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In this post, we’re going to share a comparative study between Udacity and Treehouse programs. Continue reading this Udacity vs Treehouse review to learn more!
The term is e-learning and it has been practiced since the evolution of education in this digital era. The education system has changed drastically in the 21st century thanks to the introduction of Internet and communication devices to our daily lives giving birth to MOOC, Massive Open Online Courses. Top online schools like Coursera, Udacity, LinkedinLearning and Udemy have been founded and acknowledged for their credibility as top Universities one can graduate from and use them to secure a career.
Technology has been used to support both teaching and learning by instilling traditional learning methods like classrooms, schools, books and uniforms with digital tools such as online schools, electronic grade books, digital portfolios, learning games, and real-time feedback on teacher and student performance. This new mode of schooling has proven to grow students’ engagement, motivation; and accelerate learning for it directly links students to professional content and resources as well as assist lecturers to utilize their time better.
In this Udacity vs Treehouse review, we analyze and compare Udacity and Treehouse based on their features, programs offered, pricing plan, customer reviews and feedback, user experience, online portfolio and usage statistics in an effort to stem which is the best online learning platform highly dedicated to the students, teachers, parents / guardians when it comes to learning and teaching in this digital era.
Table of Contents
Introduction
There has been an increased recognition that more attention needs to be paid to e-learning as more and more students, teachers and parents / guardians opt for remote learning solutions. The goal is to provide education for everyone, anywhere and anytime. It is in the 21st century that the world has faced a pandemic, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which has highly impacted our financial, educational, health, and many other ruling sectors of the world. The e-learning platforms that have been created have helped learners, teachers and parents to adhere to the COVID-19 guidelines like: Maintain social distance and Stay at home safeguarding their future and those that depend on them.
With e- learning, the target audience will progress from just knowing how to use a computer to effectively integrating technology in their teaching and learning strategies. The students will adapt to the necessity to access information from diverse sources enhancing their learning experience. The online course providers will be rated based on their: authentication methods, profitability and evaluation methods and now, parents / guardians can easily monitor the progress of their children’s education.
Technology in the education system has facilitated new ways of learning and interacting, an easy way to share new teaching practices to the community and the birth of innovative ideas.
The four most common observed mistakes in introducing ICTs into teaching are i) setting up learning technology without assessing student needs and content availability; ii) imposing technological systems from the top down without concerning teacher and learner; iii) using inappropriate content from other regions of the world without customizing it appropriately; and iv) producing low quality content that has poor instructional design and is not adapted to the technology in use.
Continue reading this Udacity vs Treehouse review to learn more.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC): Udacity vs Treehouse Review
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) is e-learning. They are free online courses that are available for anyone with an internet connection and a digital device like laptop, computer, phone or tablet to enroll. They provide an affordable and flexible way to learn new skills, advance your career and deliver quality educational experiences at scale. MOOCs are developing faster in to the education system due to the rapid conversion of traditional teaching resources. The proficiency levels of a MOOC is measured in terms of: authentication methods, profitability and evaluation methods. Studies however have shown that these MOOC platforms still need to be constantly reformed to make them ideal online learning platforms.
Udacity
Udacity inc. is an American for-profit educational organization founded by Sebastian Thrun, David Stavens, and Mike Sokolsky on June 2011. Its headquarters are in California, United States and they currently have a reach of 11.5 million users worldwide. Udacity offers various programs on its platform however, its primary focus is on industry-specific Nanodegree programs which includes: Business, Cloud Computing, Data Science, Programming and Development, Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems. Their mission is to be the most effective way for their clients to gain job-ready expertise and the latest digital skills for the careers of the future within remote distance. Their Nanodegree programs are built in partnership with the world’s most innovative tech companies like: Google, AWS, Mode, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, UiPath and Alteryx.
Features
- They have three different digital programs to renovate you area of interest: For Individuals to transform one’s career, For Enterprise to transform one’s business and For Government to transform one’s workspace.
