There are a lot of options for people that want to learn more skills or increase their educational base using online learning material.
Udemy is one such platform, which offers anyone a chance to learn and make a change for the better. It also allows people who have skills to teach, and make some money from their talents and knowledge.
They have a huge range of online courses and are well regarded in the online learning industry, read on for our review of the platform.
What is Udemy?
Udemy is an online academy for students and instructors with over 100,000 courses that are updated every month. Started in 2010 by Eden Bali, the world’s largest tutorial platform now has more than 50 million students and 57,000 instructors teaching courses in over 65 languages.
This website covers almost every subject from business to dance or design to IT and software development. You can even find a professional massage training course on Udemy. With some research and clicks, you’ll get an expert-led course in any subject, and you can start to learn anywhere and anytime.
One special thing about Udemy is that all of its courses are not necessarily instructed by experts. Anyone who has confidence and passion, along with deep knowledge on any aspect, can begin setting up their own course on the site.
Moreover, once you buy a course, you can have lifetime access to it.
The Udemy online learning platform is suitable for everyone. Whether you’re an employee who wants to upgrade your working skills, a student who wants to sharpen your knowledge of a major, someone who wants to start a new career or learn new skills, as long as you’re studious and interested you can start learning online.
This website offers courses with a wide range of fees: from $0 to under $100 USD. Most of the courses range from $18.99 to $24.99 USD, therefore, it is quite affordable for the benefits it brings to learners. It also has an optional package for companies that want to train their employees using Udemy’s courses.
Udemy Key Features
Udemy offers access to a variety of useful courses. You can get started wherever you are and whenever you want to.
Unlike traditional teaching platforms, global access allows not only students, but also teachers, trainers, and instructors to plan courses and get in touch with different key features. Additionally, courses, or any portion of a course, can be replicated or revised an infinite number of times at no extra cost.
Each course comprises video lectures varying from 5 minutes to 15 minutes in length. Students can stop and replay all or part of the videos as many times as they wish when watching the lectures. In general, lectures include a series of interim quizzes so students can gauge their understanding of the content.
Lifetime access ensures learners have every chance to master the material irrespective of their personal schedules or disruptions.
Students should have no difficulty navigating through the courses. Udemy makes it as clear as possible for anyone to understand how to use its service. You will find various subjects on top of the homepage or you can also research your preferred topics.
Huge Number of Courses
There’s almost nothing you can’t find on Udemy. Each of the 15 categories of courses comes with different topics. If you start with the ‘marketing’ subcategory, you will discover a number of interesting topics like event planning, business branding, lead generation or E-Commerce.
Delivering a growing repository of online courses, Udemy enables tech-savvy learners to speed ahead in their learning. This platform is particularly suited for those who wish to gain knowledge at their own pace to supplement their existing specialized knowledge.
Students can also explore and gain deep insights on various topics like: Business, Finance, Information Technology, Design, Marketing, Music, Photography, etc.
People from different age groups, different careers, with different interests can possibly find suitable courses there. If you want to learn, Udemy is probably a great place to start.
Udemy for Business
Designed to support employees with daily tasks and to help a business stay at the cutting edge of innovation, the Udemy for Business plan gives you the ability to be trained in a range of relevant topics for your employees.
The plan is fully versatile, as businesses can follow their existing structure to create their own unique content. The Udemy for Business solution peruses the latest, first-class course content taught by leading experts around the world.
If you’re looking for a wonderful tool to encourage professional growth, this plan is where you should start.
Udemy for Business is an ideal program with lots of courses related to pretty much any sector, such as software development, training, and project management. There are thousands of courses where professionals can go to upgrade their skills.
Preview, Review, and Feedback
For any online learning platform that allows a wide range of teachers to contribute content, it’s unavoidable that some scammy or low quality will exist.
The feedback feature was created for you to take time and study the reviews before investing your time and money into a course. Once you’re enrolled in a course, Udemy gives you access to reviews and ratings of previous students.
Potential learners of any course can also read past student reviews and ratings easily for a potentially unbiased assessment of its value.
Compared to other sites that offer tutorials and lessons, the great thing about Udemy is the ability to stop and start again. Most Udemy tutorials do a brilliant job of recognizing that there’s limited time for some people to follow the course.
Usually, extended modules are much shorter than YouTube videos, but they do offer much more information. This is probably the area where Udemy appears to be the most adept.
In addition to the features listed above, the ability to preview a course is another incredible feature Udemy delivers. Students can get a basic idea of the instructor’s teaching technique, and whether or not the course fits them before they commit to participation.
Udemy For Students
When it comes to online learning platforms, instructor quality matters. As an open marketplace for anyone who loves instructing and inspiring people around, it can be fairly confusing to evaluate the quality of each course and teacher.
Since Udemy doesn’t really require instructors to submit any teaching certificate, quality issues are one of the biggest concerns for users. We can’t expect 100% perfection from online teaching spaces. Even there are certainly some improvable points, most users’ reviews seem positive with the learning experience they’ve got from Udemy.
