The education system for the world has remained the same for years. Students just got newer technologies in their hands rather than newer ways of studying. Interestingly around 2010 a platform for students and also for instructors was introduced to the world. This platform is known as Udemy to the masses, specifically known as a MOOC (massive online open course) provider, meaning a platform that provides a number of courses to people who are interested in learning. Today Udemy has over 185,000+ courses and more than 52 million+ learners.
Udemy started its journey with a focus on “the academy of you”, this vision to revolutionize the field of the education system has proven effective. Today instructors and students come together on Udemy to provide and get quality courses respectively. In this article, you would be provided with all the information and Udemy Review that you need to decide whether the courses on this platform are worth your penny or not.
Courses on Udemy
Udemy is a platform that provides opportunities for people to post their content out in the world.
Currently, Udemy has 155,000 thousand+ courses taught by 70,000+ teachers. The courses on Udemy are different from those offered by college.
Thus Udemy can’t be considered a substitute for a college degree. It specializes in teaching applicable skills. After completing a paid course on Udemy the user will be provided with a certificate with the perks of revisiting the course again.
Categories of Courses Offered By Udemy
Udemy mainly offers courses in 13 different categories, listed as follows:
- Development
- Business
- Finance & Accounting
- IT & Software
- Office Productivity
- Personal Development
- Design
- Marketing
- Lifestyle
- Photography & Video
- Health & Fitness
- Music
- Teaching & Academics
The categories can be further broken down into different sets. Categories like horsemanship or dog training are part of pet care & training. All these categories are part of the lifestyle. Similarly, other courses are also part of these main 13 categories.
Although the list of the categories and the courses offered are pretty huge, still the main focus of learners and instructors falls in the business and career development section. Apart from these 2 IT also is a major attraction for people who are looking for a change of career or are here to simply learn new skills in the technical field.
How Much Do Courses On Udemy Cost?
It is no longer a myth why Udemy has an edge over its competitors. The main reason might be considered its marketing strategies; still the price at which the courses are offered is something that is unique and cost-effective for students.
Udemy not only provides one with paid courses but also free courses. These courses are basically courses offered by new instructors. These free courses are no less than paid courses, as the level of knowledge is not on par in case of paid courses. But as you might have guessed, free courses don’t provide you with certification after completion of your course on Udemy.
The main difference between paid and unpaid courses is the certificate after completion. The paid courses on Udemy main vary from anywhere between $12-200. It is seen that students are generally in student loans and other debts. Thus the flow of fortune is not something that is in their favor.
This brings us to the same point about Udemy costuming its platform according to its consumer. To provide ease in selecting the course also if any kind of hesitation is seen by students then the platform steps up to offer some discount on the courses.
Udemy is also famous for putting out its seasonal sales, where it is known to offer up to 90% discount on most of its courses. These seasonal sales are a good opportunity for students who are looking for knowledge at affordable prices. This strategy of keeping its courses at a lower rate is definitely a reason for Udemy to have a lead over its competitors.
The subscription plan of Udemy offers different prices depending on the plan one subscribes, according to their needs. The 3 basic subscription plans are Udemy business, Udemy pro, and personal plan. All these programs have different usage and different pricing.
For example, if a package for a team (around 5-10 people) is being purchased then Udemy business is a perfect fit. A bare minimum of $360 is set per person/yearly. The amount of $360 comes with taxes included. So the fear of any hidden charges does not exist with Udemy. Currently, there are 8000 companies that use the service of Udemy business.
This service includes a massive 6,000 video lectures to choose from and gives businesses the flexibility to choose to customize their package. The personal plan starts at $30 per month and this is compatible with students who are looking for lifestyle or business-related courses.
Right now the course is not available for students and others, but it is strongly advised to stick to the updates and wait for the personal plan to roll out. The personal plan includes access to over 5,000 courses covering over 1,700 topics. Courses specializing in IT certification require a monthly minimum of $20. Currently, IT is the only field that the pro package is offering its services as of now, once you’re signed up you will get access to specific topics.
The price for different courses is set by different instructors at varied costs. Depending upon the demand and quality the price may increase. There are free courses to browse around to, but as we specifically mentioned before the limitations of free courses like (up to only 2 hours of video content, no Q&A session, and lastly no certification after completion of your course).
Still Udemy recent cut down on free courses is considered a necessary part of growing as a platform offering quality over quantity. Still, the platform has over 500+ unlocked videos. One can surf through these videos with specific restrictions on them. It is best advised to get a subscription base as soon as possible.
