As Australia learns to live with COVID-19, many businesses are facing a talent crunch. In a fiercely competitive labour market, upskilling your existing team is a great way to keep ahead of the curve and prevent skill shortages in your business.
Additionally, keeping top talent engaged in professional development ensures they don’t leave for a competitor.
To help you start your business upskilling journey, we’ve compiled the top 16 destinations for employee learning.
General learning platforms
Coursera
Coursera lets learners study a range of different content in an accessible way. The courses are developed and delivered by renowned universities and organisations like Stanford University and Google.
Coursera offers a variety of different study areas, from machine learning to graphic design.
It also has a small number of Professional Certificates accrediting students as SAS Base Programmers or in Google IT Support. Other top courses cover public health, global languages and positive psychology.
Coursera offers thousands of its courses for free. However, its other learning programs like Guided Projects, Specialisations, Professional Certificates, MasterTrack Certificates and Online Degrees come at a cost.
Coursera offers small and large business packages starting from $399 per member/ per year. You can find full pricing for each course on Coursera’s website.
Udemy
If you’re looking for an on-demand platform that offers every imaginable course, Udemy is for you.
There are more than 100,000 courses taught in 65 languages, covering everything from Java Programming to Food Photography.
The classes are all individually priced, and there are often discounts and short-term sales available. For business customers, small teams’ prices begin at $360 per member/per year. A more thorough breakdown of costs can be found on Udemy’s business page.
You can check out the reviews on any particular class before you sign your team up. Most are based on video lectures designed by the instructor, but you can also expect some quizzes and assignments along the way to test comprehension of the materials.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is a subscription-based service rather than on-demand, so it is best for businesses looking for a longer-term commitment.
You can try out the platform for one month for free, and after that point, you’ll be charged a monthly fee. LinkedIn Learning provides a special package for businesses looking to upskill their staff. To find out more, contact LinkedIn Learning sales.
The benefit of LinkedIn Learning is that learners get full access to all courses so can specialise in an area of expertise and hone in the skills most in demand for your business.
edX
edX was founded by Harvard and MIT and has courses covering topics like computer science, international languages and engineering. edX draws upon university grade material from around the world.
Professional Certificates cost upwards of USD$300 and can take anywhere from three to 15 months to complete if you study 1-3 hours per week. edX offers a business package; to find out more, visit their business page.
The platform also offers courses that are part of a Professional Certificate but are free unless you want a verified certificate once completed.
FutureLearn
Run by the UK’s Open University, FutureLearn works with universities and cultural institutions, including the British Library and British Museum.
There are free short courses covering topics ranging from cyber security to women’s rights and suffrage. Learners can also enrol in a “micro-credential,” which allows them to focus on an area of specialisation linked to their professional career, with topics including change management and data analytics.
FutureLearn offers custom courses for businesses looking to develop and upskill their teams. More information on pricing and specifics can be found on FutureLearn’s business page.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a pioneer of online learning. While the courses are primarily aimed towards younger learners, the platform still has plenty of material for adults.
From brushing up on basics like maths and science to learning fundamental economics and computer programming, Khan has it all. The platform’s mission is to provide a world-class education to everybody anywhere.
Khan Academy allows learners to work at their own pace and slowly level up skills when they feel ready. This way, learning seemingly complex subjects like code becomes easy.
The best bit? Khan Academy is entirely free to use from students, teachers, or anyone who wants to gain additional knowledge.
Skillshare
Skillshare provides “bite-sized” classes to learners who only have 15 minutes a day. It has more than 500 free classes and several thousand premium classes to choose from in topics such as film, writing, tech, lifestyle, and many more.
Most of the courses (also known as “classes”) aren’t that detailed. Meaning learners will most likely have to take multiple classes on the topic to learn it entirely. However, Skillshare’s platform is an engaging, creative and fun way to develop your team professionally.
Skillshare is a subscription-based service. Skillshare offers company packages starting at $159 per member/ per year for businesses looking to get creative with their teams. Full pricing and contact list can be found on their business page.
Alison
Alison offers a wide range of free courses in almost everything a business might want, from sales and management to IT.
Learners can choose from short certificate courses or opt for “diploma” courses, which are more comprehensive.
While courses are free to participate in, you’ll need to pay a fee to get a printed or digital certificate if you complete a certificate or diploma course.
Learners also can opt to pay for a premium account for around $9 per month, which will give them access to more features such as discounts on certificate fees, no advertisements and access to resume building features.
To learn more about Alison’s price list, their pricing page
MIT OpenCourseWare
Getting admitted into MIT is tough competition. However, thanks to the internet, anyone with a computer can access their course material with no application.
