On Wikipedia the leading e-learning marketplace Udemy is described as follows: “Udemy.com is a platform or marketplace for online learning. Unlike academic MOOC programs driven by traditional collegiate coursework, Udemy provides a platform for experts of any kind to create courses which can be offered to the public, either at no charge or for a tuition fee. Udemy provides tools which enable users to create a course, promote it and earn money from student tuition charges.
No Udemy courses are currently credentialed for college credit; students take courses largely as a means of improving job-related skills. Some courses generate credit toward technical certification. Udemy has made a special effort to attract corporate trainers seeking to create coursework for employees of their company
As of January 2016, Udemy reports on its homepage that it has served over 10 million students, and offers more than 40,000 course alternatives.”
E-learning for young and ambitious Africans!
M-learning is one of the relatively new applications which use the new internet and mobile phone based technologies to improve the access to some basic needs or skills, such as mhealth, app based language learning or cheap online money transfers.
Probably the best option for young Africans, Udemy offers online courses in more than 80 languages and is part of the growing MOOC movement outside the traditional university system. Like Coursera, instruction is delivered by teachers from universities and colleges but by removing the university name and accreditation process it makes top quality training much more affordable.
Offering more than 40,000 online courses with many available free of charge, there is definitely something for everyone from business to personal interests. It focuses on helping professionals long out of the university system to keep up with ever-changing workplaces.
The majority of Udemy’s users are taking professional development courses, which teach skills that are practically useful in the workplace. About 30%, meanwhile, are taking “personal development” courses with subject matter ranging from music to fitness. To Udemy CEO D. Yang, that split is a sign that people increasingly view education as an investment upon which they expect a quantifiable return.
There are educational apps creating interactive, self-paced, offline elearning opportunities and courses include video snippets fully controlled by the student.
Udemy has redesigned its platform making e-learning an enjoyable experience through up to date and fully functional online tools. The modern search facility allows students faster answers to questions and quizzes make for an engaging hands-on experience.
By entering the website, you have the menu bar on the left side. You can sort the offered courses by language with the menu bar. Then you can check all the offered courses and filter them by subject.
Prices are low with discounts of up to 30% every month and fees are charged per course rather than monthly which means you only pay for what you need. Purchased courses can be saved off-line meaning one payment gives you the keys to your future.
Payments can be effected with the mobile app that uses Apple’s or Google Play’s payment system depending on the device, often in your local currency.
Appetizer: For all offered topics there are also free courses available! To start with Udemy, you can first try a free course.
The Udemy course categories are:
– Lifestyle
– Education
– Languages
– Health and Fitness
– Music
– Sports
– Games
– Marketing
“Can I afford it?”
Perhaps the question should be can you afford NOT to invest in yourself? Barriers to learning are vanishing. Investing in e-learning promises a real quantifiable return by boosting your income for the rest of your working life. Social deprivation is no longer a prison as young people across the world can use e-learning to develop employable skills, forever breaking the cycle of dependency.
Leadership skills – why not improve it online?
Leadership and getting leadership skills is a hot topic for many African students or young management people. There is a common sense that there is a huge opportunity for many African societies and economies to improve their living standard based on an improved leadership education of the future generation of management leaders.
Now, the question for all students is how to get these leadership skills. And which are the leadership skills.
The basic transfer point for each secondary and tertiary education must be the established educational institutions such as colleges and universities. They are the first point of access to the needed knowledge. Nevertheless, sometimes there might be occur the need for additional know how or the need to get the know how in a different manner.
Acquire successful leadership skills with e-learning
And that’s the point where the so called e-learning enters the discussion. E-learning means mainly the participation in online courses via PC or Notebook. On the market exist several providers (commercial and academic) of such online courses enabling distance education for the students. Even more specialized there is also the term m-learning which stands for mobile learning. M-learning is characterized by using mobile phones, smartphones or tablets for the online learning.
Back to our leadership skills. Imagine you are a student or a postgraduate with management tasks. You should lead people and wonder how you can do it. Or you do it already and want to improve your leader qualities.
Let’s focus on leadership online courses presented by Udemy.com. Three examples:
Leadership beginner to advance
Online course description, taken from Udemy.com:
Do you want to become a Leadership Expert? Do you want to advance your career or land a new job? Do you need to do Professional Development? Or are you just wanting to learn a new skill?
Preconditions: no prerequisites
Adresses whom: This course is ideal for anyone who wishes to develop an understanding in leadership theory.
Scope: 23 lessons, duration is one hour
Price: 20 USD
Click here to register now: Leadership beginner to Advance
22 Practical lessons in leadership
Online course description, taken from Udemy.com:
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and David Beckham. Know what they did right as leaders and what you can learn from them!
Through this 22 video course, you will receive precious nuggets of advice on how to become a leader in your own right. Armed with these practical skills, you can now thrive in your organisation and make a positive difference!
You can be a leader, and the time to take action is NOW!
Preconditions: You need to be willing to take action and apply leadership skills to your everyday life. A burning desire to become an outstanding leader.
Adresses whom: This course is for anyone who wants simple and yet actionable steps to build their leadership skills. For those that may be in a position of influence. For example: Teachers, Managers etc.
Scope: 22 lessons, duration is 1.5 hours
Price: 45 USD
Click here to register now: 22 Practical lessons in leadership
Online course description, taken from Udemy.com:
How to Become a Leader and Increase Your Leadership Influence, Loyalty & Income
Leadership is uncommon. Some people believe that you’re either born with leadership skills and leadership qualities, or your not.
The good news is that leadership skills can be learned and practiced, which means you can can increase your leadership abilities.
This is currently a Best-Selling Leadership Course: 10,300+ students in 157 Countries
Preconditions: An Open Mind, Internet Access, Willingness to Apply What is Learned
Adresses whom: This course is primarily for beginning and intermediate level leaders; This course is also for experienced Leaders who are not getting the results they are looking for; This course is not for veteran Leaders who are happy with their results
Scope: 33 lessons, duration is 3.5 hours
Price: 200 USD
Click here to register now: Leadership skills mastery
Udemy – your skills provider
There are many, many more offered online courses dealing with e-learning of leadership skills. But anyhow, everybody needs a starting point and I think the above described online courses are good to get a first touch. Visit Udemy to find many for of such online courses.
On www.apps-for-learning.com we follow this subject closely. We see the demand for e-learning and online courses and we see the great willingness of students and many interested people to integrate online learning into their daily life
For more information about this important and exciting educational market, visit my site. Alternatively, if you wish, contact me directly today. Whether you are a student or teaching professional, we specialize in mobile education within Africa and will be pleased to help you with your enquiry.
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This article was written by Jens Ischebeck
