Review of Udemy Free Courses And Others That Are Nearly So!

Udemy is one course provider whom I’ve heard a lot about and purchased a few courses from. After having experienced Udemy courses in-depth I finally decided its time to write a review of Udemy for college students. I did find a number of Udemy free courses but instead signed up myself for a couple of the paid ones to really understand the platform in detail.

Are The Courses Free?

Firstly, let’s address the reason that got you here. Are Udemy courses free? Yes some of them are free but most often there are far better courses that charge just a bit more. Most Udemy teachers tend to deliver free courses for the following two reasons:

1. To provide a beginner course on a popular topic when they are new to Udemy and looking to build their brand
2. Teachers who have many courses on Udemy might periodically release some of their earlier courses as free

So its likely that the free courses might have slightly outdated information which may still be somewhat relevant. So if you like the free courses, there are definitely some which would deliver good value.

But quite often, it is beneficial to pay a bit and get one of the regular high-quality courses. Time is also a valuable resource and when you are actually investing your time to study a course, it is always better to go with a course that is truly worth your time (and a bit of money)!

How Do I Find The Free Courses?

There are two ways to find the free courses on Udemy:

1. Enter the search term ” free courses” in the Udemy search box.
2. Go to https://udemyfreecourses.org for a full categorical listing of all their courses which are updated on a daily basis.
   

   

Udemy Background

Udemy is the brainchild of the founder Eren Bali who wanted to make education accessible to everyone after growing up with limited educational opportunities in Turkey. So he built an education software in 2007 and in 2010, along with two of his associates, the company was officially launched in the Silicon Valley.

The Udemy Experience

Teachers, Professionals and People from all over the world create courses on the Udemy platform using their expertise and experience in their respective fields and careers. The courses are available in many languages though English is one of the most popular languages on the platform.

Then students who sign up to Udemy purchase individual courses that interest them and are given lifetime access to the training material. Most of the training is in the form of videos along with supplementary checklists, documents and slides. There is a Q&A discussion board where students can post and share questions with the instructor and with all other enrolled students.

Benefits of Udemy

1. The Udemy courses are written by regular career professionals who are experts in their particular field of knowledge. They are people just like you and me who are motivated to helping others to learn a skill or subject that they have spent years mastering! When I signed up to Udemy, what struck me the most is how down-to-earth and lively the videos and training are. It almost feels like I’m talking to a friend who is helping me learn something.
2. Udemy conducts promotions and discount opportunities continuously throughout the year which results in the course prices reduced over 80% from the original cost. There are end-of-year promotions, promotions for Black Friday and at many other times of the year.
3. Once you sign up for a course, it can be accessed perpetually for as long as the course exists on Udemy.
4. The course format is very simple and makes it fast for the enrolled students to acquire the desired skills and learning.
5. All courses at Udemy carry a Certificate upon successfully completing the course.
6. Udemy courses are frequently recommended by employers for upskilling their employees.
7. There are a wide variety of courses on Udemy on most topics such as Marketing, Finance, Information Technology, Coding, Mathematics & Science, Photography, Music, Internet marketing and so much more.
8. There is a 30-day money back guarantee as well for all the courses.
9. There is also a mobile app for Android and iPhone which gives the same look-and-feel as the regular website.

Drawbacks of Udemy

1. Since the courses are not delivered by colleges or universities, they are non-accredited and cannot be directly awarded college credits. However, it is possible to have all the non-accredited courses evaluated separately by a process called portfolio assessment for the award of college credits. This process carries a lower cost for every credit that is earned via this assessment. As long as the course curriculum matches the degree requirements, there is a likelihood of acquiring a few college credits and this is at the discretion of the college and evaluator.
2. There are no long-term programs or degrees offered by Udemy, the majority are short courses lasting a few single-digit weeks.
3. If you use the mobile and the desktop/laptop versions interchangeably, the student’s progress is not synchronized across the devices. Instead, the student’s progress appears to be stored locally within each device. This may not be a big deal but is certainly one of the nice-to-haves!

Would I Buy The Courses?

The answer to this is “Yes”! There are a wide variety of skill building courses and, the platform and instructors make it simple and uncomplicated to learn a new skill quickly. I might just start again with the Udemy free courses and take it from there.