MIT OpenCourseWare is another university-affiliated e-learning platform. The platform is designed to keep an online library of every subject that is taught at the institution available to anyone with no account login required.
While access to course work, readings, and past lectures is all free to the eager learner, the platform is also home to MIT’s MicroMasters program, allowing learners to work towards an MIT postgraduate degree.
The cost of MicroMasters courses is based on participants ability to pay and begins at just $100.
More information about courses and pricing can be found on the MicroMasters website.
Tech-based skills
In 2022, tech skills are in high demand and low supply. One way of getting around the shortage of tech professionals is to bring your current team up to speed on tech basics. We’ve compiled a list of the best online resources to get your employees tech-savvy.
Udacity
Udacity is an e-learning platform focused on digital skills, including artificial intelligence, programming and development, and data science.
Udacity’s platform is different from others on the market. Rather than focusing on individual classes, their primary offering is a “nanodegree”, a Boot Camp like program which includes multiple lessons, projects, personalised reviews, class discussions, and one-on-one technical mentoring by experts.
For individual students, the price tag on this learning is $399 monthly or $597 for students who buy the entire four months at once. For information on business packages, visit the website.
Microsoft Learn
Microsoft offers several learning paths and certifications covering various Microsoft products and services.
Learning paths contain several modules relevant to the course topic, and certifications are more focused, with one or two exams required to earn the certification.
If your company uses Microsoft software, this is a great option to bring staff up to speed in using their tech.
Self-paced courses and exams are free through Microsoft, but if you want to take an instructor-led course, you can do so through Microsoft Certified Trainers.
Costs of trainer lead courses depend on the number of learners, starting at $170 a month for ten staff members. To learn more, visit Microsoft’s pricing page.
Treehouse
Treehouse is a coding focused e-learning platform. However, Treehouse offers almost everything a learner looking to up-skill in tech could hope for. It boasts over 300 courses and a supportive online community of thousands of students.
Coursework includes multiple projects that help develop real-world skills. At the same time, the platform offers a boot camp-style program that guides learners through Treehouse’s entire curriculum.
Upon completing this program, students complete a series of projects for their professional portfolio to earn their Techdegree.
For businesses, Treehouse offers custom-built training programs to help up-skill teams in the world of tech. To learn about pricing, visit Treehouses’s teams’ page.
Kaggle
Kaggle provides an online community of data scientists and machine learning practitioners to put your team’s newfound tech skills to the test.
The platform offers micro-courses, competitions, data sets, and discussions to ensure your staff stays on track with their learning.
Kaggle courses break down complex topics into their key practical components so that learners can gain usable skills in a few hours (instead of weeks or months).
The courses are free, and users can earn certificates to prove competence.
Pluralsight
Pluralsight is a comprehensive IT learning platform for the most in-demand tech skills in the job market.
What sets them apart from the competition are the learning paths users can take. Each path focuses on a specific skill from start to finish.
Learners can focus on a single path and learn everything correctly. Meaning the contents for each path are perfect for absolute beginners.
Pluralsight is built for businesses wanting to up-skill an entire team. Pricing plans start from $399 per member/per year. To learn more about Pluralsight’s business pricing, see their pricing page.
Codecademy
Codecademy is an interactive online platform offering free online courses in coding.
With classes in 12 different coding languages such as Java, Javascript, Python and more, Codecademy has exclusive content that’ll help you become a master coder.
If learners choose to sign up, they’ll be able to access practice content, real-life projects, community support, and more. Upgrades to premium membership are available and start from $15.99.
For businesses, Codecademy offers personalised programs to level up your teams’ skills. Plans start from $240 per member/ per year. However, bulk pricing is available. For more inflation visit Codecademy for Business
For companies hoping to become tech-savvy, Codecademy is a dream come true. Letting staff learn different coding languages and other hands-on tips and tricks.
freeCodeCamp
freeCodeCamp is the ultimate resource for those wanting to start learning code. It offers IT beginners a combination of two teaching methods: a coding bootcamp and a self-learning option. All for free.
The platform compiles the often scattered information about coding into clear and useful lessons.
This unique resource has become increasingly popular. The platform boasts 8,000 different tutorials and several certifications in a broad range of studies.
Over 40,000 people have graduated from freeCodeCamp since 2014.
For businesses freeCodeCamp is a great resource for upskill your workforce without the pricetag.
Read more:Australian women encouraged to upskill in preparation for new technological revolution
Read more:Your employees want to upskill: How can you support them?
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