Udemy is an online learning platform designed for professionals who want to improve their skillsets.

Unlike most other online education platforms, Udemy allows anyone to create content by providing tools to create courses.

By empowering anyone with expertise to share their knowledge in courses, Udemy has grown to become one of the largest learning management systems featuring tens of thousands of courses.

No matter what skills you want to improve upon there is a good chance Udemy has a course to help you out.

And with so much competition among instructors to attract students, the prices are often very affordable. In fact, many are 100% free to attend.

Students who complete courses earn certificates of completion but generally most courses are not recognized by accreditation bodies.

In this Udemy review, we’ll see what else you need to know before taking the next steps to improve your professional knowledge and skills.

Udemy Spotlight

UDEMY SPOTLIGHT
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Master New Skills
With Udemy Courses

Udemy aims to help students master new skills. It relies on content produced by over 30,000 instructors who produce courses in as many as 50 languages to reach over 20 million students worldwide.

When you get started at Udemy, you will quickly see how it became so popular.

Getting Started Is A Breeze

Similar to a Google search engine, you simply enter a topic you want to learn about into a search field and Udemy displays a list of courses from different instructors with the best-selling ones generally listed first.

If you type in a broad search term, like say “investing”, Udemy will prompt you to narrow down your search with suggestions.

For example, it will prompt you to clarify whether you want to learn about real estate investing, stock trading, value investing, or cryptocurrencies?

You can filter not only by topic but also by skill level, whether you are at a beginner, intermediate, or advanced level.

Plus, you can select by language and price (free or paid), as well as by course features, including captions and quizzes.

Easy-To-Use

As a well-established company, Udemy has a polished interface that is highly intuitive.

You can quickly see which courses receive high ratings, as well as the number of lectures, expected duration to complete the course, and price to gain access.

Before purchasing, you can learn more by clicking on a course title which will open a preview section.

You can view a video preview and read a summary section that describes what you will learn.

Plus, you will find out specifics like whether the course is presented via on-demand video and how long you will have access to the course.

You can quickly see whether it is accessible on mobile devices and TVs as well as laptops and PCs.

Udemy regularly features great deals.

Free Udemy courses are plentiful and paid ones are frequently marked down by as much as 90% or more.

To alleviate your concerns of buying a “dud” course, Udemy offers a 30-day Money Back Guarantee.

Learn New Skills At Udemy

How Good Are Udemy Courses?

Udemy allows ordinary people to sign up to teach courses.

In some ways, this equalizes the playing field, but how do you know that the course and instructor you’ve chosen is any good?

The last thing you want is to waste time and money on a Udemy course full of misinformation, but if you’re careful you can find worthwhile courses that put you ahead of the curve.

Who Can Become a Udemy Teacher?

The short answer is that almost anyone can become a Udemy teacher – unlike Simplilearn and some other online education platforms (called MOOCs).

Udemy doesn’t have strict limitations on who can become a teacher. If you believe you have expertise in a topic, can create at least five video lessons on it, and can upload video to the Udemy site, you can become a Udemy teacher.

The Importance of User Ratings

Udemy’s primary goal is to make sure students are satisfied. Every student has the ability to rate a Udemy course in three separate metrics:

• Audio quality
• Video quality
• Delivery quality

The purpose of these metrics is for students to be able to give an objective rating as to how professional the teacher was.

Teachers with high student ratings tend to be listed at the top of search results for a given course while those with low student ratings sink to the bottom.

Ratings are also important because you can read them for yourself and get an idea of other students’ experiences with the course before you buy it.

Variety of Course Offerings

Udemy’s willingness to allow anyone to upload a course allows the platform to offer a wider variety of courses than other online teaching platforms.

Some courses are beginner-level and offer a broad overview of a subject, while others go in depth into a topic and are meant for advanced students.

Reading the course offerings and reviews can help you understand what you’re getting into before you put any money down so that you only spend money on the courses that are most likely to help you achieve your goals.

