Features Comparison of Lynda.com vs Udemy
Common Systems Group – April 22, 2014
Lynda.com
Udemy.com
SUMMARY
Pros:
• Many technical, design, and business courses • In-house course design and editorial process • Consistent course structure and design • Consistent production quality (audio/video) • More mobile options
• Accessibility: +/- 90% closed captioning + transcripts
Cons:
• Higher cost than Udemy • Fewer highly technical topics • Limited interaction with instructors
Pros:
• Greater number of courses and variety of topics • More highly technical and certification topics available • Active discussion boards with instructors
• User ratings and reviews
Cons:
• Inconsistent course structure & design • Inconsistent production quality (audio/video) • Limited editorial oversight
(errors, inconsistent writing)
• Not accessible (no closed captions/transcripts)
CATALOG OFFERINGS
Cost Basic $25/month ; $250/year annual; Premium $37.50/mo; $375/year annual;
(includes exercise files)
UCLA proposed cost: $155-160k campus license
Single user: Course prices set by instructor. Varies from free to
hundreds of dollars per course.
Udemy for Organizations $29/user/month (5 person min.) UCLA proposed cost: $30k for 10,000 users
Topic Areas Business, Design, Developer (Programming, Databases), Video, Web, Photography, Education, Audio + Music, 3D + Animation, CAD
Technology, Business, Design, Arts, Languages, Hobbies, Games, Social Sciences, History, Self-Help and many more random categories
Number of Titles Estimated 2,536 based on categories and numbers of titles in
categories (but may be some cross-listing). “More than 14,000 courses available” but estimated 400+ courses in Udemy for Organizations platform.
Languages English 10+, but majority are in English
Number of Titles -
Sample Technical Topics **Udemy numbers based on full course catalog Excel 2013 53 courses, 2281 video tutorials 27 courses (English)
Photoshop 301 courses, 17,626 video tutorials 141 courses (English)
PowerPoint
2013 3 courses, 151 video tutorials 48 courses (English) Java 9 courses, 393 video tutorials 48 courses (English)
HTML 5 14 courses, 175 video tutorials 6 courses (English)
Project Management 25 courses, 350 video tutorials 211 courses (English)
User Experience (UX) 211 courses, 460 video tutorials 142 courses (English)
ITIL 0 4 courses (English)
LAMP 1 course, 38 video tutorials 16 courses (English)
Mobile app development 53 courses, 2054 video tutorials 249 courses (English)
Certification Tracks No courses designated as certification track Test prep and CEUs for Cisco, Microsoft, PMP, etc.
Search/Browse Browse by category, subcategory, software; search by
keyword; filter results by skill level, author, company, version. Browse by category/topic; search by keyword; filter by free/paid, language, popularity, number of reviews, new & noteworthy, certification track.
EDITORIAL PROCESS
Editorial Process In-house editorial team. Publish course checklist for review process but not clear how closely they review production quality, content, grammar, accuracy. Some courses show significant typos.
Authors Subject matter experts contracted through Lynda.com. Wide range from individual subject matter experts and professional trainers and training vendors, to random people. Course development tool helps instructors structure their course and upload content.
User Reviews Not available. Users can rate courses 1-5 stars and enter text reviews.
COURSE DESIGN
Course Structure Divided into chapters with video tutorials (usually 5-15
minutes). Varies by course. Lectures may include video, audio, downloadable ebook, files.
Course Overview Course details pane shows duration, summary, and topics
covered. Also covered in Introductory lecture. Course info page includes target audience and “What am I going to get from this course”
Outline/Table of
Contents Course divided into chapters, videos, each with duration listed. Icon indicates if already viewed. Can skip topics. Course divided into sections, lectures (video, text, files, slides). Icon indicates if already viewed. Can skip topics unless course checkpoints (such as quiz) set up.
Video/Graphic Quality Consistent. Instructor video shots focused, well-lighted.
Screenshots clear. Varies. Different resolutions, some instructors clearly reading cue cards. Some graphics very clip-arty.
Audio/Narration
Quality Clear, professional sounding. Clear speaking voices. Consistent acoustics. Varies, some professional voiceover, many non-professional sounding or difficult to understand; poor acoustics, overall recording quality mixed.
Exercises Many courses have downloadable exercise files. Some courses have downloadable exercise files
Note-taking Not available. Can take time-coded notes and download as CSV.
Quizzing Not available. Built into course creation tool; unclear how many courses offer this and how well designed. Can be “checkpoint”.
Instructor & Peer
(privacy issue TBD).
Tracking/Bookmarking Tracks progress. Tracks progress.
Transcript/Certificates In-progress and completed courses display under Course History. Can view/print, save as PDF, or share via LinkedIn, FB, Twitter, email.
In-progress and completed courses display under My Courses. Can download/print image or PDF certificate.
TECHNICAL
Accessibility Transcript & closed captioning on +/- 90% of courses. E.g. 456 out of 505 business courses; 386 out of 445 design courses; 295 out of 322 developer courses
No current transcripts/captioning. Per Udemy, they are planning to make courses accessible. Potential disqualifier from consideration.
Full site requirements Recommended:
• Latest version of the following browsers: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Internet Explorer.
• Adobe Flash Player plugin.
• JavaScript and cookies must be enabled. • A broadband Internet connection.
Required:
• Adobe Flash Player 10.0.22+ plug-in
• Firefox 1.1+, Internet Explorer 9, Safari 1.0+, Google Chrome*, or Opera (Chrome recommended) • Broadband connection with 500+ Kbps
Mobile support Mobile web:
• Redirects to mobile version of site: m.lynda.com iOS app
• iPad, iPhone 3GS or iPod touch (4th generation) • iOS 6.0+
Android app
• All android phones and tablets [See Officially supported devices] • Android 2.3+
Mobile web:
Responsive design, same site can be viewed on mobile browsers
iOS app
• Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. App is optimized for iPhone 5.
Android app
• Requires Android 4.0 and up
Offline use Can download courses for offline use via iOS app (not
Android). Can download via Android or iOS app for offline use; instructor has option to make downloadable or not. Some lectures can be downloaded as mp4.
UCLA Logon ID