In this Skillshare review, I’ll take you through all the ins and outs of this popular online learning platform and help you make an informed decision.
Skillshare offers a wide variety of courses for creators, entrepreneurs, or people delivering on the path of self-improvement.
But since every individual has a different learning approach, a broad understanding of the platform’s course structure, learning process, course duration, and price is crucial.
So read till the end to take a closer look at Skillshare courses and other important details about this online community.
The Verdict at a Glance: Skillshare Review
| Aspect | Description |
|---|---|
| Number of courses | 30000+ |
| Types of courses | Creative Lifestyle Marketing Freelance & entrepreneurship Productivity, etc. |
| Price | Free & paid courses ($13 to $168) |
| Features | Flexible learning Downloadable course material Course certificates |
| User-interface | User-friendly interface |
| Course quality | Well-curated courses with a learner-oriented approach |
What Kind of Courses Does Skillshare Offer?
Skillshare offers over thirty thousand courses in various in-demand fields, making it one of the most popular online learning platforms among curious minds.
Skillshare courses have been segregated into the following categories so learners with specific interests in a certain field can easily navigate to them:
- Creative: Courses under this category include art, music, writing, photography, graphic design, UI & UX design, music, instrument learning, etc. These classes are typically focused on helping students explore and get better at their creative skills.
- Lifestyle: You’ll find courses in cooking, interior design, knitting, gardening, fitness, personal development, meditation, and other lifestyle-related areas.
- Language: Skillshare offers online language classes for Spanish, Chinese, English, Korean, and a few other languages. Besides, there are separate courses for IELTS as well.
- Business: There are several business courses like entrepreneurship, marketing, leadership and management, freelancing, and other business-related topics. These classes can help one understand the core particularities of starting a business or improving their existing one.
- Technology: This category includes courses in areas of data science, simple web development, bootstrap, artificial intelligence, etc., helping you learn about a wide variety of tools and techniques.
As you can see, the platform provides a diverse category of courses, so there are options for everyone. The courses have bite-sized lessons, which makes them easily digestible.
Make sure you browse through the library well to shortlist a course that meets your learning needs.
Check Out The Following Skillshare Features
You might have questions like how does the platform work? Are its features suitable for every learner? Skillshare has a user-friendly interface to ensure learners can easily navigate the platform and select their favorite courses.
Besides that, here is what you can expect from Skillshare:
1. Self-paced learning
Once you sign up for the Skillshare membership, you can learn at your own pace. There is no time limit for the courses, so everyone can learn according to their own comfort.
Such a flexible learning approach makes learning easier for working individuals, students, freelancers, or anyone with a busy schedule.
2. Skillshare Community
The Skillshare community makes it possible for their learners to connect, share ideas, and get inspiration from their learning goals.
Skillshare has introduced groups to keep its growing community of learners interconnected. There are four types of groups: creative, technology, business, and lifestyle.
Once you join a group, you’ll meet other creators from the same field, opt for collaboration, give and receive feedback on your work and theirs, and discuss anything you want. These groups have been created with the help of some Skillshare teachers, and they are a great way to stay connected with talented creators from various parts of the world.
Please note that only premium members can post in Skillshare groups. Free account holders can join and see other people’s posts but cannot post themselves.
3. Student Projects
This is a place where everyone can share their completed projects and ask for feedback. This is similar to a social media platform where students share posts liked and commented on by others.
It is the best way to showcase your talent and get the chance to connect with some popular creators as well.
4. Skillshare CromaCourse
Skillshare CromaCourse is a recent addition to the platform, which are four-week long course. The idea is to keep the group exclusive and share content from expert teachers along with live Q&As. You may also get personalized feedback from instructors being a part of CromaCourse.
5. Diverse Learning Platform
Skillshare isn’t limited to a single learning format. It has video lectures, projects, and a community to share work, allows offline learning, and does not believe in one size fits all approach.
Skillshare Course Structure: Explained
Skillshare does not have a fixed course format. Some courses, especially longer ones, are divided into different lessons. Classes that are short, within 10 to 30 minutes, usually go on with a single video lesson.
There are two types of courses on Skillshare: Skillshare original and other classes. Skillshare produces the original classes.
Most of the time, they collaborate with popular personalities like Ali Abdaal (YouTuber and doctor), Marques Brownlee (Tech Head and Youtuber), and platforms like Moz.
Other Skillshare courses are created by individuals with years of experience in the field.
All the courses included assignments, projects, and additional resources for an all-round learning experience.