Udemy’s lack of strict guidelines for teachers is a double-edged sword. You risk wasting money on a poor teacher whenever you enroll in a course.

But if you take the user reviews seriously and read the course description to make sure the course is right for you, Udemy courses can help you learn what you need to achieve your goals more quickly.

>> Compare Simplilearn Vs Udemy

Learn New Skills At Udemy

What Udemy Courses Are Offered?

Udemy features an extensive library of courses across a wide variety of topics.

From personal development to business and from software development to photography, tens of thousands of courses exist.

Some of main course categories include:

Learn New Skills At Udemy

What Are The
Top Rated Udemy Courses?

Across the board, we found the top rated Udemy courses to be very affordable, usually well under $20.

While Udemy claims these course are discounted from much higher prices, it’s rare to see a pricey course, which is a good thing for students because it means you can receive good value for money.

The top-rated courses span a wide range of topics.

In the Personal Development section, classes on “The Complete Tarot Reading Course” and “Your 7 Chakras – The Complete Guide To Your Energy Body” are popular.

While digital marketing professionals have rated the “Ultimate Google AdWords Course” by Isaac Rudansky, a certified Google AdWords pro, very highly.

Another very popular Udemy course is the “Blockchain and Bitcoin Fundamentals” course.

Historically, some of the most popular Udemy searches have included “Udemy python” and “Udemy java” which are no surprises given the demand for top-notch programmers, especially ones who understand artificial intelligence and predictive analytics.

Learn New Skills At Udemy

Udemy vs Coursera

When it comes to online e-learning platforms, you are spoiled for choice. In addition to Udemy, Coursera is another top tier education portal.

When you compare Udemy vs Coursera, the choice may come down to your educational goals.

Coursera partners with Universities to deliver thousands of courses. It even features degree accreditations.

You can earn a course certificate in anywhere from 4-6 weeks and pay generally in the range of $29 → $99.

To master a career skill, Coursera offers what it calls Specializations that cost between $39 → $79 per month and take 4 → 6 months usually to complete.

A few accredited degrees are available too and cost as much as $25,000.

Degrees typically require 1 → 3 years of study.

If you are comparing Coursera vs Udemy, Coursera wins points for its University-level grade content.

Udemy is generally a cheaper option and is designed more for students who want to learn a new skill but don’t have their eyes set on earning a degree.

Learn New Skills At Udemy

Udemy vs Udacity

Udacity began as an experiment in online learning when Stanford instructors Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun introduced their course called “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence” online to anyone for free.

It turned out to be so popular that over 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled.

Since then, Udacity has grown to serve millions of students and competes with Udemy, Coursera and other MOOCs for student attention.

Comparing Udemy vs Udacity is similar to comparing Udemy vs Coursera. Because Udemy opens its platform to allow more instructors to teach, it has a greater depth of course choices.

While Udacity may not have the same course selection, its roots stem from Stanford-level instruction and the quality of its content is generally well-regarded.

Udacity specializes in what it calls Nanodegrees that are aimed at professionals looking to master new skills to help them advance in their careers.

While similar content topics may be available at Udemy, you can also find content that may simply align with your passions. For example, Udemy caters to topics like fitness and nutrition which may interest people who work in those fields as well as those who simply want to improve overall health.

Learn New Skills At Udemy

Udemy vs Lynda

Lynda is another e-learning platform that has earned a reputation for delivering quality content with top notch production.

Udemy course offerings tend to be more concise and more extensive compared to Lynda, which is a bit more narrowly focused on course topics like software development, web development, design, business skills, and photography.

Lynda, which was acquired by LinkedIn, may have a better pricing structure if you are a heavy user because for one monthly cost you have broad access to  a large number of courses.

But if you just want to learn about only one or two topics, Udemy may be a better deal.

Comparing Udemy vs Lynda boils down to a few factors like what you want to learn, how much you are willing to pay, and who you want as your instructor.

Because Udemy has a broader suite of content, it may be your only choice for some topics.

