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Coursera

Coursera

Overview

What is Coursera?

Coursera is a learning management platform from the company of the same name in Mountain View, California.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Coursera is widely used by individuals and organizations for a variety of purposes. Users can choose from a wide range of courses to stay …
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Coursera... the best option!

10 out of 10
November 30, 2019
Incentivized
We use Coursera to to keep some of our organization members up to date. We sometimes let them choose which courses they want to take (of …
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Pricing

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Team

$400

Cloud
Per User Per Year

Enterprise

Contact Sales

Cloud

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

Demo and Training with

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Coursera Android Capstone Project Final Demo

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Demo and Training with undefined

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Object Oriented Design | University of Alberta Coursera | Capstone Project | SharingApp

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Daily Selfie App - Coursera Android Capstone Project for the Android Specialization

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COURSERA FREE COURSE - ENDROLMENT DEMO - HURRY UP - ENDROL FROM 23 TO 28 APR22 - LINK IN DESCRIPTION

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Product Details

What is Coursera?

Coursera Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Coursera is a learning management platform from the company of the same name in Mountain View, California.

Udemy for Business and LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com) are common alternatives for Coursera.

Reviewers rate Learning content highest, with a score of 9.5.

The most common users of Coursera are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(86)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Coursera is widely used by individuals and organizations for a variety of purposes. Users can choose from a wide range of courses to stay updated with their organization's needs and improve their skills. Many users find Coursera to be a time-effective way to immerse themselves in disciplines like data science or programming languages, as it offers programming assignments and projects that help them apply their knowledge. In addition, Coursera provides affordable courses that offer more value than traditional college courses, making it an attractive option for individuals looking to gain new skills or enhance their existing ones.

One key use case of Coursera is personal development. Users can utilize Coursera to gain insight into different job types and become more well-rounded assets in their company. They can also use it to gain basic knowledge in data science and software development, allowing them to better understand their industry. In addition, Coursera offers courses from top universities and professors, providing employees with access to the best instructors in the industry and enabling them to learn from the best.

Another important use case of Coursera is professional development within organizations. Many users have implemented employee training using Coursera's training plans, considering it the best resource on the market due to the quality of its content. Coursera serves as an excellent professional development tool, allowing staff in different divisions to access course content from other divisions. This enables employees to develop new skills that are relevant to their roles and expand their knowledge base.

Furthermore, Coursera is often used by educational institutions to offer courses from well-known IT companies. Through Coursera, these institutions can provide certificates and academic credit to students who complete the courses. This collaboration between Coursera and renowned institutions helps bridge the gap between academia and industry and prepares students for post-graduation.

Overall, Coursera has proven to be a versatile platform catering to various user needs. Whether it is for personal growth, professional development, or collaboration between educational institutions and industry, Coursera offers a wide range of courses and content, making it a valuable resource for individuals and organizations alike.

Well-organized and wide catalog: Reviewers have mentioned that Coursera is very well organized and offers a wide catalog of courses. This has been appreciated by several users for providing easy access to a diverse range of topics, allowing them to explore different areas of interest.

Effective interactive learning: Many reviewers have highlighted the effectiveness of Coursera's interactive learning approach. They mention that the platform encourages hands-on learning through assignments that are graded by peers using rubrics. This interactive nature of the courses, especially in programming, has been praised by users as an effective way to learn and apply new skills.

Low cost of entry: The low cost of entry on Coursera has been seen as a positive aspect by several reviewers. Most courses are free, with optional fees for certifications. Users appreciate this pricing model as it allows them to freely explore various subjects without financial constraints, similar to having access to a public library of learning resources.

Outdated Information: Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with certain courses on Coursera due to outdated information, especially in technology-related subjects where up-to-date knowledge is crucial.

Lack of Forum Moderation: Reviewers have mentioned that the moderation in Coursera's forums is lacking, as instances of criticism and bullying towards classmates often go unaddressed by moderators. This creates an uneasy community environment for learners.

Limited Course Availability: Several reviewers have noted disappointment with certain courses on Coursera that are only available on specific dates. This limitation restricts access to course materials and hinders the learning experience for those interested in the classes.