Popular Skillshare Instructors
Let’s take a look at some of the popular Skillshare instructors and their courses:
There are over 8000 teachers on Skillshare, and here are some popular personalities:
- Mel Armstrong
She is a full-time illustrator, surface pattern designer, and teacher who loves creating beautiful things. She teaches pattern design and design illustrations, and some of her popular courses are: “Master Textures in Procreate,” “10 Photoshop Tips for For Surface Designers and Surface Pattern Design Fundamentals”, etc.
- Hyden Aube
He is another popular designer and illustrator who teaches character design to illustration, and his famous classes include: “Journaling for Beginners,” “Adobe Illustrator,” “Teach Yourself to Draw Anything,” etc.
- Sean Dalton
This popular travel and lifestyle photographer, is a teacher in Skillshare, and he offers classes in lifestyle and photography. You can check out courses like-” Photography Essentials,” “Short Form Video,” “iPhone Photography Essentials,” etc.
Popular Skillshare Courses
Skillshare has divided its classes into three main categories:
Create: Animation, Creative Writing, Film & Video, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Music, Photography, UI/UX Design, Web Development, and so on are a part of this category
Make: these courses include Business Analytics, Freelance & Entrepreneurship, Leadership & Management, and Marketing.
Thrive: Lifestyle and Productivity make up the thrive section for personal growth
A few popular classes from each category are listed below:
1. A Beginner’s Guide to After Effects
Taught by Jake Bartlett, a Motion Designer, this class is beginner-friendly and is a comprehensive course covering everything you need to know to start creating animations in Adobe After Effects. It also covers Panels & Workspaces, Resolution, Frame Rates, Combining Effects, and much more. This class has been watched by over 12000 students, with 80% of students sharing positive feedback.
2. Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Pro for Beginners
Taught by Jordy Vandeput, a Filmmaker and Youtuber, this class is beginner-friendly where you will learn how to take your creative ideas into amazing videos with Adobe Premiere Pro. Users get to access a very detailed program about a solid basis of Premiere Pro which allows you, people, to perform basic edits, create custom graphics and texts, mix audio from speech, deal with music, sound effects, and so on. This class has been watched by over 71000 students, with over 60% of students sharing positive feedback.
3. Graphic Design BasicsCore Principles for Visual Design
Taught by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips – co-directors of the Graphic Design MFA program at MICA – this class is every beginner’s dream and will give you a solid foundation. With a focus on core principles of graphic design, you will learn the five basic design principles, critique your work for effectiveness and balance, and apply each core concept in future projects. This class has been watched by over 106000 students, with 80% of students sharing positive feedback.
4. Digital Illustration: Learn to Use Procreate
Taught by Jarom Vogel, a Digital Illustrator, this class is beginner-friendly where you will learn how to use Procreate on your iPad to create digital artwork. The key lessons in this course will include setting up your first canvas, using select tools, brushes, and erasers, creating and organizing your layers, and adding color, textures, and effects. This class has been watched by over 115000 students, with over 50% of students sharing positive feedback.
5. Stock Market Fundamentals
Taught by Zac Hartley, an Entrepreneur and Day Trader, this class is beginner-friendly. It is specially designed for people who are looking to get into day trading, swing trading, or dividend investing. This class has been watched by over 2000 students, with over 80% of students sharing positive feedback.
6. User Experience Design Essentials
Adobe XD UI UX Design – Taught by Daniel Scott, an Adobe Certified Trainer, this class is beginner-friendly. You will learn the tools necessary for creating excellent wireframes, including type, colors, icons, and much more. This class has been watched by over 21000 students, with over 70% of students sharing positive feedback.
Skillshare Price Plans
Skillshare has a simple price structure. There are no separate basic or premium plans, unlike most online learning platforms.
Skillshare for Individuals
There is a premium plan for individual learners which costs $167.88 annually and gives you access to the entire course library.
Skillshare for Teams
This price plan is especially for businesses that cost $159 per user per year. There is no monthly payment option for the team plan, so you have to pay the entire yearly amount while signing up for the course.
- Starter: for groups of 5 to 49 members, $159 per user per annum
- Enterprise: for groups of 20+ members, contact Skillshare for custom Enterprise pricings.
- Revive: for groups of 50+ members, contact Skillshare for custom Revive prices.
All Team plans are billed annually or per multi-year contract. Additionally, the more seats you purchase, the lower the price you will end up paying for an individual seat.
Skillshare Refund Policy
Skillshare has a 14-day refund policy, and you’re entitled to get a complete refund if you cancel your membership within the 1st 14 days after the payment has been deducted.
At times Skillshare, may also offer a 30-day refund policy. There are no special criteria to avail of the 30-day refund policy, and it’s entirely up to them.
