One cannot but agree that in the 21st century, the constant acquisition of new knowledge is not a luxury, but a necessity: the more skills you have, the higher the chances of career growth or success in business.
And with the advent of online platforms like Udemy and aims institute , where you can do bsb50120 diploma of business with no excuses to study at all work anymore!
In this detailed guide, you’ll find out if Udemy courses are worth your time (and money), as well as answer the most important related questions:
- 🎓WHAT IS UDEMY and how does it work?
- 📊HOW GOOD ARE THE COURSES on this platform?
- 🔍HOW TO FIND THE BEST courses on Udemy?
- ✔️ WHO IS UDEMY SUITABLE FORand who is not?
Before we tell you how to get the most out of Udemy (aka Udemi, Udemy, Udemy or Gwoosh for those who mess up the layout) , it’s important to understand how this platform differs from other e-learning services:
What is Udemy?
Combining the words “you” + “academy” (you + academy) in the name, Udemy positions itself as a global platform for learning. In other words, this is a collection of online courses 🤓 A very, very large collection:
Udemy is by far the largest online learning platform in the world today, whether you look at it in terms of courses, student numbers, or languages available:
Apart from its size and constant growth, there are several unique features that make Udemy stand out from similar alternatives −
- While other platforms rely on academic courses created by major universities, Udemy focuses on gaining practical knowledge and skills that can be applied in everyday life.
- In addition, Udemy takes a more democratic approach to teaching and learning than most other online platforms. Anyone can create a course and start sharing their skills with the world.
That is, the meaning of Udemy is in useful skills📜, and not in beautiful diplomas:
… and yes, you will receive a certificate upon completion of the course, but it will not have the Harvard or MIT logos to show off on your LinkedIn profile
Therefore, the best courses on Udemy are not determined by university brands, but rather by the real value of their content and the talent of the teacher.
The principle of “free access for all” also inevitably leads to a lot of mediocre or even outright shoddy courses on the platform (which is probably the most frequent criticism of Udemy).
But there is some good news too:
With over 150,000 courses, there are bound to be fantastic ones on every topic imaginable, and with a little effort, you can easily find them.
In the next section, we will share some important tips on how to do this, based on our 7 years of experience with Udemy:
Choosing the Best Courses on Udemy
As we mentioned earlier, Udemy allows anyone to create new courses on their platform; this implies a huge difference in the quality of the courses – from terrible to brilliant …
…but it also ensures that truly talented educators have the opportunity to share their knowledge and skills, whether or not they work at renowned universities.
Just like when choosing an apartment to rent on Airbnb or a new book to read on Amazon, the key to finding the best courses on Udemy is to gradually narrow the funnel until you find the perfect one 🎯
Here’s how to do it, step by step:
- First of all, the search for worthy candidates. The easiest way is to use the Udemy directory, moving from broad categories to more specific topics:
In the examples below, we will try to find a great introductory Javascript development course:
If the topic of interest is more exotic (or simply difficult to find in the catalog), you can search by keywords.
- On the category or search results page, scroll down to the list of courses and select 2-3 coursesthat suit your needs:
Make sure they are rated above 4.5 stars and have at least a few hundred reviews. For convenience, use the filters on the left panel and the sorting tool.
- Then , read the course informationfor each of the courses selected in the previous step to make sure it really meets your expectations:
Carefully study the gray box labeled “what you will learn”, as well as the course table of contents, requirements, and main description.
TIP: Be sure to check the “last updated” date in the course title – content in some fast-changing categories (like software or design) tends to get pretty outdated every 1-2 years!
By that logic, a time management course doesn’t need to be updated as often as a Javascript tutorial or a mobile app user experience guide.
- Now it’s time to get to know the instructor: scroll down until you find a section that displays more information about the course author.
Pay attention to the statistics next to the profile photo – the most important thing is the overall rating for all courses, which should ideally be at least 4.5:
Also, read the author’s autobiography to get an idea of the education and professional qualifications received, i.e. experience in the relevant industry, completed projects, and so on.
- For dessert, of course, user reviews. If you scroll below the author section, you’ll see a chart showing a breakdown of course ratings:
Study the chart and make sure the majority of the ratings are 5 stars. Also check for oddities in low ratings, such as 1-star courses given by no more than 5% of students.
Finally, look at 3-5 real reviews, paying particular attention to negative reviews; if they are not visible, you can use the dropdown list to display some 1-star or 2-star reviews.
- Last but not least, take the time to actually watch the introductory videoas well as one of the lessons – almost every course on Udemy offers previews:
- Take a critical look at the teaching style: is he talking too fast? Too slow? Maybe his voice just annoys you? Not? Awesome!
If the course passes all of the above filters, you can be sure of its quality. But that’s not all –
Here are some tips to help you get the most out of Udemy :
- You can get a discount from 60% to 90% 💸 on a great course in almost any category. Because of this, there is usually no need to pay more than $20 for a course, unless it is highly specialized or advanced.
- Passed a paid course, but was dissatisfied? You can count on a full refund 💰 within 30 days from the date of purchase: select the course on the control panel and click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
Before we get to the final verdict, let’s summarize what we’ve learned about Udemy by listing the strengths and weaknesses compared to other online learning platforms:
Pros and cons of Udemy
- Udemy offers the widest selection of courses of any platform (in fact, probably more than all the alternatives combined!)
- Everyone can create their own course, so the best ones are determined by the actual quality of the content, not by university brands.
- The platform offers courses in over 60 languages, with thousands of courses available in widely spoken languages such as Spanish, Portuguese and German.
- All purchased courses come with lifetime unlimited access (and of course the same is true for free courses).
- There is a 30-day money-back guarantee for any paid course. Udemy will provide a full refund if you are not satisfied with a course purchased less than a month ago.
- Udemy courses tend to focus on practical rather than purely theoretical skills.
- For teams of 5 or more, Udemy for Business offers location-independent learning based on a collection of 5,000+ curated courses.
- Due to the huge number of courses, choosing a good course can take some time.
- Course completion certificates are issued by Udemy and rarely include names of well-known universities.
- Some of the best courses will be in English, and trying to search in certain languages may leave you with little choice.
Should You Choose Udemy?
Honestly, this question sounds the same as “is it worth using Airbnb?”. After all, like apartments, courses can be both cool and not so good, so it’s all about choosing the right one .
Just like Airbnb, Udemy is a big platform. Here you can find very good, and average, and even frankly useless courses:
🔍 If you choose methodically , you can find amazing courses at very reasonable prices (or even for free).
As you may have figured out by now, Udemy may or may not work, but here are some things to consider:
- Udemy might not be for you if you’re looking for a course in a fundamental subject like molecular biology or classical literature, or if you’re looking for an accredited degree from a well-known university .
- And vice versa. Definitely worth trying Udemy if you need to learn a hands-on skill for career advancement, or if you prefer to learn by doing , or if you want to cover the widest range of topics, languages, and learning methods:
Read More about What Are The 5 Chapters Of A Dissertation?