Based on user reviews, users commonly recommend the following about Coursera:

  1. Explore a wide range of courses: Users highly recommend Coursera for its extensive catalog of courses. They believe that Coursera is a great platform to learn something new and update skills in various fields. Users suggest starting with free courses before considering paid degree or certificate programs.

  2. Value the certificates: Reviewers mention that Coursera certificates hold great value and are worth pursuing despite being paid. However, they emphasize that learning is more important than the certificate itself. Users recommend completing courses on time and actively participating in the forums to enhance the learning experience.

  3. Consider personal comfort and course updates: Users advise choosing courses on Coursera based on personal comfort and interest. It is suggested to check whether the course is subtitled in a language the user masters. Furthermore, users recommend checking for course updates before enrolling to ensure that the content is up-to-date.

Overall, Coursera receives high praise as a platform for online learning, particularly for students, professionals, and individuals seeking to update their skills or explore world-class knowledge. While some users mention the desire for more free courses or a lower cost for certificates, they still find great value in the quality teaching and organized structure provided by Coursera's extensive course catalog.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-17 of 17)
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Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
In terms of self-paced learning, Coursera did a very good job, tracking progress, and giving feedback and assignments at the end, Coursera ensured overall development. It was also good at troubleshooting queries and help and support were provided quickly
  • Quality Content
  • Good teachers
  • Practical assignment
  • Better User Interface
  • More Dynamic and Practical courses
  • Less time for a course
It did well in terms of good quality content, almost all the features of Coursera are best and market-friendly than udemy.It could do better in terms of User Interface and easy to use feature
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Coursera enables my institution to provide courses from well-known information technology companies such as Google and IBM, which are involved in information technology. Students who complete Coursera courses will get a certificate from the vendor and academic credit.
  • Students may take courses given by well-known companies.
  • Peer-reviewed projects and assignments are provided to help students learn in a more hands-on way.
  • Courses may be easily started and completed quickly because of the uniformity with which they are organized.
  • The expense of certain courses might be prohibitive.
  • Improvements to the mobile app are possible.
  • There is a need for improvement in browser compatibility; certain stimulation assignments only work with a particular browser.
Students may choose from a wide range of courses, from beginner to advanced. Coursera is well suited for online learners; most courses are instructor, lead where due dates are included. Coursera is less appropriate for students who do not like online learning.
Karl-Heinz Meister | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Having worked for many decades within different areas of the automotive industry, I have a lot of general knowledge, and experience and did my MBA beside working as a senior manager. However, this is a decade ago and In my new role, I am facing different projects. I use Coursera to bring me up to speed with new technology and use it as well for benchmarking when preparing Gap analyses, finding the best tools for project management and so on.
  • consistency in the set up of courses makes it easy to start and quick to go through them.
  • The variety of courses is exciting
  • Update courses when technology or software is changing
  • ability to use different browsers for assignments. You mainly have to use Chrome
  • some of the introductions are a bit repetitive and could be shortened
To me, as someone who loves to learn, it is a fantastic tool for work. I learned about UI, reminded myself about project management fundamentals and currently learn about Salesforce to understand what it makes so successful. You also can use it to learn more about wellbeing, nutrition, etc. I pay for it myself and will definitely sign up again when my 12 months membership is over.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Coursera is used in many cases to offer free courses to peak the curiosity of potential students. We also use it to reach a large pool of international learners who would not normally have access to our content. It is also an excellent tool for allowing staff in other divisions free access to course content from other divisions serving as an excellent professional development tool.
  • Staff Training.
  • Professional Development.
  • Lead Generation.
  • International Outreach.
  • The UI or the LMS could be more modern/intuitive.
  • The quiz/exam tool is limited especially in line video knowledge checks.
  • Login can be confusing if you have multiple accounts (Personal/business/employer etc).
  • Analytics reporting dashboard is pretty basic.
The Coursera platform can be a useful part of your overall learning content portfolio if utilized correctly. It's fantastic for asynchronous courses that don't necessarily need a dedicated faculty member (though I'd highly recommend at least having some discussion moderators/student workers) and for offering MOOCs. The ability for the learners to contribute translations really makes it ideal for the international learning community - I am always amazed to see a course we launched with 2-3 languages to quickly have 10-12 more added. This feature really helps expand the audience reach and Coursera has such a large following already that it can grow seemingly overnight.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Coursera offers courses from the professors of the world's best universities like Stanford University. It also offers professional as well as non-professional courses. Specializations in different fields are also available on Coursera like cyber security, machine learning, etc. It has solved employees' competency-related issues because now people can take classes from the best instructors in the industry as well as professors from the best universities.
  • Variety of courses/ certificates available.
  • Guided projects / assignments available for practical understanding.
  • Best university degree courses available.
  • Certifications fees are bit higher.
  • Mobile application can be more user friendly.
  • Time limit on courses increases the pressure on students to complete the course on time.
