Skillshare Review
Skillshare Review
Skillshare was founded in New York in 2010 by two veterans, Michael Karnjanaprakorn and Malcolm Ong, veterans of the digital world. It offers more than 35,000+ courses (or, as they say, classes) and 5 million users. It is one of the most popular eLearning platforms and focuses on classes for creative professionals and entrepreneurs.
What is Skillshare?
Skillshare is an online learning community where you can practice and master everything you ever wanted to learn. It offers a wide range of courses in art, coding, design, photography, filmmaking, marketing, video game design and more. Thousands of passionate instructors develop all these courses, and for this reason, they all can be recommended.
Some courses even have a community of users that can collaborate in the comments section. All these courses are also free of charge, and if you sign up for a Skillshare account, it will give you a free domain. At the same time, the number of courses is not as high as it used to be a few years ago.
There are still thousands of interesting courses that will improve your skills. New ones are added every day. Skillshare is a marketplace where anyone can upload their video classes and share them with the community. It is organized in both individual and team channels where people can follow other people’s classes.
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As you might have guessed, most of the instructors don’t charge a fee for their classes. You should first register on the site and click “Begin a Free Trial” at the top of the page. After signing up, you have access to all the classes you can find on the site.
The classes are organized into many channels and categories where you can find classes related to specific topics like:
- Photography,
- Digital Marketing,
- Business Management, etc.
Skillshare is a community of creatives and entrepreneurs, those people who want to learn, share and teach others. While YouTube has all kinds of do-it-yourself training, Skillshare focuses on instructive education. Skillshare has 10 million users that pay $15 monthly to access 30,000+ hours of eLearning classes.
It is a member of the second category of free online education platforms, which charge users but are still considered educational, in this case, UML (Unique Master of Liberal Arts) accredited. The current range of topics and courses is huge. You can learn anything from typography, painting and photography, to 3D design and digital marketing. Skills shared are highly relevant for entrepreneurs who want to build a strong audience to their social profiles.
Skillshare, which was launched in 2010, is an online marketplace where people can take classes. It has an extremely intuitive interface. You can take as many classes as you want (at least they could charge some for this) without feeling like you are wasting your time.
You can search for classes from the categories such as design, marketing and UX, and if you are curious about something that is not there yet, there is a good chance you can learn about it through the community. All the classes are recorded, and you can listen to the lesson or watch the video as many times as you want.
It’s probably the best kind of eLearning. It allows you to play a role in the classes, take a particular role, and take all the classes from the topic or genre that interests you.
How Does Skillshare Work?
The Skillshare community is formed by people like you, who love to share what they know, learn from others, and learn how to create something special. This community is open to anyone and everyone, and there are no sales, gimmicks, or other ways to get in. What you get are just free videos and the freedom to decide how to get started.
The main focus of Skillshare is to support creative people and entrepreneurs from all over the world, and the way they do this is by offering free online video courses, where they allow you to learn from the best. Handpicked instructors teach the courses, and you will find lectures, readings and project briefs from
- Art,
- Design,
- Technology,
- Health,
- Business
- and much more.
Skillshare works on a free program that anyone can use. Any free account is more than enough to run a course, but you can also choose to pay on the monthly or yearly plan.
Once you pay for a plan, you will have access to tools that will allow you to improve your teaching and other administrative tasks. This platform offers 3 categories: Skillshare for Creatives, Skillshare for Entrepreneurs and Skillshare for Students.
First of all, Skillshare is a collaborative learning platform where you are not a teacher of yourself but a student of other professionals worldwide. You register for a free account, and when you’ve set up an account, you can explore a wide variety of video and online classes in your area of expertise or try out some new ideas and approaches.
Each time you see an interesting video, book or take the quiz, you have to click on it, write a review for the teacher, and ask the students to look at your profile. The courses that you do not watch are free, but you have to pay to participate in the commenting part. And why do they need all those reviews?
Because if students take the review and try to do a good job in it, they can qualify for free courses. After registering on the website, you can see a list of courses you’re interested in. Then you can decide whether to take the course, look up the lectures to see what materials you’ll need and a more or less complete picture of the upcoming class, and share your course with friends if you like.
Once you take a class, it will appear on your dashboard. This is where you can find out whether you need a microphone, access to the WebEx program, a projector or any other requirements that will take some time to complete.
For the beginner, Skillshare is a great way to become familiar with the digital world. However, it might take a lot of time for you to master all the necessary technology to excel as a digital marketer or entrepreneur.