However, the quality of instruction and production may be higher on average at Lynda, though you can easily screen for the best rated courses at Udemy.

Learn New Skills At Udemy

Udemy Review: Pros and Cons

Learn New Skills At Udemy

Udemy Review Summary

Udemy offers perhaps the largest catalog of courses of any e-learning platform. It also has arguably the greatest breadth of topics available to enterprising professionals who want to master new skills to advance in their careers.

Even if you are not looking to learn a new skill to make progress on a career ladder, you can likely find a wide range of courses that align with your passions and interests, including music, photography, nutrition, and fitness.

Compared to other learning management systems, Udemy courses are priced very fairly if not at rock bottom prices. And considering how many students have taken Udemy courses, comparatively few complain that they have not received value for the cost of tuition.

If you want University level content and production, or want to pursue a degree program, Coursera may be a better fit. But if you want to gain new skills without paying premium prices, Udemy makes a huge knowledge bank accessible with just a few clicks.

Learn New Skills At Udemy

The article Udemy Review – Master New Skills And Get Ahead was originally posted on Investormint

If you are looking to improve your career skills or simply get better at your hobbies, online education platforms may be the right next step.

Many top colleges and universities now offer distance learning, and a fair number of online teaching platforms have sprung up that target adults who are already part of the workforce.

Two of the most popular online teaching platforms are Simplilearn and Udemy. In this Simplilearn Vs Udemy comparison, we help you decide which is best.

Simplilearn specializes in preparing students to sit for certification exams that have been accredited by professional organizations.

The platform collects fees from students attracted by 200 courses in 11 categories like project management, financial management, IT service management, quality assurance and Microsoft technology.

Udemy, on the other hand, features over 80,000 classes, and splits student fees with instructors who use its technology to create virtual classrooms.

While Simplilearn is more like an online school, Udemy is more of a digital instruction marketplace. But which online learning platform is best for your needs?

Why Choose Udemy?

The name “Udemy” is a playful shortening of the phrase “Academy of You.”

It was founded in 2010 with the goal of democratizing education: Any Udemy user can be either an instructor or a student. To date, the “startup” has received more than $170 million in venture funding.

Udemy as a Learning Platform

You name it, and there’s probably a class for it offered somewhere on Udemy.

The platform offers a dizzying array of learning experiences in fields as different as language, music technology, the arts and humanities, health and fitness, and business and entrepreneurship.

If offers an enormous number of practical how-to classes on everything from statistical regression analysis to making jewelry from polymer clay.

Is Udemy worth it?

Approximately one-third of the classes on Udemy are free, but these free classes are often teasers designed to attract students into signing up for paid classes.

The vast majority of the paid classes are priced under $50.

UDEMY SPOTLIGHT
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Udemy: Learn At Your Own Pace

Udemy’s courses are self-paced, and most of them do not require prerequisites; they are open to anyone with an interest in the subject being taught.

They offer no real-time interaction with instructors or with other students other than online discussion boards.

When users enroll in a specific class, they are taken to a landing page with a course description, course reviews and a video introduction.

Didactic materials can be uploaded as videos of lectures, but they may also be presented as audio files, text presentations or even PowerPoint slides.

Udemy Users Are Global

Two-thirds of Udemy’s user base lives outside the U.S., and classes are offered in Spanish, German, French, Czech, Italian and Russian as well as in English.

At the conclusion of each class, students are awarded a Certificate of Completion.

Udemy offers mobile apps for both the iOS and Android operating systems.

The company estimates that approximately 20 percent of its students access the platform through mobile devices.

Master Your Passions at Udemy >>

Udemy For Instructors

For instructors, Udemy hosts tutorials on how to teach a Udemy class.

Prospective instructors are given access to guidelines and tools that will help them build classes with clear learning objectives.

For instructors who are interested in building their own brand so that they can keep more of the fees their classes earn, Udemy provides a number of tools, such as Conversion Analytics and Engagement Analytics, that are aimed at attracting more students to their courses.