Skillshare for Business
While Skillshare is great for personal development, it is very beneficial for teams too. Here is a list of features that make this online learning platform great if an employer is looking to create an environment for the employees to grow up to their maximum potential:
- Unlimited access to Skillshare’s entire database and community which includes 35000+ classes taught by industry experts across varied categories.
- An easy-to-use Admin Panel where you can handle your team, invite and add users at any time.
- Class + Project model where users can test out the skills they learned and receive feedback from colleagues and other students.
- Offline, mobile, and casting capabilities through our Skillshare mobile app.
- Dedicated Customer Success Manager for 1:1 onboarding and strategy sessions (available for Enterprise only)
- Usage and Engagement reporting (Revive & Enterprise only)
- LMS Integrations and API capabilities (available for Enterprise only)
Skillshare Scholarships
Even though online learning platforms offer courses at a significantly cheaper price, it is still not affordable for many underprivileged yet bright people out there. To address this issue, many platforms such as Skillshare offer scholarships to the needy so that everyone can get access to top-quality content – especially when they deserve it.
Skillshare as of now offers two kinds of scholarships to the needy. Scholarships range from getting 50% off a Skillshare membership for college and university students to one year of free membership. If you meet the requirements, then you are eligible to apply for the scholarship.
The application process is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is add your name, and email (with a valid .edu address), and explain why you are applying for the Skillshare Scholarship. You will then be notified via email if you are successful.
Are Skillshare Courses Worth Trying?
To be straight and clear, yes, Skillshare courses are worth trying. The platform is for people who want to learn creative skills or polish their existing ones.
Its clean and simple interface makes it easier to find what we are looking for. The Skillshare Learning Path further simplifies the process of deepening our skill set by suggesting a curated list of sequential classes.
For example, I started from the most basic course on graphic designing, and once I finished it, Skillshare showed me a list of classes in the same field to widen my knowledge of graphic designing.
The video lessons are engaging and intuitive. On the right side, you will see the lesson numbers and their duration. Below the lesson, there are reviews, discussions, projects and resources, and the transcript section.
The reviews from real users give more insights about the class; you can participate in the discussion group and check out the resources that come with the courses.
All lessons are usually bite-sized and not more than 15 to 20 minutes. This is a great approach because if you’re like me, I cannot keep on going for more than half an hour. Besides, too much information in one go is difficult to comprehend.
However, you’ll not get any course completion certificates or any formal accreditation from the platform.
Another drawback, according to me, is there are no assessments. Once you enroll, you’re on your own and cannot interact with the instructors.
But I feel that’s the case with most online learning platforms, so it’s not a big turn-off for me. Overall Skillshare is a good platform to learn and develop new skills and lets you take unlimited courses with a single subscription.
Skillshare Review: Pros And Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| A single subscription gives access to unlimited classes across a wide range of subjects. | You don’t get any certificates upon course completion |
| Encourages flexible learning | Some courses are not as in-depth |
| Affordable, especially when compared to the traditional education program | It’s hard to get personalized feedback or help from the instructors |
| Plenty of hands-on projects and opportunities to practice what you’ve learned | |
| Offers a free trial on the premium membership | |
| Opportunity to learn from industry leaders |
Related Read –
- Detailed Comparison Between Skillshare and Masterclass
- An Honest Opinion About Masterclass and YesChef
Final Thoughts On Skillshare
I hope this Skillshare review gave you a clear understanding of the platform and helped you decide if you want to sign up for its courses. With the diverse range of Skillshare courses taught by industry experts, Skillshare provides dynamic and interactive learning experiences.
It also offers a free trial so that users can make informed decisions before making commitments. Yes, you won’t get any certificate for completing the courses; if that’s one of your core requirements, you can check out platforms like Coursera.
If you have further questions about Skillshare, make sure to leave them in the comments!
Frequently Asked Questions– SkillShare Review
Yes, Skillshare is a great platform to try out learning new skills and broadening the horizon of your creativity.
Even though Youtube is a free alternative, Skillshare is better when it comes to learning because one does not have to do extensive browsing to reach their desired web result. Skillshare offers easy to navigate the interface without ads which makes anyone focus more on learning.
Skillshare has an upper hand over Udemy because of the variety of courses, content quality, and direct interaction with the course tutor to track the process of learning.
Skillshare is best when it comes to learning various creative skills such as writing and design.
Skillshare offers a monthly plan of 32 dollars per account.
A year of Skillshare would sum up to about 168 dollars for one account.
Yes, users are provided with an option to cancel their subscription whenever they want to.
Although not all classes are free on Skillshare, more than 100 of them do not require you to pay to learn.
Skillshare courses cannot get you a job, but it does help you stand out amongst competitors.