- The curriculum has been designed by top-tier industry partners to ensure that learners get the needed skills top companies are looking for.
- Udacity believes in project based, active learning. This is whereby learners are presented with real-world projects and exercises to master real-world skills.
- Udacity Schools that offer different courses: School of Artificial Intelligence, School of Autonomous Systems, School of Business. School of Cloud Computing, School of Cybersecurity, School of Data Science, School of Programming and School of Product Management.
- Learn on your schedule.
They encourage self-paced learning – learning whenever and wherever you want and part-time learning for 10 hours/week.
- Skill Assessment
All skill development courses comprise of a pre-course assessment.
- In-course short assessments
After each lesson, the learners are presented with a short assessment to test their knowledge retention as well as assess learner’s understanding.
- Video Content
The course material is presented in the form of videos with adjustable speed and they are available for the target audience 24/7.
- Manager Portals
Allows Managers and/or parents to see progress of team members or children
Treehouse
Treehouse is an online technology school that offers a comprehensive learning program focused on advancing one’s skills needed to start a career in the technology industry. They have redesigned the tech education system by building a platform that ensures students get the knowledge and skills they need to accomplish their goals. Treehouse was founded by Alan Johnson and Ryan Carson on October 2011 and their headquarters are located at Portland, Oregon, United States. Their main aim is to help students understand, communicate and control technology by giving them an opportunity to challenge themselves, deepen their skills and prove their knowledge to their potential employers. Treehouse warranties that their graduates start successful careers in the big companies: Nike, Adobe, Mailchimp, Vacasa, Hubspot, Chegg and Airbnb.
Features
- Competency-based learning approach.
Treehouse proves that using their video courses as a learning tool, one has achieved learning, practice and absorption of concept.
- E-Learning Packages.
They have 3 different e-learning packages: Courses for $25 /month that includes On-demand, expert-led video courses, Interactive practice sessions and Access to our online community of fellow student, Course for $49 /month that includes: Everything from Courses, Access to additional content and Download videos for offline learning and the Techdegree program for $199 /month.
- Highly interactive
Treehouse equips its learners with workshops, quizzes, practice sessions and code challenges after each lesson completed.
- Leaderboard
Students who have enrolled to Treehouse earn points and badges of completing their course and can monitor their progress and that of their fellow students by checking their user’s profile.
- 7-day free trial
A 7-day free trial is issued to all new users to try out the platform and its courses.
- Reviews and feedback
Treehouse reviews all its emails and customer feedback to help outline the platform’s contents and features for future use.
- Lecture control and auto generated captions
Students have the options to play the lectures at different speeds, auto generate captions in English and read the transcripts provided.
- Payment Information
Treehouse allows its users to pay for the online courses through credit card (VISA, Amex, Discover, UCB) and PayPal.
- Pro plan users
Only pro plan users have access to exclusive industry and workshop interviews, the option to download videos for offline use and beta access to the newest innovations in online training offered by Treehouse.
- Exclusive Slack community
For Techdegree users only, one can join the exclusive Slack, an online supportive community that hosts thousands of Tech students.
- Weekly office hours
Techdegree users have access to live support and in-depth code reviews from the lecturers.
- Not sure where to start?
Treehouse provides its users with a quiz to take before to determine which career or skill path to follow.
Comparison between Udacity and Treehouse
Differences: Udacity vs Treehouse
- Programs offered
Udacity specializes in the Nanodegree Program for different price ranges
Treehouse specializes in Techdegree Programs for $199 /month.
- Learning Paths
Udacity involves its students in project based, active learning whereby learners are presented with real-world projects and exercises to master real-world skills.
Treehouse believes in competency-based learning approach whereby they use using their video courses as a learning tool to achieve learning, practice and absorption of concept.
- Exclusive Slack community
Treehouse offers its Techdegree users only, an online supportive community that hosts thousands of Tech students, the exclusive Slack community.