How Much Money
Can You Make On Udemy?

Udemy uses a shared revenue model: when a student signs up for a class as a result of the website’s marketing, the instructor retains half the student’s fee while Udemy retains the other half.

If a Udemy promotional affiliate attracts the student to the class, that affiliate takes 50% of the student’s fee, and Udemy and the instructor split the remaining 50%.

However, when a student enrolls in a class hosted on the Udemy platform purely because of that instructor’s reputation or own marketing efforts, the instructor keeps 97% of the student’s fees.

While Udemy’s 10 top instructors made more than $17 million in 2015, the average Udemy instructor takes home approximately $7,000 a year.

Instructors on competitors’ platforms frequently post courses on Udemy in order to maximize profits.

In fact, in 2013, Simplilearn began partnering with Udemy to offer its flagship Project Management Professional courses on the Udemy platform.

Master Your Passions at Udemy >>

Why Choose Simplilearn?

“Simplilearn” is a play on the phrase “simply learn.”

The company was founded in 2009 and, to date, has received approximately $31 million in four rounds of investor funding.

At its inception, the company offered both online and offline learning experiences, but in 2015, it closed its bricks-and-mortar training centers.

LinkedIn includes Simplilearn in its list of the top 10 most influential education brands.

Simplilearn For Students

Simplilearn’s catalog includes business courses such as project management and data analytics, technology courses such as web design and programming and vendor offerings from companies like Microsoft and Adobe.

Many of these classes are recognized by professional accreditation organizations.

Classes may be either real time, instructor-led training (ILT) sessions or self-paced.

Each course landing page opens onto a dashboard that features core content on the middle of the screen, a hyperlinked syllabus to the left and a Learning Tools panel to the right, which links to discussion boards, PowerPoint slides, quizzes and other materials.

The syllabus menu also includes a link to Simplilearn’s CloudLabs, which is a virtual space where students can test their class projects.

Is Simplilearn Worth It?

Instructor-led training sessions, which are open to students from all over the world, use WebEx software, are taught in English, and are held in batches of 8 → 10 at a time.

They are scheduled for mornings, evenings and standard business hours.

Sessions are automatically recorded and distributed so that students can refer back to them as they work on class projects.

Students can get a sizable discount by signing up for a Flexi-Pass, which entitles them to three months of unlimited ILT access and six months of unlimited self-paced learning.

Simplilearn students have one of the highest rates of completion in the online educational world; nearly 70% of their students complete courses compared to just 10%, which is the average industry completion rate.

The bottom line is you get what you pay for and Simplilearn is worth it, even though it may not be the cheapest online learning platform.

SIMPLILEARN SPOTLIGHT
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Is Simplilearn Available On Mobile?

Simplilearn students can access courses on mobile devices by using one of Simplilearn’s suite of apps for iOS and Android.

Simplilearn For Instructors

Simplilearn has approximately 2,000 instructors and trainers, which the company recruits from LinkedIn.

The company specifically looks for professionals with 15 to 20 years of industry experience.

Instructors and trainers are rated by students following every class, and highly rated instructors and trainers are rewarded.

How Much Do Simplilearn Instructors Make?

On average, Simplilearn instructors earn between $25,000 and $32,000 a year.

Udemy vs. Simplilearn:
How They Compare

Course Content Depth and Professionalism

Udemy offers thousands of courses on a variety of different topics while Simplilearn offers approximately 400 courses that focus on enhancing professional skills.

Udemy’s classes range from course descriptions that are essentially splash pages for more expensive classes to in-depth explorations of subject matter, but you may have to do some homework to winnow out the grain from the chaff.

Udemy itself does not review classes offered by its instructors to any great extent.

Simplilearn’s classes, on the other hand, have been thoroughly vetted by the company.

Moreover, students review instructors and trainers frequently, and the company weighs such criticism carefully.

Simplilearn also works with accreditation partners so that students can earn professional certifications upon successful completion of a class.

