Coursera Reviews & Ratings 2021

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8.4
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Coursera – An online learning platform with over 5000 courses on offer varying in level and specialisations. Courses range from free courses to university degrees – with coursera the world of learning is truly at your fingertips.

$39.00

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(Last Updated On: November 23, 2021)

Introduction

Coursera is an American company, founded in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, who were computer science professors at Stanford University in California at the time. They soon left their positions at Stanford to concentrate on Coursera. Success followed quickly, with major American universities like Princeton, Stanford, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania soon offering courses content on the site.

The courses on Coursera are taught by professors and tutors from first-rank universities from all over the world. Coursera has links with institutions in 48 countries, highlighting the company’s global reach. While prices start at US$39, there are also plenty of free courses that can be accessed very easily online. All paid-for courses offer a shareable course certificate once you have successfully completed them. Most courses last between four and 10 weeks, with one or two hours of video lectures offered each week.

Coursera offers the chance for learners to perfect a specialisations, with these courses offering rigorous challenges and the chance to complete real business challenges. These 100% online courses also offer a shareable certificate to use as proof of competence in your working life. Courses that award professional certificates and Master Track certificates are also available, and you can even enrol in degree courses at Coursera, with universities as prominent as Yale offering courses on the site.

A mobile app is available that can make your course content and tasks even more accessible, and there is plenty of academic and technical support on offer to all learners too. Video subtitles are provided in over 30 different languages, such is the worldwide reach of Coursera. More than 40 million learners use Coursera, as well as 1,900 businesses.

Here, we will provide you with an in depth Coursera review, helping learners and businesses across the world make an informed decision on whether or not Coursera is worth it. Read on to discover whether or not this is the kind of online course provider you want to use.

 

Founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller.

Coursera: How Expensive is Coursera in 2020?

It is actually quite hard to find out just how much individual courses cost at Coursera without signing up for a course. Throughout our Coursera Review, we found this is something of a drawback when it comes to individuals assessing whether or not the courses really are value for money or not, and it may relate to the issues about finance that are raised in many customer reviews, which we will look at in more detail later in this article.

Basic courses start at around $39, and usually last for four to six weeks, which seems like a reasonable price. Obviously, as you move up the ladder and look to take more complex and demanding courses, prices will rise. Coursera UK state that the average cost of an online degree, for example, is around $22,000.

The most cost efficient way to pay for Coursera courses is to take up a subscription at the site. There is plenty of detail at the site about how this is the most efficient way to pay for a course, but very little specific detail about how much each course will cost you. There is a great deal of variety in the courses offered, of course, which means that prices will range from tens of dollars right up to thousands.

What Courses Are Available At Coursera?

There is a huge range of courses on offer from Coursera, ranging from very basic free courses right up to Master’s Degrees. A huge range of subjects is covered. Here, we’ll take a closer look at what’s on offer to learners from all over the world.

Business

Business is one area that Coursera really covers extensively. Whatever your level of business experience, it is fair to say that Coursera will have a course for you. Seven Masters degree courses are at the top of the pyramid, while you can also take a courses in subjects like Digital Transformation, Strategic Innovation and Improving Leadership at almost any academic or vocational level.

Development / Coding

Computer science is another area that Coursera covers extensively. There is a host of computer-related and Information Technology courses that you can take. Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in computer science are at the top of the pyramid, while one of the site’s most popular courses is Programming for Everybody, offered by the University of Michigan.

Finance

You can access the wide range of finance courses at Coursera by finding the finance tab, which is located under the Business section. You can take Master’s degrees in Business Administration as well as Accounting. The most popular finance course is Financial Engineering and Risk Management, which is provided by Columbia University.

Photography

You can find the photography courses at Coursera under the Arts and Humanities tab at the site. There are four photography courses on offer at Coursera, ranging from a specialisation course in photography basics provided by the University of Michigan, to a photography capstone project, also offered by the same university.

Marketing

Marketing is another of the subject areas that Coursera covers exceptionally well. The marketing courses are located in the Business section of the site. The most popular marketing course is a course in digital marketing that is offered by the University of Illinois. There is also an MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the HEC in Paris.

Personal Development

When you click on the Personal Development tab at Coursera you are taken to a section where hundreds of interesting courses are offered. Courses on food and health, the science of exercise, and psychiatry and mental health are all examples of what is on offer.  Many of the most popular courses are in languages, with Chinese a particularly popular option.

Content Quality at Coursera?

Coursera has a huge and genuinely impressive range of courses on offer, that covers almost every level of ability and aspiration, right up to Master’s degrees. The courses are offered at fair prices and the range of subject areas covered is huge. This is a superb online resource for anyone looking to improve their skills and learning.

