By now, a significant percentage of the population, including but not limited to freelancers, corporate employees, and students, have realized that upskilling is a necessity. However, many of us are having a tough time managing our work deadlines, trying our best to spend a little quality time with loved ones, and dealing with numerous other things. Most of us don't have the time or solid financial condition to attend a university to take classes.
But, for our convenience, several virtual learning platforms can enable us to learn. At the same time, we juggle all the other commitments. E-learning, according to reports, consumes 40–60% less time than traditional offline education! And its affordability is the cherry on top!
In this article, Team Coursenator will take you through one of the top e-learning platforms, LinkedIn Learning.
What does LinkedIn Learning offer?
LinkedIn has a catalog of more than 16,000 courses on various topics/subjects. It offers both- in-depth courses as well as "bite-sized" video tutorials. According to the users, "LinkedIn Learning offers a good value for money."
When and where was LinkedIn Learning founded?
LinkedIn Learning was founded in the year 1995 in California, USA.
How many users does LinkedIn Learning have?
LinkedIn Learning has about 27 million users. It has been reported that more than 78 Fortune 100 companies are currently utilizing this online learning platform.
Some famous companies using this platform include Kelloggs, Estee Lauder, Allianz, Deltek, MGM Resorts, Ellie Mae, etc.
Are Lynda and LinkedIn the same thing?
Lynda, one of the well-known MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) platforms, was founded around two decades ago. It is still considered one of the earliest e-learning platforms in the virtual learning market. LinkedIn acquired the company Lynda way back in 2015, and Lynda was shifted over to LinkedIn Learning a few years later. All the content available on Lynda has now been transferred to LinkedIn Learning. Although Lynda can still be seen functioning as a separate platform, if you ever happen to visit their website, you will ultimately get redirected to the LinkedIn Learning website.
So what is the difference between Lynda and LinkedIn Learning?
All those courses that were available on the Lynda platform are now available on the LinkedIn Learning platform. Due to this shift to LinkedIn Learning, they have started to focus more on businesses. They directly provide subscription services for various companies and many large organizations. This enables multiple users to access the courses to gain more knowledge.
It is more affordable for companies or organizations to upskill their employees in this manner instead of sending them for external training sessions, including several other costs and actual course costs. Currently, almost 33% of the revenue for LinkedIn Learning is collected from such enterprises. This revenue also includes the college professors who use the platform to assign various courses to their students and the top companies who choose this platform to provide multiple upskilling and knowledge-enhancing courses for their employee training programs.
Another incredible thing about LinkedIn Learning that is not available on Lynda is the feature of personalized recommendations. Based on the users' current job, professional network, etc., this means they are recommended which courses would suit them. Once they complete those recommended courses and acquire new skills, they can share the news with their network or prospective employers by putting it on their LinkedIn profiles.
What are the categories of courses that are currently available on LinkedIn Learning?
LinkedIn majorly offers courses that come under the following four categories
1) Business
2) Technology
3) Creative
4) Certification Programs
Is LinkedIn Learning free/How to get LinkedIn Learning for free?
No. LinkedIn Learning is not free. But you can get free access to LinkedIn Learning if you have a subscription to any of the following services offered by LinkedIn:
Premium Career
Premium Business
Executive
Sales Navigator Professional
Recruiter Lite
The easiest and most common way to access LinkedIn Learning for free is to sign up for a 1-month trial.
LinkedIn Learning Premium Subscription: What all does it include?
The LinkedIn Learning Premium subscription allows users to access all the 16,000+ courses, which they can watch at any time on their mobile device or computer. It also rewards the course-takers with a certificate of Completion (we've explained more about the certificates later in this article) and unlimited offline access to the courses so they can continue their learning anytime and anywhere.
The experts in the respective fields teach the courses. These courses are available in 7 languages- English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin, and Portuguese.
Most LinkedIn Learning courses follow the approach of "learn by doing," the users appreciate that since it's a more effective way of learning for most of them, especially
for kinesthetic learners. It offers quizzes within the courses along with exercise files that aid the students in increasing their motivation and engagement while also boosting their learning.
How many courses can the subscribers watch on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn learning has not imposed an upper limit on the number of courses users can watch monthly. It depends on the users. Also, many new courses get added to the platform every week; thus, the users will never find themselves short of things to learn about.
In addition, the LinkedIn Learning premium subscription also lets the students access LinkedIn's Premium Career features, like the InMail feature, which lets the user contact anyone on LinkedIn- directly over the platform. It also gives the users the ability to look at who viewed their LinkedIn profile and see who else has applied for the same jobs as they did.
