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Continuous professional development
November 08, 2016

Continuous professional development

Nic Klopper | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Coursera

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.
  • Not easy to measure, since it adds soft skills that indirectly increase the overall company ROI.
  • For staff, the investment in time adds to their efficiency in their current positions, and improves their employ-ability for future positions.
  • Colleges
Obviously, Coursera lacks some of the formal credentials that a college or university degree offers. It also has limitations when it comes to a broad scope curated academic course that a university degree offers. However, it does afford users who couldn't afford a full-on degree, either with regards to cost or time, the opportunity to access high quality learning materials that can significantly improve their ability to do work. I believe that a self-taught employee, especially in this era of insanely fast technological development, can be of more value to a company than an army of employees that only believe in the traditional model of studying for 4 years and spending the rest of their lives limited to the knowledge and skills obtained during their studies.
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.