How about udemy

Imagine a future where you have 24-7 worldwide access to an unlimited team of personal tutors, each an expert in their field. These “experts” explain their subjects in simple, practical language; they are incredibly patient, willing to repeat lessons without complaint; and their advice is free or comes at a minimal cost. That future is here – in the guise of a new instructional platform pioneered by Internet firms like Udemy.

Udemy Background Information

Key Features of Udemy Courses

• Wide Range of Course Offerings. Udemy currently offers 15 major categories of courses ranging from software development to music, with up to 15 subcategories under each main category. For example, in the “Instruments” subcategory of “Music,” there are at least 30 separate courses for piano students, a similar number for guitar players, 5 courses for beginners who want to play the harmonica, and multiple courses on how to play the drums, saxophone, flute, banjo, and autoharp.
• No Prequalification Necessary to Take Any Course. Students can take any course that might interest them.
• Viewable on All Internet-Connected Devices. Courses can be viewed on desktop and portable computers, as well as tablets and smartphones.
• Free or Low-Cost Tuition. An estimated 10% of courses offered by Udemy are free, while the remainder are generally priced under $200. There are exceptions, with some courses costing up to $1,000, but these are relatively rare.
• 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. If students determine that they do not wish to pursue a course for any reason during the first 30 days following enrollment, Udemy returns 100% of the tuition fees.
• Immediate Access. Upon enrollment, students have instant access to the courses they have chosen, since all course materials – PDFs, financial templates, guidelines, and checklists – are prerecorded and electronically available for easy download to any electronic device.
• Lifetime Access to the Enrolled Course. Courses, or any portion of a course, can be retaken or reviewed a limitless number of times without additional cost. This access ensures that students have every opportunity to master the material regardless of their personal schedules or interruptions.
• Self-Paced. Each course consists of video lectures in lengths ranging from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. When watching the lectures, students can stop and replay all or part as many times as they want. Courses generally include a series of interim quizzes so that students can gauge their mastery of the materials.
• Access to Prior Student Reviews and Ratings. Potential purchasers of any course can easily read past student reviews and ratings for a hopefully unbiased opinion of its value. In addition, many courses feature previews of their lessons so you can evaluate the style and quality of each instructor.
• Instructors Have Practical, Professional Knowledge. Instructors are generally business people with actual experience in the subjects they teach, rather than academics. They have “been there and done that,” and are able to impart lessons from their time in the field. For the most part, lessons are presented in simple English with easily understood examples and applications in actual business environments.
• Certificate of Completion. Many courses award certificates of completion. Since there is no independent verification of subject mastery, it’s important to note that the value of a certificate may be questioned by people unfamiliar with you or Udemy. While some courses have been approved for professional continuing education credits, interested students should verify the status of such credits before purchasing a course.

Advantages

For Instructors and Course Creators

• Aggressive Revenue Sharing of Tuition Fees. Instructors set the retail price of each course and typically receive revenues from two sources: sales to new Udemy customers made by the instructor earn 100% of the tuition fee, and sales to the existing Udemy customer base earn 50% of the tuition fee.
• Creator Pricing Control. Course creators set the market price for the courses they offer. Udemy recommends $10 to $30 per hour of content. For example, a four-hour course would sell between $40 and $120 under this formula.
• Proprietary Technology for Publishing. Udemy offers a one-stop shop for potential instructors to plan, create, publish, and promote their course offerings. A series of videos provides step-by-step instruction to create a course for any subject. Support is provided 24-7 with a full library of informational articles and examples. All Udemy services are provided free to potential instructors.
• Opt-In Participation in Special Udemy Marketing Promotions. From time to time, Udemy runs special promotional programs designed to attract new customers. The option to participate is decided solely by the instructor.
• Access to an Established Customer Base. All of Udemy’s four million users are potential purchasers of any course. However, course creators must be prepared to pursue an aggressive marketing strategy with their own contacts to ensure sales success, not unlike self-published authors who must create “buzz” for their literary works.
• Brand Building and Tie-Ins. Experts can use their Udemy courses to promote the sale of other services or products, thus building the value of their brand. For example, Angela R. Loeb, a “self-development consultant,” offers a free course titled “Your Job Search Is a Spiritual Journey.” It is likely that some of the course’s 3,471 enrollees have sought to engage Ms. Loeb for additional services. Every student of a course is a potential customer of the instructor’s.

