Coursera Reviews: 4.5/5 — Highly Rated

I like the multiple course options! It is also clear in each description as to what we should expect. I like the variety.

There are a lot of tech options, I would love some more education/children focused. I disliked that not all of them have the option to be self taught, although I understand that may be a personal choice.

It's more so about professional development! Which is great-- I need 16 hours each year for work! It's really fun to learn more about different areas that I wasn't able to in college!

I often use Coursera to browse different subjects to keep my own learning current

I wish there were podcasts, not just video

Coursera allows me to keep my own learning current and up to date so I'm providing the best instruction to my students

I have helped complete over 20 courses on Coursera for my students who come to me for career advising. I am extremely happy overall with my experience with it. It offers a huge spectrum of classes in many different disciplines from liberal arts, to engineering. There are always skills out there that people want to learn, but don't have a good way to do it. Coursera partners with teachers from reputed universities (ex. Johns Hopkins, Duke, Brown, etc.) to provide well-structured courses including lecture videos, homework, quizzes etc.

I don't like that Coursera charges so much for verified certificates for courses. The $50 or so per course may not seem like a lot for a good quality class, but it is infinitely more than the $0 option with no certificate. Also, it charges you around 300$ which is very expensive for most of the students I deal with.

I use it to help my students at TCU as a career advisor with taking new courses and building up their resumes with valuable certifications essential to their profile.

The variety of courses to choose from is incredible! There are so many different subjects covered, and they are taught by amazing instructors! It is like I am getting an ivy league education for free!

Some courses are only available on specific dates and I have missed out on classes I was really interested in. I understand why, but it would be nice if you could access any class at any time.

Professional development is easier, I am able to learn new skills to use in my job for FREE, and i am able to continue learning at my pace from incredibly intelligent instructors!

The best thing about Coursera is that not only do they have a wide variety of courses (everything from philosophy to medicine to data science to business), but they also have amazing partnerships with world-class schools (think Johns Hopkins, Wharton, Stanford, etc). This makes it really worth the time and money you invest in it. Also, you can get financial aid which makes it the best website out there.

As with a university, the quality of the courses varies widely. Some professors are highly engaging, and some are incredibly boring. Also, I do not expect them to grade it for people who are doing the courses for free but their projects will help us solidify our concepts.

I use it at my job at UT to help students get certifications for various courses easily and from reputed Universities.

I deeply appreciate the free educational resources that Coursera offers. I have used these classes for myself, and recommended them to secondary-level students. They help with professional development for an endless variety of careers and the courses all stem from reputable sources. Coursera offers an opportunity to expand the horizons of personal knowledge, or the opportunity to sign up a group up for the same class and go through development together.

I wish there were a few more free assessments in the courses that could help track learning, a greater selection of multiple choice "work checks" would be beneficial in better gauging understanding of the material in a succinct manner as a personal user and as an administrator.

Within the educational psychology field, professional development AND technological skills are critically important. Coursera offers classes that help with both of these areas, helping to boost the abilities of inexperienced individuals, as well as offer a personal-study option for students. Coursera's self-paced progression ensures that completing a course is within the abilities of nearly anyone as well.

It is a really good software for students looking to get extra coursework done besides their classes. Also, It has become really easy for our department to recommend students to use this website to get help with courses they want to take and learn. Also, students can extend their course deadline so that they can finish the courses as per their schedule.

The courses can become expensive at times which makes it difficult for students to enroll and get a certificate. Also, the financial aid approval takes more than 15 days making it difficult for students to start studying for the course ASAP.

Helps our department to recommend students courses on this website and gain important knowledge. Also, the courses are provided from big-name universities which helps students in their careers.

The courses taught by the professors of other universities helped me gain deep insight into some of the topics. Especially the course on the machine learning was quite good.

Some of the curriculum structures don't allow me to learn at my pace. So, I have to wait for the next lecture or assignment to begin. Had to wait for days in order to resume the course.

Learned the machine learning using coursera.

I can decide to learn something like DataScience today and start taking well prepared courses right away at the comfort of my living room! Coursera allows me to do that.

The courses are still too traditional, where everybody starts from the same spot and learns with the same pace. I want to see more feedback based learning, that uses AI to understand where you are standing right now (Placement) and when you learned or haven't mastered a subject. I am not sure how but I think if I worked for Coursera I would have found a way so I leave this for Coursera people to figure out.

I learn new abilities and material by day and apply it to my work or get prepared for the next job!

the variety of courses, the class schedules, and peer review system.

nothing specific. And, I don't have anything to complain about.

In my research, I run data analysis in R-program. I learned R from a specialised course in Coursera.

I like the easy navigation and the fact that we can choose certain courses based on the language we want to learn.