Advantages Of Using Skillshare
The first advantage of using Skillshare is that you can go at your own pace. So, while you can go from Beginner to Advanced pretty easily, you can also go through courses in a series of lessons for hours and learn at your own pace. Another one is it can be used at any time of day or night. While you might be able to complete a course in the morning before work, you can also do it in the evening when you finish dinner.
It’s not like school, of course. Still, if you are interested in becoming a better artist or designer, but are also in your 40s and want to build a life of creativity and entrepreneurialism, then you might be interested to see what courses are available at your convenience. Skillshare allows you to build a professional website and to learn.
The platform is much easier to use than other basically DIY platforms, as you can usually find at least a few suggested courses or videos. You can get a certificate or keep a profile for free. On top of that, you can quickly get personal training from personal experts for free. But also you get support from native English speakers all over the world, and you can be guaranteed your courses will be delivered in the most comfortable environment.
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It is free for a lifetime but offers amazing incentives, such as a free course for every 500 subscriptions. All you need to do is create a free account, verify the email address and register the first time. This is a great benefit that will take you up to a grand reward. The monthly subscription costs US$29, the annual subscription comes to US$99, and the student's subscription amounts to US$79.
They also offer super packages for international users with added discounts and perks. I really recommend this platform because it has all the tools you need to succeed. In the creative world, there are many courses to study and master, and learning something new is something everyone should do. Skillshare will help you achieve your goals. Other advantages include:
- Ability to learn anything from digital marketing to sketching,
- Experts teach over 80% of the free content in their field,
- Run by passionate people that understand your needs and develop interactive content for you, you can join thousands of passionate people to gain skill, develop skills and improve skills,
- A variety of instructor and partner support is available,
- Access to 24/7 live chat support, email and chat when using Skillshare,
- Optional online video tutors on-site to help you learn faster, and
- Multiple integration partners, including online education software tools and
- Facebook and Google APIs.
Disadvantages Of Using Skillshare
Although it is the top eLearning platform, Skillshare has some disadvantages compared to some other platforms. I'm not too fond of the monthly cost, which is $150. If you are not thinking about getting more in-depth courses, you can use Skillshare for at most one month. The main negative of the platform is the lack of paid courses.
While it is still one of the best platforms for free courses, this fact is not so promising in the long run. While free accounts allow unlimited access to all courses, premium accounts allow unlimited access to certain classes. While this is still an advantage for some users, it clearly limits the audience and thus the platform's potential.
The disadvantages of the platform are different for every user. It is not very attractive for freelancers, especially for authors who need to pay for their courses. In general, it is not that interesting for consumers as it is for learners. The way it works is a bit annoying as you first have to upload all your photos and videos, and then you will have to go through the entire review process before using your lessons.
This can be unpleasant, especially for people doing product reviews or who want to teach their own classes. However, it is worth it as the quality of the classes is superb.
Skillshare doesn't have many alternatives in online education, and with an approach like this, it can be difficult to get into the game if you don't know what you are looking for. There are few genres with less than 2000 videos (less than 5%), and the video quality is average. There is no interactivity (or you have to create the course yourself).
If you don't know what you are doing, you will not be able to complete your course in a reasonable time, and if you know what you are doing, you won't have to create the content yourself. The prices are low, and so are the classes, but this is true for every platform.
There are several downsides to Skillshare. Some of them are: Classes are available by subscription, it is also possible to buy a unique user profile and learn one class for free, in addition, there is an option to pay $90 for an unlimited class pass.
It would be best if you had a Skillshare profile to learn any class on the platform. It is not possible to learn a class from anywhere without having a profile. It is also possible to only learn a particular topic (such as photography or coding).
A day of free education is more or less 60 hours, there are many courses to choose from, and it might be hard to decide which one to learn, and it isn't easy to get free classes from some instructors.
What Does Skillshare Offer?
Nowadays, Skillshare offers more than 2,000 different online courses that cover a wide range of different topics. For example, the Microsoft Visual Studio Online Course developers can join the Advanced Make 3D Objects course for free and learn how to design, sculpt, and render objects.
The courses offered by Skillshare are usually quite short and easy to follow. They’re designed to deliver clear instructions and teach the most important aspects of the subject practically. They offer something for everyone, as a beginner might choose to take a course about the learning style or how to build muscle strength. Nevertheless, it’s the industry topics where they excel.
