One of the challenges of starting online learning is choosing a platform that meets your needs. Sometimes, you may not even know exactly what you want to study before you start. With Coursera, you can explore thousands of courses, many of them for free. As one of the leading online learning platforms, Coursera offers over 7,000 online courses in a variety of topics while providing online degree courses and certifications.

At a Glance: Coursera Pros and Cons

Coursera Cons

• Numerous Partners: Coursera is partnered with hundreds of Universities including top institutions like Stanford University, Yale University, the University of London, along with organizations like Google and IBM.
• Free Course Options: Coursera has over 7,000 courses and many are available for free. The courses cover a variety of subjects ranging from arts and humanities, business, computer science, data science, information technology, health, math, personal development, and engineering. They can be suitable for learners of different skill levels. Just be aware that free courses don’t provide certification, but you can upgrade to receive a certificate. 
• Popular Courses: Popular courses include courses on AI, the Science of Well-Being, Deep Learning, How to Understand Arguments, Negotiation skills, and more
• Budget Friendly: The paid Coursera courses are affordable and if you’re interested in degrees or Master’s degrees, you’ll find the costs are significantly lower compared to campus based programs. Coursera Plus provides unlimited access to the courses, specializations, and professional certificates for a monthly fee of $59. Individual pricing varies between $29-$99, while MasterTrack certificate programs can range from $2,000-$5,000.
• Offline Options: The Coursera app allows users to download course materials to work offline. This is ideal if you want to learn as you’re traveling. 
• Learn at Your Own Pace: Most Coursera courses allow you to set your own schedule and work at your own pace.

Coursera Cons

• Limited Feedback: Depending on the course, tutors may not be available to offer personalized feedback.
• Challenging Workload: Some degree and MasterTrack courses on the platform can have a heavy workload. So, you’ll need to be prepared to commit the time and effort.
• Not Always Beginner Friendly: Due to the course materials, some courses may require students to have prior knowledge.

What is Coursera?

Coursera is a leading platform offering online learning with a variety of learning programs and courses. These range from guided projects and individual courses to professional certification, degree and MasterTrack programs. Coursera collaborates with world-class companies and universities to develop its programs and courses. 

Although some other online learning platforms focus on specialized areas such as computer science, Coursera has a broad scope. Its courses include humanities, art, data science, history, music, computer science, IT, business, health, engineering and more. 

Coursera offers a variety of payment options from completely free to paid courses, a MasterTrack certificate programs, or Coursera Plus, an unlimited monthly or annual subscription for $59/month or $399 per year. There is also a free trial for new users and you can request a refund within two weeks of payment if you’re not happy. 

How Does Coursera Work?

Coursera is quite simple to use. Thousands of courses are broken down into the following types:

• Courses: These are individual topics or skills

• Specializations: These are collections of courses to provide a more indepth learning experience.

• Guided projects: Guided projects are intense tutorials with expert video guidance

• Professional certifications: These courses provide professional certifications such as Microsoft Cybersecurity Analyst

• Online degrees: These degree programs offer a syllabus similar to conventional degree programs.

• MasterTrack certification: These are university-issued certificate courses made up from selected portions of Master degree programs.

Don’t worry if English is not your native language as Coursera offers courses in a variety of languages including Spanish, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. 

Each course summary will detail what is involved. There are typically video lessons each week, forum participation and quizzes. The typical course normally takes four to six weeks, but specialized courses can take up to six months and degree programs take one to three years of study. 

Many courses also feature an “Audit” option, which allows you to access the course for free, but you won’t receive certification when you complete it.

How much does Coursera cost?

Coursera does offer free courses, but this is typically because you’re enrolled to audit class. This means that you won’t be able to fully participate. Typically, you won’t be able to submit assignments to be graded and you won’t receive credentials for successfully completing the course. 

However, there are many courses that allow peer review participation, so while you won’t get professional reviews from an instructor, you will get some type of feedback. Essentially, you can discuss your work with other students. If you want to fully participate in the course, you will need to pay a fee. Individual pricing for courses varies between $29-$99, while MasterTrack certificate programs can range from $2,000-$5,000. For degree or highly specialized courses, the fee may differ, but you’ll see the cost before you sign up, including whether the fee can be broken down into monthly or annual installments and if financial aid is available.

Coursera Plus provides unlimited access to courses, specializations, and professional certificates for a monthly fee of $59 or an annual subscription of $399 per year. There is also a free trial for new users and you can request a refund within two weeks of payment if you’re not happy. 

Key features of Coursera

Coursera is a popular platform offering access to a wealth of resources and learning programs. The key features of the platform include:

Easy and Convenient to Use

Signing up is straightforward and you can navigate through the course options without signing up, so you can see if it appeals to you. 

Once you sign up for a course, you can take the lessons at any time to learn at your own pace. However, most courses do have a start and end date. This means you need to complete the assignments by a specific date. If you enroll with a paid course, you can enjoy a seven day trial and if you decide you want to cancel, providing you do so before the 8th day, you won’t be charged a cent. 

Online and Offline Learning

Coursera is complete online and you can access the platform via desktop, laptop, or smart device using the Coursera app. You also have the option to download course materials if you need to work offline. 

Access to Support

Coursera has a help center with answers to queries for many topics. However, there is also a contact page and chat support if you have a specific issue or question.

Where Coursera Falls Short 

Of course, no platform or program is perfect, and there are a couple of areas where Coursera falls short. 

Free Courses are Often Self-Study Only

Free courses certainly have value, but in many cases, you can only view the course materials only. This means that you may not be able to submit work for grading, get instructor feedback or receive a certificate.

Outdated Information

Many of the courses are meant to be evergreen, and some users feel that some of the courses have outdated information, especially in tech-related subjects.

Who is Coursera Best For?

Coursera is a great option fo motivated students who are looking for affordable courses and a variety of learning programs. You don’t need to have a specialized interest or have a clear niche in mind when you get started. Although not quite the same experience, you can also save thousands of dollars compared to enrolling in a college. You have to be able to complete virtual learning though, which requires discipline.

Who Shouldn’t Use Coursera?

This platform may not be the best option if you’re the type of student who needs to have a rigid learning structure. The responsibility is yours to schedule when to take your classes and complete the course within a reasonable timeframe. Alot of people don't follow through after signing up for classes. According to a Columbia University study, the completion rate for students of massive open online courses is between 5%-15%. That means 85-95% of people never complete the courses! The completion rate improves for cohort-based online courses.

Coursera: A Gold Mine for Self-Study Enthusiasts

Coursera is certainly a great resource for casual learners or serious students. The massive course catalog contains more options than many other online course providers and should appeal to everyone. Additionally, if you’re not bothered about a professional certificate and simply want to improve your career skills, you can take many courses for fun (what a concept!) without spending a cent.