- 7-day free trial
Treehouse offers a 7-day free trial is to all new users.
- Treehouse provides its users with a quiz “Not sure where to start?” to take to determine which career or skill path to follow.
Similarities
- Students / lecturers / parents can monitor the learner’s progress and that of their fellow students by checking their user’s profile.
- They both offer highly interactive content libraries for their students with lectures available 24/7.
- Both platforms give learners access to 24/7 live support and in-depth code reviews from the lecturers.
- Learners are equipped with workshops, quizzes, practice sessions and code challenges after each lesson completed.
- The assessments involve learners to take on real-world projects and exercises to master real-world skills.
Benefits
Online learning platforms equip learners with the latest digital skills that the job market is looking for and a certificate after completing their courses. This digital certificate can be posted on social media or online job search platforms to help boost one’s chance to land their dream job.
- Remote Learning
With the world facing the pandemic and universities lacking space to accommodate more students, remote learning has become the new norm. Students, teachers, parents, the Governments, investors, shareholders and all parties involved in the education sector have gradually been able to adopt to this new normal.
- Digital Certificate
Learners are awarded a certificate of completion that they can use to upgrade their resume portfolio and to prove they have skills needed in the today and future job market.
- Social Distance
The government and the World Health Organization imposed a law of social distancing of 1.5 meters to curb the spread of Covid-19. Staying at home and learning from home has been made possible and easy thanks to the existence of these MOOC platforms.
- Live Support
Learners have access to 24/7 live support and in-depth code reviews from the lecturers.
- Learning on your schedule.
Students choose to whether be a full-time or part-time with the opportunity to learn at their own pace.
- Top Investors
Udacity and Treehouse are backed up by one of the world’s largest companies like: Graduates from Treehouse get promising careers in Nike, Adobe, Mailchimp, Vacasa, Hubspot, Chegg and Airbnb and Udacity has partnered with Google, AWS, Mode, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, UiPath and Alteryx
- Solving Real-Time Challenges
Learners are presented with real-world projects and exercises to master real-world skills.
- Helps one to choose a career / skill path
Treehouse provides its users with a quiz to determine which career or skill path to follow.
Challenges
- Transforming dull subject matter into amazing e-learning experiences.
A healthy dose of innovation and creativity turns content into something engaging and exciting. This includes like using social learning tools to enable learners to ask questions and get answers directly from other users.
- Lack of learner engagement and motivation.
Online learning unfortunately doesn’t guarantee 100% commitment from its users. They may be distracted, busy or unmotivated which prevents them from actively engaging with the e-learning programs.
- Staying up-to-date with modern tech.
The tech world changes every second with the introduction of new tech tools. All of these gadgets and software may sometimes be too overwhelming for someone especially when it comes to understanding which new learning technology one should invest in.
- Designing e-learning courses for different generations.
The target audience is made up of four different generation levels: Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millenials and Gen Z making it challenging to develop courses that caters to their uniques traits.
- Unrealistic deadlines.
Online learners are dealing with unrealistic deadlines that causes them to either lose sleep or be stressed out.
- Finding the perfect e-learning platform.
There are so many e-learning tools that one can choose from and so little time and online learners are having a difficult time to choose which e-learning platform to invest in.