I did not like the engagement of the course, I did not receive enough reminders to complete the course work which made me stop taking it.

I am getting better at what I do by learning Data and coding.

This is a very easy to use platform, I think this is very well organized, you will always get support when you need it, specifically in the iPhone App. There is a Mentor Course, for those chosen that have been good at some courses. You can find almost everything (talking about courses), of lots of topics and categories. It's simply amaizing. You can learn a lot, even if you don't pay for the certificate.

Some courses videos and documents are not up to date.

I have learned a lot. You can get courses and even a Specialization Certificate supported by a recognized University around the world with this Platform.

The quality of the courses. All videos are really very well recorded in HD, and there are only experts teaching.

That you have to wait until a course open. I would like it to be always open to new students.

e-learning new things in a very easy way.

Downloadable videos and presentations for each course.

Sometimes prices for valid certifications are expensive.

Learning and improving my skills on my profession.

I love the various options (both free and paid) available to all users with Internet access. It's very easy to use!

I think it needs better mobile integration, and I would love to see some more course offerings!

This site covers all subjects such as Computer Science and Languages, and I feel that it is a great learning tool for those that are not looking to go back to school.

Availability of excellent, free courses.

Most videos are a little longer than actually needed.

Learning Scala.

High quality courses, diversity of choices, from business to programming, from mathematics to philosophy. The courses are very well designed and the platform is of excellent quality. I appreciate the availability of university lecturers to serve as instructors of the courses. This gives more respect and recognition for the courses. The courses have the advantage of not being very strict on the timelines. They correctly assume that people who do these courses are busy, sometimes cannot commit to timelines that are normal in an on-campus education. Coursera offers courses that explain difficult concepts in an intuitive way so that the students understands and applies what they learn. It's why learning leads to practice. This is my first experience of having excellent instructors and excellent content delivery. This has changed my professional goals, from teaching to business.

Some courses seem to be easier. There other courses that should be updated. Another problem, i think that instead of translating the courses, Coursera should invite universities of different speaking countries to deliver their courses in other languages other than English. Since these courses are serious, students who complete successfully should be gratified with a recognition and recommended to post-graduate courses by their instructors. Conditions would apply, but this should be a possibility to be considered.

I started using Coursera in 2015. Since then, I'm planning to create a company. What hinders me now are financial resources, but this problem will be overcome soon.

I like newsletters recommending upcoming courses that I might be interested in. Also, great UI, communication...

I wouldn't have much to say. I would like a bit more transparency with payed and free courses and info about that.

Marketing issues. It helped me with social courses and materials

- allows you to take the best available courses at some of the best schools in the country/world - great place to learn if you are serious about learning yourself.

- actually nothing! Except just one recommendation: for paid courses, if Coursera could allow an introduction video/demo teaching of the course professors, it'd be a great evaluation method before taking on the study.

Learning new tools and higher studies in my field. I haven't gotten very serious about the courses, but i think if i am able to show a little more dedication, i know coursera is a great place to learn.

I was always an avid student during my undergrad, but during my graduate studies for the first time I had the chance to watch videos of the lectures and watch them at whichever time I preferred. For me this was a game changer. Soon after that I started using Coursera, which had most of the benefits without the hefty price tag. With Coursera I was able to speed up videos that would otherwise make for a tedious lecture and kept myself focused while burning through the all the videos. In my honest opinion this has greatly helped me acquire new skills without the need for taking any more classes. Another advantage is that a lot of the courses have programming projects, which I find very important for the student, since they help consolidate all the acquired knowledge.

At times you might not be able to see the material for an old course, mostly in the case when you accidentally re-register for it. This is inconvenient since I keep a relatively optimized schedule for doing my reviews and not being able to access old quizzes or materials can be a hindrance for the preservation of what was learned before. Additionally, the iOS client does not offer the ability to change the speed of videos (or it didn't back when I last used it). I typically work around this by downloading the videos and using VLC in any of my devices/tablets.

As a Software Engineer it's hard to keep up with many of the latest trends while also making sure you are getting the optimal "syllabus" for a topic of interest. In the past I used to peruse through the syllabus of classes given at different universities and just bought the books and learned the subject myself, sadly this does not scale very well when learning multiple subjects. With Coursera, I can watch educational videos on my tablet while at the gym, listen to a lecture while taking a walk, take the class at my desk or the couch, or pretty much anywhere whenever I can spare some time.