The Courses
It is no exaggeration to say that the quality of Udemy’s courses are very good and the team has improved courses a lot over time.
Each course, whether for beginners or advanced learners, is easy to hear and understand thanks to good video and sound quality. The courses are also arranged with a reasonable amount of time and divided into small digestible sections.
Udemy has a number of free courses or preview/demo classes, you can test anytime before getting started. The remainder is estimated between $29 and $99 USD, depending on the length and the content of each course. You can also find some rare courses priced near to $1000 USD, which are probably created for advanced learners to master their skills.
One big plus of Udemy is that you can potentially discover discount coupons every time you log in to the site. It’s easy to recognize if these recommended courses are what you’re interested in or could be helpful to you. With discount coupons and special promotions, you’re able to enroll in your favorite courses at a cheaper price, or even for free.
Refund Policy
There may come a time when you feel unsatisfied with your purchase or simply have no time to follow the course after paying for it. No matter what your reason is, Udemy always has your back. You are eligible to request a refund as long as your request is no longer than 30 days after you bought it.
Lack of Academic Credit
One of the biggest problems of Udemy for students is that their certificates are not recognized by employers or the institutional system. This comes as a result of the questionable ability and experience of instructors.
Udemy courses are not typically planned for academic credit but for the transition of practical knowledge from experienced instructors to students. Students should be aware that they are responsible for perfecting a subject.
However, a certificate doesn’t mean much in many sectors. If you’re qualified enough, you should absolutely get a promotion or a better job.
Unverified Knowledge or Experience of Instructors
Being an open forum for information is not a good deal sometimes. Especially when it comes to online learning space, where the quality of instructors really matters. The business model of Udemy infers that each person can be a specialist in some subject or field and that others would like to benefit from this knowledge.
Instead of censoring or assessing the credibility of course creators or the quality of their guidance, Udemy counts on the open market to determine the best, the good and the worst. This open-door, non-discriminatory is not new. In fact, several ebook publishers use this way to approach to guarantee a lively flow of new offerings.
With the hopes of following the same structure, there’s a lot of things Udemy needs to do to ensure the quality of instructors meets users’ expectations.
Udemy For Instructors & Course Creators
Udemy offers potential instructors a guideline to plan, create, publish and promote their course offerings.
No matter what the subject is, Udemy has a video series including step-by-step instructions for creating a course. A complete library of informative articles and examples is offered with 24/7 availability. All the Udemy services are provided to potential instructors free of charge.
Course creators have the right to set the market price for the courses they offer. The price of $10-$30 USD per hour in content is suggested by Udemy. For example, in this formula, a four-hour course will range from $40 to $120 USD.
Udemy offers special promotional services that are intended to help instructors win new customers. The instructor decides which offers to participate in, and isn’t forced to give discounts. Experts may use their Udemy courses to facilitate the sale of services or products, thus creating brand value.
The price for each course is under the instructor’s control. Typically, instructors’ income comes from 2 sources: if the instructor gets a new Udemy student, he/she earns 100% of the tuition fee, if the instructor makes sales using current Udemy user base, he/she earns 50% of the tuition fee. This is a considerable sales commission and a huge advantage to using their platform.
Profitable Marketplace
Teaching online on Udemy is a profitable market where everyone can create their own courses and get paid for their knowledge. As technology and social networking grows, teaching online becomes popular whether as a long-term career or a side job. Although you can make money with online teaching platforms, it is a competitive marketplace.
New instructors on Udemy will be put into competition with other instructors who were on the site before them. Moreover, with the appearance of new faces in online learning like Lynda, Skilljar, SchoolKeep, instructors are pushed to an even more competitive race for students. This may make sense for some instructors, but it isn’t an easy market by any means.
Refund Policy
The refund policy is a double-edged sword. While it is beneficial to learners, it can be difficult for instructors. In terms of the policy, students are eligible to make a refund request within 30 days of purchase. Consequently, course instructors may bear the risk that a student would finish the course within 30 days, yet still request a refund.
Lack of Marketing Assistance
Udemy provides special promotional programs to draw the attention of new customers and long-term users. The programs are supposed to support instructors’ income. Unfortunately, the fact is that these programs aren’t enough and the price can be expensive for many students.
With limited marketing assistance from Udemy, instructors mostly rely on personal marketing efforts to expand their brands. We all know teaching and marketing aren’t close in terms of skill sets, so not all those who teach can be in the business of teaching.
Udemy Alternatives
CreativeLive
Founded in 2010, CreativeLive is one of the world’s largest education platforms for anyone who is seeking online courses in creative areas. It has over 1,500 classes which are taught by more than 650 industry-leading experts.
If you are looking for a way to improve your creative skills and make yourself a more talented artist, CreativeLive could be a good place to be.
The classes that CreativeLive offers focus on five categories: photography and video, art and design, music and audio, craft and maker, or money and life.