Programs Offered, Pricing Chart and Duration
| Program / Course | Price | Duration |
| Java Developer | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| AI Product Manager | $ 718 | 2 months |
| Senior Fusion Engineer | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Data Visualization | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Cloud Developer | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Cloud DevOps Engineer | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Programming for Data Science with R | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Introduction to Machine Learning | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Marketing Analytics | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Data Engineer | $ 1795 | 5 months |
| Data Structures and Algorithms | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| C++ Engineer | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Business Analytics | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Artificial Intelligence for Trading | $ 2154 | 6 months |
| Programming for Data Science with Python | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Blockchain Developer | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Deep Reinforcement Learning | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Data Scientist | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Natural Language Processing | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Computer Vision | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| AI Programming with Python | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Flying Cars and Autonomous Flight | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Introduction to Self-Driving Cars | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Data Analyst | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| React | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Introduction to Programming | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Robotics Software Engineer | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Digital Marketing | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Deep Learning | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Artificial Intelligence | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Self-Driving Car Engineer | $ 2154 | 6 months |
| Predictive Analytics for Business | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Android Basics | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Machine Learning Engineer | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Front-End Web Developer | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Full Stack Web Developer | $ 1436 | 4 months |
| Android Developer | $ 2154 | 6 months |
| iOS Developer | $ 2154 | 6 months |
| UX Designer | $ 718 | 2 months |
| Data Streaming | $ 1077 | 3 months |
| Program / Courses | Projects | Duration | Price |
| Front End Web Development | 9 | 3 – 9 months | $ 199 / month |
| Python Development | 5 | 2 – 5 months | $ 199 / month |
| Full Stack JavaScript | 10 | 3 – 9 months | $ 199 / month |
| UX Design | 10 | 3 – 8 months | $ 199 / month |
| Web Development | 13 | 3 – 9 months | $ 199 / month |
Data Analysis from Google Trends
In our google trends analysis, we used the keyword search terms: “Udacity”. The results revealed a cyclical pattern in demand with highs and lows throughout the years. Most of the searches appear to come from China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Singapore. The most searched topics being Google | Udacity Scholarship, Data Camp and Data Engineer,
In our next google trends analysis, we used the keyword search terms: “TeamTreehouse”. The results revealed a cyclical pattern also throughout the years. Most of the searches seem to come from Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Norway, Singapore and Denmark. The most searched topics are Github Software Developer, React Native and Flask.
The figure below shows a comparative analysis between Udacity and TeamTreehouse based on interest over time. TeamTreehouse is marked in blue and Udacity is marked in red.
The figure below shows a comparative analysis between Udacity and TeamTreehouse based on interest by region. Most of the searches seem to come from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands and Phillipines. TeamTreehouse is marked in blue and Udacity is marked in red.
Comparative Analysis: Udacity vs Treehouse
| Sr. No. | Dimension / Parameters | Udacity | Treehouse |
| 1 | Openness of content | HIGH | HIGH |
| 2 | Openness of technology | HIGH | MEDIUM |
| 3 | Use of multimedia | MEDIUM | HIGH |
| 4 | Use of social media | HIGH | HIGH |
| 5 | Language support | MEDIUM | MEDIUM |
| 6 | Certificate courses | HIGH | HIGH |
| 7 | Responsive web design | HIGH | HIGH |
| 8 | Mobile Apps | MEDIUM | LOW |
| 9 | Catalogue diversity | HIGH | HIGH |
| 10 | Ease of Use | HIGH | HIGH |
| 11 | Quality of Support | MEDIUM | MEDIUM |
| 12 | Ease of Setup | MEDIUM | MEDIUM |
Competitive Analysis
Platforms that offer online learning and teaching have been growing over the past few years and so has the competition. Below is a compiled list of competitors covering crucial information such as; who they are, a link to their educational resource materials and user ratings to help draw a comparison between the different remote learning platforms available globally.
