Features Comparison of Lynda.com vs Udemy Common Systems Group April 22, 2014

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Arleen Spencer
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1 Features Comparison of Lynda.com vs Udemy Common Systems Group April 22, 2014 SUMMARY CATALOG OFFERINGS Cost Lynda.com 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 Basic $25/month ; $250/year annual; Premium $37.50/mo; $375/year annual; (includes exercise files) Udemy.com 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) 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: $ k campus license UCLA proposed cost: $30k for 10,000 users Topic Areas Business, Design, Developer (Programming, Databases), Video, Technology, Business, Design, Arts, Languages, Hobbies, Web, Photography, Education, Audio + Music, 3D + Animation, Games, Social Sciences, History, Self-Help and many more CAD random categories Number of Titles Estimated 2,536 based on categories and numbers of titles in More than 14,000 courses available but estimated 400+ categories (but may be some cross-listing). courses in Udemy for Organizations platform. Languages English 10+, but majority are in English Number of Titles - **Udemy numbers based on full course catalog Sample Technical Topics Excel courses, 2281 video tutorials 27 courses (English) Photoshop 301 courses, 17,626 video tutorials 141 courses (English) PowerPoint 3 courses, 151 video tutorials 48 courses (English) 2013 Java 9 courses, 393 video tutorials 48 courses (English) Last updated: 5/21/2014 page 1/6

options Accessibility: +/- 90% closed captioning + transcripts Cons: Higher cost than Udemy Fewer highly technical topics Limited interaction with instructors Basic $25/month ; $250/year annual;

2 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). Course Overview Outline/Table of Contents Video/Graphic Quality Audio/Narration Quality Course details pane shows duration, summary, and topics covered. Also covered in Introductory lecture. Course divided into chapters, videos, each with duration listed. Icon indicates if already viewed. Can skip topics. Consistent. Instructor video shots focused, well-lighted. Screenshots clear. Clear, professional sounding. Clear speaking voices. Consistent acoustics. Varies by course. Lectures may include video, audio, downloadable ebook, files. Course info page includes target audience and What am I going to get from this course 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. Varies. Different resolutions, some instructors clearly reading cue cards. Some graphics very clip-arty. 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 Contact Students can submit course feedback or add a question to course FAQs (usage appears very limited). Students can give feedback to instructors via discussion board (actively used); can also see other students who are enrolled Last updated: 5/21/2014 page 2/6

courses designated as certification track Test prep and CEUs for Cisco, Microsoft, PMP, etc.

3 (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, . 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 In-progress and completed courses display under My Courses. Can download/print image or PDF certificate. No current transcripts/captioning. Per Udemy, they are planning to make courses accessible. Potential disqualifier from consideration. Full site requirements Mobile support Offline use UCLA Logon ID Integrated 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. 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+ Can download courses for offline use via ios app (not Android). Yes, currently integrated. Required: Adobe Flash Player plug-in Firefox 1.1+, Internet Explorer 9, Safari 1.0+, Google Chrome*, or Opera (Chrome recommended) Broadband connection with 500+ Kbps 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 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. Can be integrated; requires IT Services effort. Last updated: 5/21/2014 page 3/6

on +/- 90% of courses. E.g. 456 out of 505 business courses; 386 out of 445 design courses; 295 out of 322 developer courses In-progress and completed courses display under My Courses.

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6 Udemy.com course in browser Last updated: 5/21/2014 page 6/6

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