What happens after the cancellation of the LinkedIn Learning subscription?
After trying it, if you conclude that LinkedIn Learning isn't the right learning platform for you and wish to cancel the subscription, you will have access to courses you managed to complete. You will be able to add those to your profile. However, you will not be able to access any of the "paid" course material after that.
Cancellations and Refunds: what is LinkedIn's Refund Policy?
LinkedIn Learning does not offer any refunds on their monthly or annual subscriptions. However, if you have paid for an individual course, you can seek a refund within 30 days of the said payment.
Is LinkedIn Learning content available for download/offline?
Yes, LinkedIn Learning provides the option to take your learning offline. The courses can be downloaded and viewed offline at any time. However, this feature is available only for the mobile app version (Android and iOS). It requires the subscription to be active for doing so.
LinkedIn Learning's Certification and accreditation
Many people ask this before using LinkedIn Learning- does LinkedIn Learning offer certificates? What about the accreditations?
The users can earn a "Certificate of Completion" after watching all the videos of the particular course. The users are responsible for validating whether they have understood the course material, and there is no requirement to meet any other assessments/assignments/exams for receiving the Certificate of Completion. A certificate of Completion is offered for most courses unless it is a part of a series of courses that is regularly updated (information regarding the same is given in the respective course's overview).
The certificates can be uploaded to one's LinkedIn profile. But, the users should not forget that LinkedIn Learning is not accredited; therefore, these certificates may not be recognized by any third parties. Most users believe this is not an issue for them as they use LinkedIn Learning as a place to expand their knowledge and gain some practical skills.
LinkedIn Learning's Q&A Feature
Q&A is one of the "cool" features provided by LinkedIn Learning, allowing users to ask questions on the platform. They get the answers to their questions from their instructors, colleagues, and network. Apart from that, they can see what questions the other learners have posted, read the answers they got, and tag anyone else who can probably find that information helpful.
Can you get a degree on LinkedIn?
This is yet another frequently asked question. The answer is -NO. LinkedIn Learning does not offer any degree programs or courses. However, Learning Paths is an excellent way to gain new skills, take your current career path further, and achieve your goal of becoming what you want.
Before starting any of the courses, ensure that you check its overview, which includes information like the length/duration of the course, its difficulty level, and the date on which the course was released, which is crucial for tech courses. Apart from that, one should check the number of people who watched the course and where they work, the description of the course and the information about the instructor, the skills that the course covers, and the related courses available.
The video courses offered by LinkedIn Learning contain transcripts, which most users think are quite helpful, especially for people who do not have english as their first language.
What are LinkedIn Learning paths?
LinkedIn Learning Paths are considered to be responsible for making LinkedIn Learning stand out. In short, these are the curated playlists of all the related video courses on a particular topic that the users are interested in. Suppose the user wants to switch to another career field but does not know where and how to begin; then, instead of just taking some random courses. In that case, they can go to LinkedIn Learning and choose the subject they are interested in and look for what courses Learning Paths offers in their field.
Is LinkedIn learning really worth it?
At an affordable monthly subscription fee, the users get unlimited access to many high-quality courses that can be taken any time and anywhere. Post-completion, a certificate is also awarded so that you can flaunt your newly learned skills on your LinkedIn profile.
To sum up, LinkedIn Learning is a fantastic online platform for those who want to see an improvement in their career or for those who wish to learn eternally, especially for those skills for which no traditional education is available. All you have to do is- think- about how LinkedIn Learning can help YOU get your "dream job" and achieve most of your career goals!
Coursenator suggests that you can sign up for the 1-month free trial if you want to give LinkedIn Learning a shot. Then you can decide for yourself later on whether it suits you.
LinkedIn Learning's TOP 10 recommended courses
Here's a list of the topmost/in-demand courses curated by Coursenator to help you get started
1. Become a Project Manager
2. Become a Business Analyst
3. Cert Prep: Project Management Professional (PMP)
4. Become a Leader
5. Improve Your Problem Solving Skills
6. Become an Agile Manager
7. Become a Digital Marketer
8. Python for Data Science: Essential Training
9. Leading with Emotional Intelligence
10. Having Difficult Conversations
We hope this article inspired you to learn something new. If you found this content helpful, like our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay updated and receive notifications whenever we post a new article for you.
Happy Learning!