Competitors
Udacity and Treehouse face competition from some of the top e-learning platforms like:
| Sr. No. | Online Course Provider | Access Link | Ratings / 5 |
| 1 | LinkedIn Learning | https://www.linkedin.com/learning/ | 4.4 |
| 2 | HubSpot Academy | https://academy.hubspot.com/ | 4.7 |
| 3 | Pluralsight Skills | https://www.pluralsight.com/ | 4.6 |
| 4 | Udemy | https://www.udemy.com/ | 4.5 |
| 5 | Coursera | https://www.coursera.org/ | 4.5 |
| 6 | A Cloud Guru | https://acloudguru.com/ | 4.7 |
| 7 | CBT Nuggets | https://www.cbtnuggets.com/ | 4.7 |
| 8 | Infosec Skills | https://www.infosecinstitute.com/skills/ | 4.6 |
| 9 | Khan Academy | https://www.khanacademy.org/ | 4.6 |
| 10 | Cloud Academy | https://cloudacademy.com/ | 4.7 |
Treehouse vs Udacity: Summary and Overview Table
| Treehouse | Udacity | |
| Course Categories | Programming Computer science Data analysis Design Security Machine Learning Digital Literacy Quality Assurance Business | Data science Artificial Intelligence Programming Autonomous systems Cloud computing Product management Career Cybersecurity Business |
| Price Range | $25 – $995 | $399 – $2,394 |
| No. of Courses | 590+ | 270+ |
| % Of Courses that are Free | 0% | 70% |
| Service Packages for: | Individuals, Businesses, and Schools | Individuals, Businesses, and Government Organizations |
| One-one-one Tutor Interaction | Available | Available |
| Support Quality | Excellent | Excellent |
Treehouse vs Udacity: Key Differences Table
| Treehouse | Udacity | |
| Main Niche | Coding | Tech |
| Certificates | No | Yes |
| Mobile App | No | |
| Accepts Bank Transfers | No |
Treehouse vs Udacity: Courses and Subjects
| Treehouse | Udacity | |
| No. of Courses | 590+ | 270+ |
| Course Formats | Video and Text | Video and Text |
| Subject Categories | Programming Computer science Data analysis Design Security Machine Learning Digital Literacy Quality Assurance Business | Data science Artificial Intelligence Programming Autonomous systems Cloud computing Product management Career Cybersecurity Business |
| Course Languages | 1 Language | 1 Language |
| Skill Levels | BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced | BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced |
| Degrees Available | Techdegree (Non-accredited) | Nanodegree (Non-accredited) |
| Certificates Available | None | Credential of completion |
| Main Niche | Coding | Tech |
Next, we’ll take a look at how courses are set up on both platforms. This section covers their formats, subjects, certifications, and more.
Treehouse
Even with a nice-specific learning platform like Treehouse, it’s always good to have options. The more available courses, the higher your chances of finding what you want.
Treehouse offers over 590 courses in the form of regular lessons, workshops, and practice tutorials. They come in video and text formats.
The service only provides lessons in English, which I found a little disappointing. If English isn’t your first language, you may struggle.
Speaking of struggling – there’s a chance it also happens if you enroll in a course that’s too advanced for your current skill level. You also don’t want one that’s too basic. That’s why I always check every course’s skill level before enrolling.
Treehouse courses cover beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill levels. The only form of certification on the platform is the Techdegree. Although non-accredited, you need to pay more money to enroll in the Techdegree program and access the complete courses.
Nearly all the subjects on Treehouse are related to coding and working with programming languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.
Udacity
The service boasts more than 270 courses in the library. The video and text-based lessons come in only one language: English.
Like Treehouse, Udacity courses are available for students with beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill levels.
You can earn a trademark degree called Nanodegree. It’s non-accredited but highly respected in the tech space.
Finishing all lessons in any course will earn you a certificate of completion. Also, udacity’s library offers only technical courses.
Treehouse vs Udacity: Tutor and Community
| Treehouse | Udacity | |
| Tutor Selection Criteria | Industry experts | Industry professionals |
| One-on-one Tutor Interaction | Available | Available |
| Active Community | Yes | Yes |
| Community Response Time | Within a few hours | Within two days |
| No. of Users | 1.2+ million | 14+ million |
While taking online courses, it’s important to maintain a channel of communication with your tutors, mentors, and other students. That’s why I dedicated the next section to that aspect.