It is best suited for working professionals like me as well as students who want to increase their skills in the continuously changing technology landscape. Also, we can also take practical understanding of real-world projects with the help of the guided projects option. Peer review of assignments is a great feature present on Coursera. It may be less appropriate for some college students who cannot afford the high fees of certification courses so Coursera should offer extra discounts to college-going students.
Oleksandr Torlo | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
For more than 5 years, as in every organization where I held managerial/leadership positions, I have implemented employee training by developing a training plan for them in Coursera. I consider this resource the best on the market precisely because of the quality of the content that is there. Certificates, obtained on the Coursera, are not in vain valued by many companies - they are hard to get, but the person who receives such a certificate has decent knowledge.
  • Content Quality.
  • Hard-earned certification.
  • Completeness of knowledge.
  • I would like more variety of types of test questions.
  • I would like a more user-friendly interface with fewer clicks.
If you need to train your employees in new specialties or improve their current knowledge, then Coursera is definitely the best choice. However, you should aim for long-term training, as many specializations last for 2-3 months. If you are looking for very short courses, then this resource is not for you.
Piyush Mittal | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Coursera has almost all the courses that a student or working professional needs to grow. I have purchased many courses for me and my team in budget price. It has collaboration with multiple international universities to solve competency-related issues. It also provides many courses for free. We can also pay in multiple EMI.
  • International universities collaboration.
  • User friendly website / app.
  • Multiple payment options.
  • Passing Criteria is High (80%).
  • Deadline to pass a certificate.
  • Peer review system to review assignments.
  • Slide content is old for some courses.
When someone wants to learn new techniques from the comfort of their home, it will be best to use Coursera because it has collaboration with international universities at less price. The less appropriate scenario is we cannot get personalised feedback from my professors/instructors and also the discussion forum section needs to be modernised.
Alejandro Matheu, MD, MBA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Coursera to to keep some of our organization members up to date. We sometimes let them choose which courses they want to take (of course... it should always be related to what they do in our organization), and sometimes we choose what we think is important to learn or to be up to date. This helps to make our workers happier, because they learn, they feel they are learning new things, and of course... it adds more value to our workers, which means it adds more value to our company.
  • Coursera is very well organized. They are partnered with the most important educational institutions around the world.
  • They are very “up to date” in topics of interest and new courses.
  • Coursera has the widest catalog of courses, all of them with a certification given by them in name of a professional institution, like universities.
  • They also have programs together with universities that allow you to get a Masters Degree and Specializations. (Which is awesome)
  • Some of the courses (very few) have some old information (more than 2 years), and in some areas like technology the information has to be very new and updated.
  • Some professors or people doing videos are not good in front of the camera, they should train their people a little bit more for those things.
I think that Coursera is well suited in all scenarios—for example, for people who don't have a degree but just want knowledge in specific areas. And for people with a professional degree looking for something new to learn, to be updated in some specific areas, or even new areas, it's great. And for those who are looking to get a masters degree from a well-known institution or an international one, this is a good option.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I have been using Coursera at least five years now. It is a great platform for self improvement. I had all kinds of courses on it from different universities. The quality of courses is great. I have recommended a lot of my friends to use it. It is very recommendable.
  • Lots of high quality classes.
  • Flexible schedule. Have class according to your own timeline.
  • Great financial aids.
  • I have not found anything that needs to be improved.
If you are in a company where employees need continuing education on certain subjects, you can choose Coursera as the platform to train. It has a variety of subjects that can meet your needs, including computer science, financing, accounting, etc. Coursera also has a business membership you can use that will save you money in the long run.
Rei Shinozuka, CFA®, FRM® | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I recommend Coursera individually to employees as a very time-effective way to immerse oneself into disciplines such as data science or programming languages. It is far more effective than a 3-day workshop. The reason is because the student must invest far more time into the course, with programming assignments and projects. For the courses I'd taken, I'd estimate for an 8-week course something on the order of 40-60 hours of work.
  • Interaction: the student learns by doing. For programming courses, this means programming!
  • Assessments: the courses I'd taken ask students to grade each others work with a rubric. This is hugely effective and permits tests and quizzes to be other than multiple choice.
  • Creativity and enthusiasm of the instructors. Some of the approaches demonstrated real out-of-the-box thinking by the instructors. For example, the Rice Python course was a self-contained website requiring no installation of IDE on one's computer, and the final project was a working version of Asteroids.
  • Low cost of entry: most of the course I enrolled in were free, with an optional fee for certifications. This really gives people the freedom to explore learning. It's almost like a Public Library of Learning.
  • Coursera forces a weekly discipline on the user with lectures and assignments and this really motivates one to put in the effort.
  • If you leave the projects for the weekends, your Sunday nights could be a drag. But I list this as a benefit also, it enforces discipline on the learning process.
  • I hope Coursera continues to offer no-cost and low-cost learning opportunities.
  • I honestly can't think of any serious deficiency in the product. I am a huge fan.

