Online learning can be a great opportunity for many who wouldn’t normally have the time or funds to enhance educational materials and improve their knowledge.
Some people may feel awkward about going back into education or simply can’t attend Udemy’s classes at normal hours. These platforms are perfect for upskilling in certain career areas, especially when it comes to technology and using software programs.
Udemy is a well-known educational platform that has a wide range of choices when it comes to online education. In this article, we will discuss how long does it take to finish a Udemy course and how to go about taking them.
What Is Udemy?
Udemy has branded itself as an ‘online learning and teaching marketplace’ where students can learn new skills virtually at their own pace. Anyone can sign up for the platform and take their courses.
It calls itself a marketplace as teachers from around the world can upload their content and offer their knowledge to potential students. These courses are moderated and must pass a number of requirements to ensure they are of value to students.
What Courses Do They Offer?
Udemy offers over 200,000 different online courses for students to choose from. These include categories such as graphic design and illustration, web development, digital marketing, business analytics and intelligence, and mobile development.
Categories are further split into subcategories which enables students to find exactly what they are looking for. It is easy to navigate the website this way and allows students to explore all that is on offer.
How Is Learning Structured?
As the courses are entirely online, students can use any device that has internet access to undertake their learning. Once logged in to an account, the courses can be accessed via a link which will also be sent via email. Each particular course varies slightly in the way it’s taught.
All courses will have video lectures or ‘classes’ that students can watch back when they like. Some courses will have articles and resources to read, with longer courses having end-of-module tests and quizzes.
Upon completion of the course, students will receive a certificate if they have successfully passed the required barriers. This certificate can be added to a CV or Linkedin profile to demonstrate knowledge to prospective employers.
How Long Are The Courses?
The complexity of the subject material and how in-depth the content goes will impact how long the course will take to complete. Some best Udemy courses are better than others, so be sure to look at the reviews on the first-course page. Just because it’s longer doesn’t mean it’s better like a data science course.
For example, just one course like the “SEO Training: Complete SEO Course & SEO Copywriting Mastery” course will take about 33.5 hours over 195 lectures. Whereas “Microsoft Excel – From Beginner to Expert in 6 Hours” is just over 6 hours in course length.
The length of each course can be found at the bottom of the course information page with a breakdown of how the learning is split and how many lectures there are.
For a better understanding, Udemy requires that courses featured on their marketplace have a minimum of five lectures and at least thirty minutes of video content. This sets a standard amongst teachers to ensure they are providing enough detail on their areas of expertise.
What If I Take Ages To Complete The Course?
There are no deadlines to complete courses with Udemy classes. Everyone learns at their own pace and some people have other commitments that restrict how long they can spend on their courses.
As a result, it will take them longer to get it done. This is absolutely normal! Udemy class gives you as long as you need to finish the online course, so there is no need to rush.
Lifetime Access
When you’ve completed your learning, no matter how long it took, you’ll receive lifetime access to all Udemy courses regardless of how much you paid for them.
This means you can go back over any information you need to double-check and it gives students peace of mind when it comes to getting their money’s worth.
What Are The Benefits Of Using Udemy?
There are a number of leading companies that use Udemy and encourage their employees to take the courses to help with bridging the gap between roles or just to understand the changing landscape.
These include Eventbrite, VW, and Nasdaq which demonstrates the value of the courses on offer here. Developing your skills in certain areas could be the difference between getting a promotion or landing a new role or staying in the same place.
With the small investment made by taking a Udemy course, it could lead to a significantly larger salary in the future. Although it’s a paid course for an online learning platform just like other platforms, there are a number of shorter free courses available.
The courses themselves are affordable, but there are often promotional offers also available on their website. Customers that aren’t satisfied with their course can be refunded under the Udemy 30-day refund policy. There will be no questions asked to receive this refund.
Are There Negatives Of Using Udemy?
The Udemy courses are not accredited. Although you may receive a certification at the end, it won’t count for much as it’s not from an accredited institution. If you are looking for an accredited course then try Coursera or edX.
Although the platform is partnered with a number of high-profile companies and there are incredible courses on offer, there are also some not-so-great ones that manage to filter their way through the net.
Udemy conducts quality control of the courses but with so many courses on their site, it might not be as thorough as one would hope.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of your educational background and your future plans, there is something for everyone on Udemy. Utilizing these tools to the best of your ability could be the start of something great!