Treehouse
Although Treehouse doesn’t just allow anybody to tutor, the company’s selection criteria aren’t too strict. The instructors are industry experts with years of experience and dozens of live software (including GitHub projects).
Getting helpful one-on-one tutor interaction on Treehouse may take some navigation on your part. On the course page, find the list of all tutors associated with the curriculum. Each instructor has a page with their info. There, you’ll find links to their socials and websites. Feel free to contact them with that info.
With 1.2 million learners, Treehouse has an active community. I posted on the forum and got a response within a few hours. I must say, the Treehouse community responds faster than any other online learning platform I’ve tried.
Udacity
Udacity only allows industry professionals to create courses on the platform. You can get one-on-one tutor interaction by using the technical mentor support feature.
The community on Udacity is also quite active, thanks to the 14+ million learners on the platform. I got a response within two days after posting on the forum.
Treehouse vs Udacity: Online Software
| Treehouse | Udacity | |
| Compatible Platforms | Web | Web |
| Interface | Easy to use | Easy to use |
| Key Software Features | Course recommendations Progress saver Offline learning | Course recommendations Progress saver |
| Recommendations | Good | Good |
| Support Quality | Excellent | Excellent |
The quality of the software you use to access course lessons is just as important as the content. Let’s compare the online software used by Udacity and Treehouse.
Treehouse
Treehouse only has a web version and no mobile apps. The software interface is easy to use – you don’t need any tech experience to navigate it.
Of all its features, I found the following to be the most exciting:
- Course recommendations
- Progress saver
- Offline learning
The recommendations on what to learn next were good. I also found the offline learning feature to be a game-changer (available to Courses Plus subscribers only). Normally, you’ll need a mobile app for that, but Treehouse allows you to download videos and watch them later without an internet connection. This also allowed me to complete parallel courses simultaneously.
Udacity
The company doesn’t have any mobile apps either. All we get is the web version. However, this is easy to use.
It comes with key features such as these:
- Course recommendations
- Progress saver
The recommendations were just as good as those of Treehouse.
Treehouse vs Udacity: Support and Customer Reviews
Next, we’ll consider their support quality. I checked their customer support reviews on Trustpilot.
Treehouse
For Treehouse, 9 reviews were excellent, 1 average, and 1 bad. That’s a clear indication that Treehouse has excellent support quality.
Udacity
Out of their last 20 Trustpilot reviews, 17 were excellent, and 3 were bad. Udacity has excellent support quality.
Treehouse vs Udacity: Pricing and Savings
| Treehouse | Udacity | |
| Subscription Type | Courses Courses Plus Techdegree | Monthly Multiple Months Access Bundle |
| Price Range | $25 – $995 | $399 – $2,394 |
| Free Trial | 7 days | Occasional |
| Free Courses | None | Available |
| Discounts & Aid | None | Personalized discounts Bundled payment savings Coupons Scholarships |
| Refund Policy | None | 2 to 14 days |
| Certification Pricing | Free | Free |
| Payment Methods | Credit cards Debit cards PayPal | Credit cards Debit cards PayPal |
Treehouse vs Udacity: Pros and Cons
Treehouse
Pros
- Treehouse offers lots of coding courses for you to choose from.
- You can interact with mentors and tutors one-on-one.
- Course prices are affordable.
- They have excellent support.
Cons
- You can only learn effectively if you understand English.
- There are no free courses.
- You can’t get accredited degrees.
- There are currently no discounts or aids.
Udacity
Pros
- Udacity provides some of the best tech-focused programs (machine learning, cybersecurity, programming, etc.) on the internet.
- You can interact with mentors and tutors one-on-one.
- They have excellent support.
- The service offers lots of discounts and coupons to help you save.
Cons
- You can only learn effectively if you understand English.
- Udacity doesn’t offer accredited degrees.
- There are currently no mobile apps.
Also, check out other comparison below:
FreeCodeCamp vs Udacity: Which Should You Choose?
Pluralsight vs Udacity: Which Should You Choose?
