluid dynamics, fluid power, fluids, force, kinematics, kinetics, manufacturing, mechanics, mechatronics, nanomanufacturing, nonlinear dynamics, propulsion, robotics, solids, statistical thermodynamics, statics, structural mechanics, thermodynamics, vehicle dynamics, velocity
blacksmithing, fatigue, fracture, magnetic materials, materials engineering, materials processing, materials science, metallurgy, physical metallurgy, polymer engineering, polymer physics, solar cells, structure properties, structures, symmetry, tensor properties
bim, cartography, civil engineering, durable development, energy in buildings, geographic information systems, geomatic engineering, geometric, geospatial, gis, material behaviour, public transportation systems, sanitation systems, structures, transit management, transportation flow systems, urban planning, wastewater treatment
environmental engineering, environmental microbiology, groundwater hydrology, soil behaviour, sustainability, water resource systems
addiction, adhd, aids, antibiotic resistance, aphasia, autism, bacteria, cancer, cardiac arrest, cardiovascular disease, caries, dementia, depression, diabetes, disabilities, disease, drug abuse, dysphagia, ebola, epidemics, heart disease, hiv, hypothermia, immune system, infections, infectious desieases, liver disease, neurology, outbreaks, pandemics, parasites, parkinson’s, virology, viruses
ageing, child nutrition, diet, exercise, excercise physiology, food safety, health foods, holistic, malnutrition, micronutrients, nutrition, obesity, physical activity, pilates, stress management, traditional healing, training, wellness, yoga
aca, affordable care act, epidemiology, global health, health care reform, health systems, humanitarianism, mobile health, population health, primary health care, public health
aed, behavioral medicine, biomedical imaging, clinical problem solving, clinical skills, clinical trials, contraception, controlled trials, cpr, dental practice, dentistry, drug discovery, drugs, first aid, first responders, health care, health literacy, hippocrates, immunology, life support, medication, mental health, nursing, patient engagement, patient safety, pediatric, pharmacology, practice, precision medicine, surgery, urology, vaccines
business writing, community journalism, composition, digital journalism, documentation, english, english composition, essays, grammar, journalism, rhetorical composition, technical documentation, writing
china, chinese, culture, dutch, language, english, german, korea, latin american, mandarin, pop culture, spanish, western culture
ancient egypt, ancient greece, battle of waterloo, civil war, colonialism, emancipation proclamation, french revolution, gilded age, global history, great depression, history, holocaust, magna carta, middle ages, reconstruction, roaring twenties, western civiliation, u.s. history, vietnam war, world war one, world war two, world war I, world war II
altruism, anarchy, bioethics, calvin, confucian philosophy, consequentialism, deontology, epicirus, epicureanism, epistemology, ethics, existence, hedonism, human will, infinities, isocrates, kierkegaard, logic, mathematical philosophy, meaning, metaphysics, moral philosophy, moral psychology, moralities, morals, natural philosophy, neuroethics, occasionalism, ontology, paradoxes, philosophy, plato, pragmatist, reasoning, skepticism, socrates, stoicism, theorems, thinking, thought, truth values, value theory, values, virtue ethics, wisdom
bible, book of matthew, buddhism, christianity, islam, jesus, letters of paul, mohammed, religion, revalations, scripture, spirituality, theology
language of mathematics, logic, mathematical symbolism, model theory, set theory
algebra, algebra+, algebraic systems, college algebra, combinatorics, discrete mathematics, field theory, graph theory, group theory, k theory, linear algebra, pre-algebra, number theory
convex optimization, geometry, manifolds, topology
analysis, analytic combinatorics, calculus, chaos theory, complex variables, derivatives, differential equations, dynamical systems, fourier analysis, functional analysis, integral equations, integrals, multivariable calculus, nonlinear dynamics, numerical analysis, pre-calculus, quantitative finance,
Linear Regression, Probability, Regression, Statistics
android, firefoxos, google play, ipad, iphone, mobile, mobile apps, mobile computing, mobile game development, mobile html5 applications, mobile services, mobile web development, smartphone, swift, ukit, windows 8 applications
ajax, azure, bootstrap, cloud, cloud development, cloud engineering, css, foundation, front end web development, full stack, html, html5, html5 canvas, javascript, jquery, metadata, microsoft azure, node.js, responsive web design, saas, salesforce, sap fiori, sap hana, semantic web, software as a service, twitter bootstrap, typescript, web applications, web design, web development
databases, db, dba, in memory data management, in memory databases, mongodb, nosql, relational databases, sql, t-sql, transact-sql
acoustics, astrophysics, classical mechanics, einstein, electricity, field theory, friction, graphene, gravity, higgs boson, linear motion, light, magnetic resonance, magnetism, mechanics, molecular structures, motion, newtonian physics, nuclear physics, nuclear science, nuclear physics, optics, physics, plasma physics, quantum mechanics, quantum physics, relativity, solar energy, string theory, theoretical physics, thermodynamics, transport phenomena, unification, wave motion, waves
analytical chemistry, chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, solid state chemistry
astrobiology, astronomy, astrophysics, big bang theory, cosmology, dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets, extraterrestrial, galaxies, moons, multiverse, planetary boundries, solar system, universe
anatomy, animal behaviour, animal biology, bioelectricity, bioinformatics, biomolecular modeling, biotechnology, brian, cell culture, cell death, cells, DNA, epigenetic control, evolution, gene expression, genetics, genome science, genomes, human anatomy, human biology, microbiology, microbiome, molecular biology, neurons, neuroscience, paleobiology, physiology, synapses, systems biology, tissue engineering, tissues
agriculture, climate, climate science, earth science, ecosystems, energy, environmental science, fracking, geology, geomechanics, global food crisis, global warming, forest monitoring, global warming, green, hydraulic fracturing, mining, natural disaesters, nature, oceanography, oceans, renewable energy, resilience, resources, shale gas, sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable food, symmetry, urban agriculture, volcanoes, water
anthropology, archaeology, artifacts, culutural preservation, demography, folklore, genealogy, human origins, indigenous studies, linguistic anthropology, rituals
affective science, bullying, child development, cognitive science, emotional intelligence, happiness, human psychology, neuroscience, popularity, relationships, positive psychology, social psychology
behaviour, communication science, conflict theory, criminology, cultural studies, environment, family, feminism, gender studies, linguistics, metaliteracy, semantics, sexuality in society, social change, social classes, sociolinguistics, structural equation model, women's rights
behaviour economics, classical economics, derivatives, econometrics, economic policymaking, economics, federal reserve, financial markets, game theory, globalization, international trade, macroeconomics, microeconomics, stock markets, trade
counterterrorism, decentralization, democracy, elections, european union, federalism, foreign policy, foreign relations, global community, global order, global politics, governance, government, international development, international politics, international relations, mao zedong, national security, political philosophy, propaganda, public policy, referendums, terrorism
business law, citizenship, civil liberties, civil rights, common low, constitution, contracts, copyrights, criminal law, human rights, immigration, international law, law, legal ethical governance, liability, patent law, privacy, property law, surveillance law, tax law, terrorism law