Who Teaches On Udemy?
Udemy, unlike other platforms (masterclass or Coursera), is different in its approach of relying on big names and or major professors to sell its services. Instead of relying on these professors, the platform opens its door for all types of instructors to teach on its platform.
In Fact, it is quite easy for an individual to put together a course on Udemy as long as it’s over 30 minutes and the quality of the video is High definition (HD). One of the most popular courses 100 days of code is taught by Dr. Angela Yu, she’s a leading instructor at the London App Brewery, which is the leading coding Bootcamp in London. Teachers like these are available on Udemy with a high level of knowledge and a substantial background to support the same, which in turn boosts the Udemy Review. Dr. Angela Yu is considered the best in what she does and there are other specialists who have made a name for themselves in their respective fields in which they are working.
There are other teachers, teachers who don’t have a great background and are basically average but everyone has a different set of skills and some knowledge that no one else might have, thus these teachers are no less than other professional teachers on Udemy.
While a thorough check is done before approving a course for the platform, as long as it meets the criteria, to be qualified as a course. Still, it is less accurate than many other MOOD platforms in terms of courses. The surety of a course being good is less likely compared to platforms like masterclass. This wild gesture of goodwill might be a reason for many to avoid the uncertain bullet.
But the user review feature is a convenient feature that enables users to choose from various courses. Apart from that, Udemy provides the number of students who have attended the course, thus making it the second decisive feature to look at before selecting a course. These features of Udemy are the reason which you can depend upon while getting to know the course.
What All Does The Course Include?
Taking an example of 100 days of code and the benefits associated with this course. Let’s see what we are offered if we purchase this $95 course.
- 60 hours of video lectures
- 229 articles
- 116 downloadable resources
- 1 coding exercise
- Lifetime access
- Mobile and TV access
- Course Assignments
- Certificate of Completion.
These 8 solid benefits are associated with this course are under $95 which is reasonably priced. While on some special offers you can get this for as low as $12. Courses like this which are affordable to the common people and are a great time saver give Udemy another edge over others.
Pros & Cons of Udemy
1. Pros
- Affordable: One of the main reasons for Udemy’s growth is the availability of courses at low cost. Courses on Udemy can range from $12-200 depending on the skill you’re looking for particularly.
- Free courses: Udemy is an open platform for instructors thus making it a platform with loads of content on it, with a recent cut down on the free content having been narrowed down to 500 videos.
- 30 days refund policy: What if the course doesn’t turn out how you expected and now you regret purchasing it? Udemy has a 30-day refund policy that you get your money back if you’re unsatisfied with the course you applied for, no questions asked.
- Lifetime access: What if you forgot some important topics, or you missed something? Well, Udemy provides users with lifetime access to the content. Given that the course is still present on the site.
- Wide range of courses: Offering more than 155k+ with 13 different categories gives users a wide range of courses to browse from.
- Certification after completion: Udemy provides a certificate after paid completion of the course on its platform.
2. Cons
- Non-Accredited certificate: If you’re looking for an official certificate or degree then Udemy is not for you. If you’re looking for official certification one should look for alternatives to Udemy.
- Doesn’t create courses: The content in the courses is not created by the Udemy team, they are created by individuals who are working independently. This feature is looked at as a double-edged sword, as the quality of the content in the course would vary depending from instructor to instructor.
- Quality control of courses: The quality check of courses is done by Udemy, but then again with so many courses it is quite a task for Udemy to check each one of them as the videos alone would make up to 115 million minutes that would be 218 years of content.
- Dead course: With time the need for different skills is fading away, but Udemy hasn’t sorted out these dead courses. This makes the content section look like a broad and unorganized pile of junk.
Conclusion
Udemy provides services related to applicable skills, these skills are presented to the public by people who consider themselves instructors, who can guide others. With time the market for skills is expanding, and new platforms providing revolutionary ideas are coming up. Platforms like Udemy which still have a ways to go in terms of restructuring their platform might find it challenging if these platforms make it big.
The courses offered here are sometimes relevant to some, while most of the teachers are professionals. People who are confident about their teachings, while others are slackers who take Udemy for granted and just get their videos uploaded, just bypassing the bare minimum requirements mark.
If we talk about a student who’s majoring in CS then most of the Udemy courses are of little help to no help at all. The Courses available for Udemy are mostly for beginners or for intermediates that are just starting out, but for someone who’s been in the field for years, Udemy is not a big help.
Hopefully, this honest Udemy Review would help you decide whether you wish to learn from this promising teaching platform or not.