It's absolutely ideal for programming. Today, most programming environments are available for free and enthusiasts can tinker with programming on their own. But Coursera structures that process and presents iteratively more complex assignments to the student.

I found it useful for non-programming. I took a refresher Calculus course and the user was able to enter solutions symbolically which I found impressive.

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It's used by some departments to augment the internal learning platform.
  • Breadth of topics covered are really good
  • Very streamlined and easy to use
  • Alliance with academia and domain experts
  • More collaboration on creation of courses
  • Should have free courses for not niche topics
  • Mobile interface has room for improvement
The content is high quality, and it's easy to use.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Courseera is not used officially by our organization. Its not like we have a contract with them. But me and my colleagues have taken courses from there. I have taken courses from it when I was a student also
  • Coursera's courses are extremely good. They are well designed and being a full time employee I really appreciate the fact of how well they are designed.
  • They have made sure that everybody gets enough time to complete it.
  • There is an active community which is very helpful. No matter how good a teaching material is, you might always need extra help. This community can answer your question. And also this becomes extremely relevant if you are taking programming courses
  • There are assignments to test your skills. This is a great way to evaluate yourself. At this point if you feel like you haven't understood something, you can always go back and refer the videos. Most of these assignments can be applied to real world problems as well which is great
  • When I started Coursera was completely free. Being a student it was very helpful for me. I think this free service should be brought back at-least for students.
I am not sure how this will be applicable to business other than the fact that everyone can educate themselves on a particular topic.
Coursera's coverage is great, they have training materials on literally every subject you can imagine. The only one scenario that I think an organization can benefit from this is instead of sending their employees to offline training session which ends up becoming expensive, now everyone can take quality online training sessions.
April 06, 2018

Expand your Horizons!