Master More Skills At Simplilearn >>

Who Are the Instructors?

Anyone can teach a class on the Udemy platform.

However, Simplilearn evaluates prospective instructors carefully on the basis of their professional skills.

Who Are the Students?

Simplilearn targets a specific niche within that sector while Udemy aims to dominate the entire sector.

Its courses are expressly designed for working professionals who are interested in certification courses across industry verticals that will enhance their career opportunities.

Udemy, on the other hand, offers classes for everyone from hobbyists looking to improve their crafting skills to companies who want to provide specialized employee training.

Simplilearn trains approximately 4,000 professionals a month whereas more than a million students from 200 countries sign up for Udemy courses every year.

Master More Skills At Simplilearn >>

Pricing Comparison:
Simplilearn vs. Udemy

Simplilearn training sessions vary in price from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars.

For classes that offer in-depth training and a high degree of value, this is in line with industry norms.

It costs $600 to purchase a Flexi-Pass that gives you access to 90 days of instructor-led training sessions and 180 days of self-paced course materials.

Many Udemy courses are offered at no cost.

And while there are a few courses that cost hundreds of dollars, most classes are priced at under $50, and the sweet spot seems to be between $10 and $20.

Udemy vs Simplilearn:
The Good, Bad & Ugly

Accreditation Comparison

Many of Simplilearn’s certifications are recognized by accredited organizations however most Udemy courses are not acknowledged by accreditation bodies.

Drawbacks: Udemy

• Since Udemy doesn’t vet instructors carefully, course quality is more variable.
• Udemy’s revenue model encourages upselling.

Simplilearn: Udemy

• Courses are expensive.
• It’s difficult to get a refund if you decide a course is not for you.
• CloudLabs’ learning curve is difficult for many.

Simplilearn vs Udemy
Comparison Summary

Udemy might be the right choice if you’re interested in learning about a topic based on your own passions or interests, or if you’re looking to supplement your income by teaching about a subject you enjoy.

However, Simplilearn may be the better choice if you’re interested in specialized training within a business or technical field.

You can earn accreditation within a field of study, and you can use CloudLabs to create projects without investing in additional software.

Master Your Passions at Udemy >>

The article Simplilearn vs Udemy Comparison was originally posted on Investormint

Simplilearn provides certification training for working professionals to help them achieve career goals.

With over 40 certifications, 400 courses, 2,000 qualified trainers and half a million professionals trained, Simplilearn is one of the leading education portals alongside Lynda (acquired by LinkedIn), Khan Academy and Udemy.

In this Simplilearn review, you will see how the platform can be a fit for small business owners and start-ups who want to learn about Agile, Scrum or Digital Marketing as well as professionals in larger organizations looking to master DevOps, Salesforce, and Quality Management.

Where Simplilearn shines is its live, instructor-led training sessions and certificates that have been approved accreditation bodies.

For value seekers, the price is fair for the wealth of information provided, particularly if you choose an Online Classroom Season Pass that provides an all-access pass to over 25 courses for 90 days.

But what else do you need to know about Simplilearn before signing up for its online training programs?

Simplilearn Spotlight

SIMPLILEARN SPOTLIGHT
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Is Simplilearn Right For You?

Compared to Udemy, which has tens of thousands of courses or even Lynda which has thousands of online training courses, Simplilearn has comparatively few with around 400+ courses.

But don’t let the lower number be a deterrent.

What Simplilearn lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. Many courses are recognized by accreditation bodies.

Plus, Simplilearn offers an Online Classroom Season Pass that distinguishes it from other online training portals by providing 90 day access to live instructor-led training sessions that are accompanied by a 7-day money back guarantee.

Enroll at Simplilearn

What Courses Does
Simplilearn Offer?

Simplilearn offers a vast number of online courses, including:

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When Are Simplilearn
Live Courses Held?

Simplilearn courses are held in batches, which feature around eight to ten live instructor-led sessions.

They are available at convenient times during business hours as well as mornings and evenings.