My wife and I took two classes on Coursera together: Fundamentals of Music Theory and Python for Informatics. We learned a lot in both classes. I am no longer totally lost if some talks about keys and tonics and she's integrated coding into her Kindergarten classes via the Hour of Code. I liked how easy it was to watch the lectures together. We could also compete to see who got the best grades on the quizzes and suchlike. The interface was fairly intuitive, especially if you've taken other online courses before or edited/used Wikipedia. All in all, it was a very positive, if challenging, experience and one that I would recommend to anyone looking to further their knowledge. (Also there are paid tracks if you want certification.)

The only thing I dislike about Coursera was that the HTML5 videos had an issue where if you paused them, they would stop working. However, there was the option to watch them in Flash format, so this was just a passing annoyance. This was also a few months ago. It may be fixed already.

I took these courses for personal edification and for knowledge in future jobs. I know more about programming and music theory than I did before starting the classes (which was my aim).

Coursera is free! There are also a ton of classes with high-quality video lectures. They even have series of courses to specialize in a topic.

The classes cannot be counted as professional development in my particular school district/ state.

I have been able to learn about many topics in education on my own, at my own pace. I have been able to apply what I have learned to my job. Game theory, Blended Learning, Dyslexia intervention, etc.

Almost unlimited access to high-quality educational materials

Low-quality mobile app, which often freezes and doesn't work well off-line.

Continuing educations

The varied style of teaching, broad but engaging overviews on subjects, quizzes, peer participation and interactions through forums and of course homeworks. These I find the best features to keep me motivated. The fact that education is free in this form is a Utopian's dream!

Depending on the instructor, it is easy to loose interest in some courses. Either because the material assumes more prior knowledge than stated or because the subject matter is too focused,

A lot of the courses I have taken have been on data science and analytics geared toward making a transition in my workplace. Benefit - I have been able to change my role in my workplace that better uses the skill set acquired through all the learning on Coursera!

College-level education at no or low cost

I don't know how they create so much value

Applying the theory, practice and technology of data science to financial credit applications.

Coursera offers what I think to be an excellent combination of broad content coverage, just enough depth in each course, with a reasonable schedule. They haven't pioneered MOOCs, but they certainly made the biggest impact for undergraduate-level content.

It's frustrating that some courses are not offered on-demand (or more frequently) but that's a small price to pay. Also, they seem to have just rolled out a new front-end that is 'prettier' but less functional than the older version. In the past, it was easy to just have all videos & lecture slides in one single page. Now, it is spread all over the place.

I am an IT professional with a strong dedication to self-learning. Since starting courses on Coursera back in the September 2012 timeframe, I've completed many courses in Statistics, Data Science (I'm *almost* done with the paid Data Science specialization offered by a team Johns Hopkins), Finance, and others. The content I chose to follow from Coursera has helped me tremendously in my role as an information security pre-sales specialist: it has helped me understand and apply data-focused methods to projects, discussions, etc...

I like the variety of courses across topics useful for business and levels of depth.

I think all courses should be available to start at any point, and not on specific dates. That would give more flexibility to students.

The gamification course completely opened my eyes to alternative ways to engage with people online.

The short course videos are very helpful and keep the person involved and interested in the course. The practice exercises every week are helpful to review one's knowledge of the class lectures that for that specific week. I have completed 7 courses successfully from Courses and have been a member for last 3 years. I have definitely gained a lot of knowledge through the courses and I believe that MOOC is the future of learning. In fact, my independent coursework from Coursework helped me secure an admit to one of the highly reputed technology universities in United States, and also helped me secure a 6 figure job in an investment bank.

Deadlines, I feel deadlines should be until the end of course for all exercises and its difficult for people who work and / or and a part of professional network who are interested in learning more in order to improve their skills while managing their full-time jobs and other responsibilities. Also, If Coursera could provide any waiver to students who genuinely are interested in pursuing the specializations but have monetary issues; especially the ones from the third world countries; it would definitely help their cause and help empower them. Thus greatly helping the novel cause.

I am working on a research project to build data warehouse Ontologies over Big data. I believe courses from Coursera will be extremely beneficial in helping me work on my project independently

Coursera courses completely changed my career trajectory. Not only were they fun and engaging, they helped me fill in the gaps from my formal education to enable a career shift from physics to data science. I could not give a higher recommendation for this amazing resource.

It would be helpful for the professors to post possible solutions to course projects after the due date so one can more easily assess her/his performance. Peer grading, although understandable and necessary in these types of classes, does not always help if no one knows the correct solution.

Coursera enabled me to get a fantastic job and figure out solutions to whatever new tasks are thrown at me, even if I initially do not know how to approach the problem or how to use the tools.

I like being able to choose such interesting subjects and have them presented in such an amazing way. The last one I did on Ebola was fascinating.

Not enough time to complete the course or course does not repeat soon enough to take it over.

I like to learn more about curriculum. I have realized many, many benefits already.