Online Learning Steps-up: What the World is Learning (from Home)
Whether it is working remotely, looking for another job, schools being closed, or missing our friends and loved ones; shelter in place and social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic have forced us to adjust to a new way of life. At Udemy, we are witnessing the resolve of people across the globe as they turn to our platform to overcome this period of uncertainty by finding resources to help them continue to work, teach, and learn.
Due to our huge range of affordable content for both work-related topics, like coding and communication skills, and “passion projects” like music and cooking, Udemy is uniquely positioned as an educational resource for people using this time to upskill, keep busy, or increase productivity. Noticing changes in learning behavior, we analyzed data on how people are using Udemy and published a special report today — “Online Education Steps-up: What the World is Learning (From Home)” – that provides a comprehensive look at how the world is learning and teaching since shelter-in-place orders came into effect in late-February.
Learning Trends across the Globe
Overall, course enrollments across the entire Udemy platform have increased by more than 425% and people are taking this moment to invest in themselves by learning all types of skills. As individuals around the globe proactively look to upskill or reskill in response to economic uncertainty, we are seeing strong growth in top-ranking professional skills including Neural Networks (61% increase), Communication Skills (131%), and Growth Mindset (206%). Meanwhile, increase in course enrollments in “passion projects” like Pilates (402% increase), Technical Drawing (920%), and Ukulele (292%), demonstrate that people are using Udemy to also stay active and learn skills they perhaps always wanted to but did not have enough time before.
This trend continues across every region with our research showing 130% growth in course enrollments in the U.S., 200% in India, 320% in Italy, and 280% in Spain.
“Particularly during this time of the pandemic, I’m looking at ways to gain some knowledge, improve myself, and try to evolve with this changing landscape.” – 41-year-old male student, Canada
How Businesses and Employees are Adapting
As COVID-19 has forced companies to shift to remote work, overall consumption across Udemy for Business has soared by 80% since late February. This unprecedented growth may be due to in-person events and training moving online or an increased need to upskill employees as a result of working remote, layoffs, and reorganizations. Unsurprisingly, Telecommuting (21,598% increase) surged the most in popularity, while the dramatic rise in Resilience (236%), and Stress Management (235%) may provide insight into the struggles employees and managers are encountering as they adjust to working and spending the majority of their time at home. Perhaps highlighting the ever-blurring separation between work and life, we’re also seeing higher enrollments in courses related to Fitness (816%).
“The ability to drive engagement with our employees is more important than ever. SurveyMonkey places a high priority on employee communication, and Udemy is one tool that provides value to our employees and their growth journey. Udemy’s ‘Feedback is Fuel’ course, for example, helps our employees learn how to ask and give feedback — a skill we’ve been encouraging our employees to learn for the past year, and one that is especially important now while working remotely with each other. Since our company has moved to a virtual work environment, Udemy has responded with speed to offer curated resources on best practices for remote working, employee productivity, and more. Those timely courses blend well with the custom content that we create on the Udemy platform.” – Monica Choi, Senior Program Manager for Talent Development at SurveyMonkey
Udemy: A Resource to Teach
We like to say that not all teachers are found in classrooms and any expert with something to share can become an instructor. As a result, we were extra-proud to discover that people are also turning to our platform as a resource to teach–with course creation jumping by 55%.
“I created design and photo-editing courses to help entrepreneurs who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and need to know these skills to manage their business digitally. I’m also hoping these courses will help people who may have lost their jobs recently and want to learn new skills that will allow them to work from home.” – 30-year-old female instructor, Australia
A Preview of the Future
Although the report focuses on online learning trends during the COVID-19 pandemic from the last two months, we believe the data is a preview of a sea change in how people learn, teach, work, and connect with one another. In recent years, there has been a lot of debate about what the ‘future of work’ and online learning will look like – and in some ways, almost overnight, we’re living it.