If you have the time and inclination to explore a new hobby, prepare a gourmet meal, learn how to code, or pick up a few health and beauty tips, the online learning site and mobile app, Curious.com, offers hundreds of free or low cost video tutorials on a wide range of topics.

Curious.com launched last summer and is similar to Khan Academy, Udemy, Lynda.com, and other online course sites. Its online platform was recently expanded into an iPhone app, followed by its iPad version which released this August.

Curious iPad

Thousands of Lessons

Curious contains thousands of video lessons on topics ranging from arts and crafts (e.g. jewelry making, mosaic tiling, scrapbook, and stenciling), music lessons, health and fitness, sports activities, to general life skills (e.g., personal finance, dog training, and facial makeup tips.)

Curious topics

On both online and mobile platforms, Curious tutorials and sessions are filtered by categories (e.g. staff picks, popular, crafting, fit and active, kids only, business, under five minutes, and health and beauty) and trending popular lessons.

Curious kids

When you register on Curious, it automatically bookmarks lessons you preview and enroll in, which makes it easy to come back and review those lessons at your leisure.

Free and Low Cost Lessons

While more than half of Curious lessons or sessions are free, others require what is called a Curious Coin payment. Each new member of the site receives 20 free coins, and when the balance hits zero, more coins can be purchased, for a dollar per coin. The prepayment method of using Curious Coins means users don't have to use their credit card each time they need to pay for a lesson. Currently, most of the paid lessons cost 1-3 coins.

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Lesson Content

Each Curious lesson is broken down into interactive sections with a few multiple-choice review questions at the end of each lesson. Some lessons may include PDF handouts, links to other resources, and a feature for leaving comments and asking questions.

Curious video content

One unique feature for each lesson is what is called a Curious Card, which allows enrolled students to leave a message, and a picture or video (which can also be uploaded via the iOS Curious apps) that depict what they learned from the lesson.

Curious card

Teaching Lessons

Curious includes a Curious Lesson Builder platform for creating lessons, and uploading video content to the site. Instructors get their own individual web page (www.curious.com/yourbrand), and for paid lessons, teachers receive 70% and Curious gets 30% of the paid tuition. Lessons can easily be shared to social networks, and all uploaded content remains non-exclusive and owned by the instructors.

Curious instructors

Get Started

The advantages of online and mobile learning sites like Curious.com is that you can learn new things at your own time and pace, and courses don't require textbooks and graded exams. The only requirement is your curiosity and time.

Let us know what you think of Curious.com and what lessons you have found helpful. Also, tell us what additional features you would like to see added to this learning platform.