FAQ
Is Udacity better than Treehouse?
From the results of my review, Udacity is the better online learning platform. Udacity beats Treehouse in terms of course quality and credential reputation. Treehouse, however, has a larger library with more affordable programs.
Is Treehouse good for learning?
Treehouse is a good platform to learn coding, data analysis, and other tech skills using video lessons. It’s best for beginners in the front end web development and data science fields.
How good is Treehouse Techdegree?
The Techdegree offered by Treehouse will not only serve as a useful certification but will also help you build projects you can add to your portfolio. This helps better prepare you for the job market. You can easily complete nine to twelve projects in one program.
Best Alternatives to Treehouse and Udacity
If neither Treehouse or Udacity seems like a good fit for you, check below for their best alternatives.
Coursera
It comes with accredited degrees and certificates. The company partners with top Universities to offer these officially-recognized programs.
edX
This service also offers accredited degrees and certificates.
Udemy
Udemy is another great alternative. Although they don’t offer accreditation, there are tens of thousands of courses for you to choose from.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Treehouse if you…
- want to learn to code with a budget of less than $200
- need more diversity
- want to learn offline and don’t mind paying extra
- need a highly responsive learners’ community
Choose Udacity if you…
- want to learn a tech skill without accredited credentials
- find it difficult to learn without regular support from mentors
- have a large budget to learn from top tech professionals
- need some free basic courses
- want a chance to learn on a scholarship
My Final Verdict
Both online learning sites are clearly great options. However, if I were to choose one, I’ll say Udacity is better. The service offers more quality courses delivered by industry professionals. Its Nanodegree also has a bigger reputation than Treehouse’s Techdegree.
There are instances when it may be better for you to choose Treehouse, and I mentioned them above. Both online learning platforms have my seal of approval.
Suggestions
- Encouraging students to generate their own learning content which has definitely been reviewed and validated to customize learning experience.
- Creating a chat feature for learners where they ask questions and get answers directly from other users / experts.
- Experts should analyze their learners’ interest and goals before creating content. This ensures that all content generated adheres to the different generation levels and is definitely interactive.
- E-learning platforms must understand the three key ways to drive interaction is by: microlearning, gamification and building hype of upcoming content.
- Teachers, students and parents / guardians should be encouraged to attend tech events, read tech blogs and reviews in order for them to keep up with the digital world.
- Developing an AI platform dedicated to learner’s needs to automate and personalize learning experience.
- The team that sets the deadlines, must have prior knowledge in the e-learning process. They should be able to understand how much work it takes to deliver learning outcomes that provides value to the organization as a whole.
- Investors and partners should be involved in the design and development process. For if they know what is going on, they will be much more cooperative and understanding.
- Before choosing which e-learning platform to invest into, one should measure their engagement, productivity, efficiency and performance.
Conclusion
With the unfolding of the digital era, e-learning aims to: improve the learning environment in order to be officially used in the next school years to come and to foster the awareness of user experience in all phases of the software development life-cycle. Schools can use digital resources in a variety of ways to support teaching and learning. Electronic grade books, digital portfolios, learning games, and real-time feedback on teacher and student performance, are a few ways that technology can be utilized to power learning. The platforms provide a wide range of exercises and projects that play a crucial role in solving the today and future problems of the real world. They also help one secure a successful career in the digital job market for the candidates have the skills that employers are looking for.
Despite all this, it is necessary to understand that being a developing world, we still have to overcome the major challenges of lack of technology access in the remote areas. The current century has been termed as the time for smart workers. Creating a learning environment using technology will diversify our teaching and learning practices: students have infinite sources of information that are engaging and motivational and teachers have access to be creative in their teaching methods.
To summarize, learning the latest digital skills is a complex activity that requires a lot of practice, and therefore we should learn how to use our digital resources well for our future and that of the next generation.
E-Learning Specialist in Online Programs & Courses