As you would expect from a site that has links to many of the world’s most prestigious universities, the reputation of the tutors is outstanding. After all, some of the site’s first courses were taught by the two founders, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, both world-renowned experts in the world of computer science. At Coursera, you are given access on each course to this level of expertise and experience.

All courses are taught by the academic and technical specialists from the institution that offers the course. This means that learners are taught by some of the world’s acknowledged experts in each field. Universities such as the HEC in Paris and Stanford University are staffed by the world’s best academic minds, meaning that the level of tutoring at Coursera is outstanding. Many online reviews testify to the quality of the teaching offered at Coursera, highlighting just what a strong part of the overall service this is.

Course length — too long, too short?

When it comes to the length of courses at Coursera, there is a massive variation. This is simply due to the nature of the qualifications being offered. A Master’s degree will usually take around a year to complete, with a Bachelor’s degree usually taking around three to four years. Basic courses at Coursera usually run for between four to six weeks, so there is a massive amount of variation depending on the type of course that you are undertaking.

Of course, as most of the qualifications on offer are provided by universities with international reputations, course lengths are set by experts. This is not a course provider where anyone with a degree can offer a course and decide on an arbitrary length for it. All courses provide plenty of interactive material, so lengths are also set to give learners enough time to make full use of all course materials, and to draw upon the expertise of some truly high-quality tutors.

Reputation of Coursera: What Are The Students Saying?

Online reviews by students regarding Coursera are, in the main, very positive. Reviews from people who have actually undertaken the courses on offer frequently hail the detail and quality that they provide. Some also highlight the excellent customer service the site offers, with its live chat function being praised by many for its speedy and helpful responses. Many also highlight the good functionality and usability of the site’s mobile app, something that is particularly important right now.

Another area that many positive reviewers noted was the very wide selection of courses that is available. This is an area where Coursera really excels, as we have noted elsewhere in this review. Learners are genuinely excited that there is such a wide variety of high-quality courses provided by some of the world’s very finest educational institutions.

There are some reviews that can be found that complain about the financial side of things at Coursera, and how they charge for their special offers. Whether these are valid, or just the complaints of people who did not read the terms and conditions properly is sometimes hard to tell. If you are signing up for any special deals being offered at Coursera, though, make sure you read the terms and conditions carefully.

When reading negative reviews online, it is important to remember that Coursera offers courses to millions of people worldwide in dozens of countries. There are always going to be a certain number of individuals who have not read terms and conditions properly and have become confused, and many of the negative reviews seem to reflect this. What is worth noting is that many positive reviews come from people who have returned to the site time and again to take new courses, a sure sign that Coursera is offering many learners exactly what they want.

Featured Courses At Coursera

Of the plethora of courses that are available at Coursera, there are two in particular that stand out as particularly impressive, and therefore worthy of extra attention for anyone considering enrolling with this institution. Here’s what you need to know.

Algorithms Specialization

The ‘Specialization’ courses at Coursera are all incredibly popular, but this course on Algorithms is particularly noteworthy for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the course is offered by one of the most reputable institutions in the USA: Stanford. Secondly, the course is impressively in-depth, and takes approximately four months to complete. Last but not least, there’s no denying the necessity of the subject matter: algorithms are vital to the modern world, so learning more about this critical subject is an outstanding choice for anyone hoping to further their career prospects.

Impressively, the Algorithms Specialization is offered free of charge, so all you’ll be investing is your time – and given the high praise stated by graduated students who choose to leave a Stanford algorithms Coursera review online, you can be sure your time will be very well spent indeed.

Python For Everybody Specialization

Another ‘Specialization’ course, this course is offered by the prestigious University of Michigan, and provides a complete guide to programming language Python. The course is aimed at providing valuable information that will help students learn to produce their own applications using Python, with special focuses on database design and data structures. Given the expected shortfall of programmers the world is expected to experience in the future, anyone seeking a strong career opportunity in a thriving field should thus consider this impressive course.

While there’s no denying that programming is complex, newcomers need not be concerned; as, any Python For Everybody Coursera review you may read will confirm that this course is completely beginner-friendly, and is thus capable of providing a strong foundation for a future in programming. Finally – and as with the course discussed above – we wanted to highlight that the fantastic Python For Everybody course is completely free of charge, which is all the more impressive given the value learning Python will inevitably bring to the professional life of any student.

 

8.4Expert Score
Coursera Reviews & Ratings 2021 With over 40 millions students worldwide studying courses that range right up to Master's degrees, Coursera is a very fine online educator where opportunities are endless. Basic courses start at just $39.
PROS
  • Range of courses
  • International accreditation
  • Renowned product partners
  • Flexible affordable options
CONS
  • Some tutors are not tech savvy which reflects in video quality. However this is rare.

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