Read our CreativeLive review here.
Skillshare
The way that Skillshare works is different when compared to other online learning services. Unlike the majority of online learning platforms, it is more like a community or a social network than an academy. Users can create a class themselves and classify it, depending on their preference.
In general, Skillshare helps connect people with similar ideas even though they are from different countries. If you are a professor or fairly good at teaching something, you can create your own online classes and earn some real cash.
The amount you get paid within this program is based on 2 things: the amount of time someone watches your videos and the total amount of premium students there are inside the Skillshare network at the month that the money is being paid out.
When it comes to topics, Skillshare willingly shows you a wide range of options, from art to business, from politics to economy.
This program is completely a legitimate platform, which has about three million users because of its attractive policies, flexible ways to create and useful courses. People who are considering going for Skillshare can sign up for free.
However, you may not make money if your topic is not popular or it is unable to meet students’ needs. Try to upgrade your lessons and learn more about marketing so as to draw student’s attention to your courses.
In terms of price, Skillshare has some free classes that are always available. Besides, with a Skillshare premium membership that costs $15/month, students can access more than 25,000 courses on an unlimited basis.
Coursera
Considered as one of the best Udemy alternatives, Coursera offers a variety of options for learners to gain and upgrade their skills. Its courses focus on Computer Science and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs with more than 2,700 courses in almost any domain.
Whether your goal is to master your existing skills or seek for new interesting learning hobby, you surely receive what you are expected on Coursera. The platform has a wide range of courses with connections to several universities and institutions across the globe such as Havard, Stanford, and MIT.
Once you have finished the course, Coursera hands out certificates or qualifications. These certificates are personalized with your name and can be accredited by a university. In other words, you take a course from Harvard, you may get a certificate from Harvard.
As for each course, the platform provides video subtitles with more than 30 languages including English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Turkish and more. The concern of a language barrier is overcome by using a global approach to teaching.
Courses on Coursera aren’t on the cheap side of the market, and this may be a drawback for some students. Single course payments vary around the $50 USD mark. Classes can be both cheaper and more expensive, depending on the subject, duration, and intensity of the course.
Specializations cost a few hundred USD dollars, although are also very variable-dependent when it comes to pricing. However, if you want to get a degree, the rates could go into the tens of thousands of US dollars. A subscription is priced at around $40 USD with $80-$90 USD for monthly access.
How To Choose The Best Courses On Udemy
It’s difficult to determine whether a course on Udemy is good or not due to questionable experience and knowledge of course creators.
However, there are still several tips to find the ideal Udemy courses on any subject.
- Browsing: As mentioned, you can browse into different categories and subcategories once you enter Udemy Homepage. For a tiny subcategory, it’s quite easy to figure out and choose the best courses. All the listings (free & paid) are available on a single page. You can select options on the left-hand side to further shortlist the courses. For a larger subcategory, you can find a list of “Featured” and “All Courses” once you click on it. The next step is to shortlist a couple of good ones for final review from this list.
- Searching: The topic of your preference could sometimes be very unique and you’re unable to find it in the sub-category. In this case, it’s recommended to search the platform for your chosen topic. As before, the next step is to shortlist a few courses, based on good ratings and the number of students rating those courses.
- Reviewing: Now that you have several good courses in your shortlist, the final step is to open them in separate windows. You should review each of them critically to determine the best courses available on Udemy. That will only take a couple of minutes to do. Have a deep look over the rating, the number of students who enrolled and rated, the instructor’s bio and evaluate the quality of sample videos. You can also check written reviews to get more details about the courses. But keep in mind those reviews are only for references, each student has their own suitable teaching method. It’s better to go straight to sample videos for review.
Is Udemy Worth It?
Absolutely!
Udemy plays an important role as a dedicated instructor/mentor due to its relatively low cost and unlimited access to classes. The lessons that are given are transparent and will be helpful to anyone who wants to learn. The instructors explain their subjects carefully and have lessons illustrated as well so that learners are able to see what is being taught.
Even if one fails to catch up with the lessons, Udemy enables learners to rewind or stop at any point. It’s an ideal classroom for online learners, as it will likely benefit you in the long run. The time and money spent on these courses are probably well worth the prices being charged.
Udemy courses are indeed helpful, especially when it comes to academic and expert knowledge for your profession. There are also many courses to choose from, delivering very detailed information for maximum learning. The instructors are generally qualified and knowledgeable. The courses themselves are comprehensible, and the objectives are explained in multiple different ways.
Despite its amazing quality, Udemy gives students access to a valuable service with no fee charged (for some classes). Overall, it is a great learning platform with an easy interface and a reasonable fee structure that is likely worth your investment!
Udemy
Pros
- Huge Range of Courses
- Great Platform
- Mobile App
- Fair Pricing
- Constant Offers
Cons
- Lack of Academic Credit
- Some Courses Very Short
- Inconsistent Pricing