It is simple to sign up to a batch at a certain time and then subsequently modify the time depending on your own schedule preferences.

When you sign up to the Online Classroom Season Pass, you can access as many batches as you wish.

Live instructor-led sessions are generally held in WebEx and often begin with trainers helping to answer participants’ technical or troubleshooting questions followed by an instructor-led tutorial.

You can ask questions during the session. Or if you cannot attend live, you can view a session recording afterwards.

Simplilearn Training Session Example

What Makes Simplilearn Different?

Let’s say you want to take a course on Big Data and Data Science. The course may include a couple of hundred hours of online tutorials that you can access for up to two years. But how do you practice what you are learning?

The answer is Cloud-Labs which allows you to practice real life projects on Hadoop, R, and Python.

You can view multiple labs at one time so you can view your syllabus and Web Console or other services simultaneously.

CloudLabs may not seem like a huge value-add but compared to the methods used by some eLearning companies which require you to install learning software called Virtual Machines, the time savings are significant.

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Simplilearn Pricing & Refund Policy

From our research, Simplilearn training sessions vary in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

When you compare the costs of training at Simplilearn to those at Udemy or Lynda, the prices are more often than not higher at Simplilearn.

For example, the SEO Specialist training at Udemy costs $199.99 compared to $1,199 at Simplilearn.

But a strict pricing comparison doesn’t provide the full picture.

When you look a little further, you discover that the Udemy course is a single hour of training via on-demand video compared to 35+ live instructor-led courses offered by Simplilearn.

So, while you often pay more at Simplilearn, you frequently receive more in-depth training and value.

In light of the higher training costs, make certain you plan to complete the course before signing up. Not least because the Simplilearn refund policy isn’t particularly generous.

For self-paced learnings, you can receive a full refund within 7 days only if you have not accessed more than 25% of the content or downloaded the e-book, in which cases the refund policy is void.

Similarly for instructor-led training, you may be eligible for a refund within 7 days of the commencement of the first batch but the policy is void if you access more than 25% of the content of an e-learning course or attended Online Classrooms/received recordings for more than one day.

Any refund requests for instructor-led trainings are also void if you downloaded an e-book.

Between days 7 → 30, you are eligible for a refund of up to 75% of the fees you paid but thereafter no refunds are issued.

Enroll at Simplilearn

Simplilearn
Learning Management System
Alternatives

What Simplilearn lacks in the breadth of its offerings, it makes up for in the depth of training provided on its Learning Management System (LMS).

If you want specialist training, Simplilearn won’t disappoint. It earns high satisfaction ratings on average among customers and has been awarded an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau.

However, if you are looking for Simplilearn alternatives to compare pricing, Lynda, Udemy, and Khan Academy all have their selling points.

Lynda and Udemy have a wider selection of trainings but frequently feature less depth. And so while they are frequently priced lower, Simplilearn may be a better bet in terms of value for money.

For example, you can see a programming foundations course on Lynda and a web development foundations full stack vs front-end course lasts no more than a few hours while Simplilearn equivalents often feature a good deal more content.

Khan Academy is another Simplilearn alternative worth exploring and is a 501(c)3 company that has a mission to educate the world.

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Simplilearn Pros and Cons

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Simplilearn Summary

Simplilearn provides an excellent online learning platform for professionals seeking self-paced or live instructor-led training designed to complete certifications. Plus, many of the certifications are recognized by accredited bodies.

You can choose from a wide variety of courses, including Big Data, AI & Machine Learning, Digital Marketing, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Software Development and DevOps.

Although Simplilearn is not generally the cheapest online training option, it is frequently the best when it comes to value for money due to the depth of its content.

Live classes are held throughout the day to cater to virtually any schedule and training session recordings are available on-demand.

The bottom line is if you are looking for specialist professional training, Simplilearn’s learning management system may well provide the certifications you need to advance in your career.

Enroll at Simplilearn

The article Simplilearn Review – Get Certified Online was originally posted on Investormint