For Students

• Discounts and Low-Cost Courses. Udemy estimates that a significant number of its courses are free, though the majority are priced between $29 and $99. The company aggressively seeks to build its customer base with widely distributed discount coupons and promotional periods where students can try courses for free or for 50% or more off the listed price.
• Extensive Course Offerings Dwarf Competition. There are more than 100 categories and subcategories of courses on Udemy, ranging from web development to photography to foreign languages. Udemy’s library of courses dwarfs any of its video learning competitors.
• Instructor and Student Feedback. Courses generally have an accompanying discussion board that allows students to post comments, questions, or problems where the instructor and other students can see and respond to them directly online.
• Tie-Ins With Instructors’ External Services. Many course creators use their instructional videos to promote proprietary products like books or consulting services. In many cases, enrollment in a course may entitle students to special promotions and price discounts.
• Ability to Test-Drive. Not only do many courses offer a free preview of one lesson, but if students wish to “return” purchased courses for any reason within 30 days, they may do so, no questions asked. This makes it easier to try one or more courses risk-free if you’re not entirely sure they will suit you.

Disadvantages

For Instructors and Course Creators

• Competitive Instructional Video Publishers. A number of startups, such as lynda.com, SchoolKeep, Fedora, and Skilljar, have entered the video how-to market. Competitors may develop dominant positions in a particular subject category, creating a disadvantage for Udemy course creators.
• Competitive Course Offerings Within Udemy. Course creators are at the mercy of the “tombstone” – each course’s viewing position on the Udemy website. Udemy controls the placement and appearance of each tombstone through proprietary logarithms, meaning your competitors may have a leg up simply because they appear before you.
• Uncertain Quality of Udemy Classes. Udemy requires certain technical standards, such as a course outline with at least five lectures, each under 20 minutes long, as well as minimum audio and video standards. Despite this, there is limited review of the completeness, accuracy, conclusions, or recommendations of the course creator. As a consequence, course offerings vary significantly in quality. One rotten apple can spoil the barrel just as a poorly designed and presented course reflects badly on the Udemy library as a whole, potentially damaging your brand.
• Lenient Return Policies. If, for any reason, purchasers request their money back within 30 days of purchase, refunds are guaranteed. As a consequence, course creators bear the risk that a student would complete and use the course within 30 days, yet still ask for a refund. At a minimum, royalty payments for the courses to the instructor are deferred until the guarantee period is over.
• Reliance on Personal Marketing Efforts. With the disintermediation of traditional marketing relationships, the burden of product promotion falls heavily upon the shoulders of the course creator, whether publishing with Udemy or one of its competitors. While Udemy provides limited marketing assistance, the bulk of promotion is dependent upon the creator. Promotional activities can be very expensive, even when limited solely to social media. Course creators must be prepared to undertake marketing and promotional roles for their courses.

For Students

• Lack of Academic Credit. Unlike accredited MOOC courses offered by universities and colleges, the majority of Udemy courses do not include any certificate of proficiency that would be recognized by an employer or other educational institution. Udemy courses are generally not intended for academic credit, but the transfer of practical knowledge from instructor to student. Students should be aware that mastery of a subject is up to them.
• Variability of Production Values. Courses generally consist of talking heads, slide show presentations, computer screen shots, and limited pupil-to-pupil or pupil-to-lecturer interaction. Even though the information presented is basic, easily understood, and generally complete, the videos tend to be unexciting, even boring, so that maintaining attention over an extended period can be difficult. In addition, the production values between different courses can vary enormously. Some courses are plain and simple; others are technological aggregations of professional presenters, computer graphics, and stunning design. While each course has to meet minimum video and audio standards, the quality of presentation can affect attention and retention. For example, the heavy accent of a nonnative English speaker may jar students in the U.S., just as a Texan’s tongue-lazy pronunciation of Español is likely to detract from a course’s value to native Spanish speakers.
• Lack of Course Mastery Validation. With few exceptions, Udemy courses are targeted to beginners with little or no experience in a particular field of study. Students should recognize that completing a course may be the first step in mastering the subject, not the end point.
• Overlapping Course Content. A recent search for Udemy courses about “business plans” provided more than 800 entries in the English language. While 115 courses were free, the remaining had fees, starting at $15 (“The Business Plan”) and ranging to $749 (“Grow Your Own Tarot Business”). The plethora of courses covers similar materials in different degrees. Students looking for specific information or instruction might have difficulty finding the course that fits their requirements.
• Questionable Expertise and Experience of Some Course Creators. Expertise is often in the eye of the beholder. Udemy’s business plan presumes that every person can be an expert in some subject or field and that others wish to benefit from that knowledge. Rather than censor or evaluate the credentials of course creators or the value of their instruction, Udemy relies upon the open market to identify winners and losers. This open-door, nondiscriminatory strategy ensures a vibrant flow of course offerings and, currently being pursued by ebook publishers, has changed the publishing industry. Udemy hopes to do the same in the packaged video instruction space.

A Sample of Beginner Finance Courses

Project Finance Modeling for Beginners

Lean Finance for Startups

Financial Modeling

Basics of Business Finance

Finance Boot Camp for Entrepreneurs

Finance and Accounting for Startups

Final Word

Verdict

Score

VERDICT

What Is Udemy (

Score: out of 5 stars