The idea behind creating this eLearning platform is to help everyone with their digital skills, not just professionals or experts. All skill sets are welcome to take part in these classes and courses. Just as you would teach a class for beginners to an advanced beginner, Skillshare doesn't discriminate here, and anyone can start learning from the beginning. You can create a profile, add your expertise and decide if you want to create your own course, sign up for a course by a person you are familiar with and even get paid to teach.
How Much Does Skillshare Cost?
Skillshare is free to use as it generates revenues from advertising and premium content. You can start learning with either of the free or premium courses. There are already thousands of great classes, and some are more popular than others. It’s important to find classes that you actually find interesting. If you use the learning paths in the Premium courses, you can pay a small monthly fee for unlimited access to them.
You can take one online class for free or subscribe to a monthly payment plan. The base price for a monthly subscription is $19.95. If you sign up for the free account, you will get lifetime access to more than 5,000 classes from the 100,000+ instructors.
Here are some of the available tools and services:
- Training: The price starts at $25/month for Premium and $12/month for Standard.
- Online classroom: The price starts at $50/month for Premium and $15/month for Standard.
- Analytics: A great deal at $500/month for Premium and $200/month for Standard.
- Membership for Business Owners: The cost starts at $199/month for Premium and $79/month for Standard.
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Who Can Use Skillshare?
Anyone who has a passion for learning. Anyone who has a desire to grow. Anyone who wants to get the skills they need to improve their current career or start a new one. Anyone with a valid US.edu or EU.edu domain name and credit card can take up a free account on Skillshare. Most of the courses on the site are in English. The site offers an average of 25 courses in the following categories:
- Design,
- Design services,
- Technology,
- Web,
- Business,
- Photography,
- Film and TV,
- Crafts and hobbies,
- Marketing,
- Retail,
- Programming, and
- Music.
The service focuses a lot on courses for creatives and entrepreneurs, and the majority of its courses focus on 3D design. On average, you will find up to 13 different courses in the 3D category, with several courses in the web and technology categories and a lot more in the design sector.
Skillshare Classes
There are over 12.000 courses in all, with a huge range of topic and learning objectives. You can learn from big names and experienced professionals, e.g. world-class photographers and designers, well-known designers and creatives, chefs and students. You can also find courses developed by beginners as well as experts. You can find them here:
- Web design courses,
- Beginner courses,
- Photography courses,
- Digital marketing,
- Fashion design,
- Dance training,
- Weight loss,
- Hacking, and many more.
If you are just a beginner and don’t know what to choose, you can click “Starter” classes. They have free courses as well as paid ones. You can also use the filters to select only the topics that you want to learn about. Experts and students create the courses.
Is Skillshare Worth It?
Before getting into the pros and cons of this platform, I would like to discuss how Skillshare actually works quickly. You pay per class you take. You can also pay to upgrade to Gold status. The pricing is based on the course, and users can choose from different packages. You can also purchase Mastery certificates. With the rewards, you get an autographed book and stickers or the actual course itself.
The platform is divided into several regions,
- New York,
- Los Angeles,
- London,
- Berlin,
- Paris,
- and a few other ones.
Each region has their own way to register, and different courses are available in different regions, which is great for those who want to go deeper and learn more about one subject than others. If you are planning to do some business and develop something of your own, that’s highly recommended to do some courses on Skillshare because you will learn everything you need to know, not only about building a site but also about design, marketing, tech and other skills.
The fact that the website is popular is not much of a reason to start using it though, it has so many useful courses, and I like the fact that no unnecessary ads are running through the content. Even if you have no business plan, most of the classes are of no interest to you, but there are many great classes, and you will learn a lot, and this is what I love about the platform, the way it works and the way the instructors and students interact.
Conclusion
They are a US-based service with around 20% of their users based in the Asia Pacific. It is a fast-growing company, last year they had 34% growth year on year. They have a lot of cool features and functionality and have the resources to execute their vision of “learning for professionals.” Pricing is inexpensive. If you want to do at least 1-2 courses a month, you can get access for just $10 a month.
The paid membership also offers you access to all their courses, videos and members-only forums. It’s not a place for everyone, but it is a great place for those who love learning new things, and you can learn a lot with it. You will find the classes you need to learn in a fast and easy way.
I trust you enjoyed this blog post on the Skillshare Review. Would you please stay tuned for more articles like this to come? Take care!
JeannetteZ
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I would love to hear from you. Please leave me your questions, experiences, remarks, and/or suggestions about the Skillshare Review in the comments section below. You can also reach me by email at Jeannette@WorkFromAnywhereInTheWorld.com.
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