The only way to stay relevant in a world of constant change is through a lifetime of learning. Fortunately, training has never been easier. With today’s technology, you can learn in your own time and space. Over the years, online learning has grown in leaps and bounds.
Now, whether you’re looking for courses to further your career or improve your life skills, you’ll find them on the internet. In providing a platform where instructors and students can meet, Udemy has grown into one of the biggest online platforms in the world,
What is Udemy?
Udemy was founded in 2010. Just over a decade later, it boasts more than 44 million students and offers over 155,000 courses. The range of course material is enormous. It includes just about any subject you can think of from IT to business and life skills.
Udemy also provides a platform that anyone can use to sell courses. Teachers create an instructor profile. Then upload the course material. Every time a student buys into the course the owner receives payment for the course. Udemy makes monthly payments.
So, is Udemy for you? We look at the important aspects of the online college. These include
- The course prices
- Ease of use
- Course quality
How much does a Udemy course cost?
With such a wide variety of courses, it should be no surprise that course prices can vary substantially. There are over 600 free courses but most come at a cost. Courses are priced at between $12.99 and $199.99, though they are often heavily discounted. Many students buy course material on Udemy sales and save a lot of money.
When you buy a course, you pay the full cost upfront. In return, you will receive lifetime access to the study material. Lifetime access means that you can go back and brush up on the subject whenever you want. You could even build a virtual library of courses over time.
The instructor sets the course price. The prices will differ according to the amount of information in the course, the level of difficulty, and the instructor’s reputation. Though with so many courses on offer there are sometimes anomalies so you should make good use of the reviews before buying the course.
If for any reason, you are dissatisfied with the Udemy course you can request a refund within 30 days as long as you haven’t downloaded the bulk of the course.
Ease of Use
An important aspect of any online college must be ease of use. How easy is it to find your way around the platform or is the layout confusing?
The Udemy platform is pretty easy to use and navigate. Choose your course from a dropdown menu, by selecting categories. Alternatively, you can search using keywords and filter your search by topic, language, price, star ratings and many more. Preview the courses you’re not sure of and shortlist those you like by clicking them.
The checkout is also standard. You register, if you haven’t already, or sign in. Pick your course then choose your payment method.
You can access your courses from a variety of platforms and devices. So, you can use your laptop, smartphone or tablet, regardless of whether they are Android or iOS based. You can also download your course onto the Udemy app to view it offline any time you want.
Course Quality
Nobody wants to waste their time or money on a poor-quality course. The Udemy courses are independently reviewed by course users. Though the instructors market their own courses, Udemy does check them for quality too.
You can match your studies to your level of expertise. Udemy’s courses run from Beginner to Advanced level. Many of the courses include quizzes so you can test your knowledge.
You will receive a certificate of completion when you finish a course but a Udemy qualification is not accredited. This means that you can’t use them as college credits and many institutions don’t recognize them.
The downloadable Udemy content is generally easy to work with and of good quality. The Udemy video player offers users some nice options. You can;
- Skip backward or forward five seconds
- Change the playback speed
- Read the transcript in the right panel alongside
- Turn the captioning on
The Q and A at the bottom of the screen will allow you to ask questions if there is something that you don’t understand. Though some students have complained about not always getting a response to their questions.
Pros and Cons
So, what are the pros and cons of Udemy?
Pros |
Cons |
| Number of courses – something for everyone | No accreditation |
| Ease of use | When it comes to questions the instructors aren’t always as responsive as they could be |
| Ability to learn from anywhere at any time | |
| Offers business training solutions | |
| Lifetime access to courses |
Udemy for Instructors
Udemy offers instructors benefits too. You can promote your classes on the platform and grow a following. You are responsible for your own marketing you can use Udemy’s marketing functions. These include
- Email campaigns
- Retargeting ads
- Eternal partner promotions
- Search and discovery.
The retargeted ads find the students that have viewed your course but failed to enroll. Udemy bases email campaigns on the student’s past browsing and buying history.
Udemy for Business
Udemy for business is designed to help organizations, large and small, to create online courses for their employees. The advantage for the business is that they can customize the courses and make them available in ten languages. Udemy also allows organizations to distribute proprietary content on the site.
Who is Udemy Good for?
Not everyone enjoys independent learning. You must be self-motivated to manage online learning. So, if you’re disciplined and prefer to set the pace of your learning, then Udemy is for you.
If you want an accredited qualification through an approved institution, you won’t find it at Udemy. Still, if life skills or improved career and business prospects motivate your search for knowledge Udemy may have just what you’re looking for.