Donovon Carter | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
At this point I am using Coursera personally to gain insight into different facets of my job, and different job types that I interact with. Because DevOps is a fairly broad field, I feel there is always a possibility to gain more insight into the roles of my colleagues either on the Dev side or on the Ops side. I feel this makes me a more relatable asset and a better go-between for some of the more heads down assets in the company.
  • Wide variety of courses
  • Free courses available as well as paid
  • Big names in the tech field are providing courses
  • More free courses
  • Better entry level explainers
  • Continued development of the online classroom environment
I think it fits my use case fairly well on a personal level, but could also work extremely well for on-boarding new employees and helping them get up to speed regarding a specific technology or set of technologies. It's also just a good idea to continue to learn to expand yourself, so even if it was just a once a quarter exercise to learn something new, I think it would be helpful.
Andrew Starodubtsev | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Coursera is one of my top primary sources for online education where I attend classes in Computer Science, math and related disciplines, provided by the best educators from leading universities. I personally consider learning Coursera as a preparatory step for post-graduating to a university and receiving a bachelor's degree rather than getting a job.
  • MOOC platform
  • Online learning
  • Classic academia education
  • Course videos sometimes very childish
  • More infographics, graphs
Coursera, in my opinion, is suitable for everyone who is looking for either work or training in their profession, or for self-education. "Contraindications" for using Coursera probably do not exist because knowledge is always in price and useful. If a person has free time and desire to extend his or her knowledge, then Coursera is one of the best assistants in this matter.
Ilia Tarasov | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I have taken courses like, "Introduction with MATLAB" for educational reasoning. I was able to learn a lot with the videos the course offers and the homework challenge my critical thinking skills. Cousera also has courses which require payment. But it's definitely affordable and worth [more] than paying over $1000 for a course in college.
  • The variety of courses to choose from is incredible
  • There are so many different subjects covered, and they are taught by amazing instructors
  • I can decide to learn something like DataScience today and start taking well-prepared courses right away at the comfort of my living room
  • The problem with Coursera is the moderation in the forums. From the few courses I have taken, many of my classmates were criticized heavily or bullied by other classmates for asking questions in the forum. This hasn’t gotten any attention from the forum moderators which makes the community feel uneasy with helping each other.
  • Most of the courses and the related materials used to be freely available on Coursera. However, with the recent changes, some of the courses are categorized into specific tracks, and they are not free anymore. However I am glad that one can still audit the paid courses, but access to the course materials may be limited.
  • Some courses are only available on specific dates and I have missed out on classes I was really interested in.
Coursera is an online learning platform that offers courses taught by the best professors in the world. Hence, investing in learning through Coursera is guaranteed to have high returns. As the Coursera certifications are becoming widely known, if someone is trying to build a career on a specific track, taking Coursera courses for certifications is highly recommended.

It is a great resource if you have an interest in something, but do not want to take a full college course or go back to college. If you want to stay busy and build some skills casually, this is a great alternative to a college. It also helps boost a resume, as it shows you are genuinely interested in learning new things and growing.
Hiroyuki Nagata | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In my case, I only have taken some lessons privately through Coursera.
  • Coursera provides very practical and cutting-edge courses. I think it's very useful for many software engineers or architects. I prefer learning in Coursera to getting any other examinations or certificates in order to grasp practical knowledge.
  • Coursera can federate with my LinkedIn profile. You can show your achievement on the internet instead of some real "paper" certificates. It's great and a pleasure.
  • It may be not so advantageous in comparison with other MOOCs, however Coursera provides web testing. It proves your knowledge & skill is real stuff.
  • I feel it's slow to load course pages.
I recommend it for other engineers to take web courses related to their current problems. For example, Algorithm class will be enable newbie developers to write good code.
Nic Klopper | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am a chartered accountant who started working for a GIS software development/business intelligence company. I have used Coursera to get up to speed with basic concepts of data science and software development in order to better understand the industry in which we operate. I have also done interesting courses for my hobby as musician.

Beyond using Coursera only for my personal development, I have recommended my staff to register for themselves, and have even made it obligatory for junior interns to spend an hour per day on Coursera on courses that I recommend, for them to learn essential life and business skills.
  • Provide courses for users to improve on their professional business skills.
  • Provide courses for users to learn the basics of new skill sets that might be required for their industry.
  • Motivate users to take part in continuous professional development and specialization, a critical skill in today's (and tomorrow's) business environment.
  • Give users exposure to new fields of interest, that they can explore at no risk.
  • None that I can think of. Brilliant service.
I would recommend it to any professional looking to expand the scope of his/her professional competence. In my experience, it is important to have at least a basic understanding of what it is that your employees are doing, especially the possibilities and limitations of what they are capable of. This enables you to better manage them, and push them to their optimal performance. I would also recommend it to staff, to improve on their existing skill-set, and especially recommend the life-skills courses to junior staff.
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