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Skillshare: Everything You Need to Know
By
Cait Williams
Cait Williams is a Content Writer at Scholarships360. Cait recently graduated from Ohio University with a degree in Journalism and Strategic Communications. During her time at OU, was active in the outdoor recreation community.
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Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Perhaps you have heard of online learning platforms like Skillshare, but never looked into what they are. Do you want to know what Skillshare is, what it costs, and who you learn from? In this article, we’ll answer all those questions and more. So, let’s get started!
What is Skillshare?
Skillshare is an online learning platform that features classes taught by real people. Students watch videos as they learn at their own pace while completing a project. Skillshare offers classes in animation, creative writing, web development, music, photography, and more!
Membership
Skillshare offers two forms of membership for individual users to access their platform. Users are able to choose between a premium annual membership or a premium monthly membership. Both plans offer the same access and download content, but vary by how you pay.
Premium annual plan
- $168 (about $13.99 a month)
- Billed all at once
- Access to 35,000+ classes
Premium monthly plan
- $32 ($384 for 12 full months)
- Billed monthly
- Access to 35,000+ classes
One feature Skillshare offers is something called “team memberships.” This feature gives employers the ability to purchase a bulk membership for employees to use.
Team membership
- $159 per person, per year
- Access to all 35,000+ classes
- Can download materials for offline viewing
Who teaches the classes on Skillshare?
Skillshare teachers come from an array of diverse backgrounds. Some have completed college, some have worked in their industries for over a decade, and some have done both! With this platform, you can trust that the teachers you’ll be learning from know what they’re talking about. Skillshare shares teacher profiles so you’ll know who you will learn from.
Become a Skillshare teacher
Skillshare isn’t just a place where people come to learn; they’re also creating a space where people come to share their knowledge. The platform encourages people who have expertise to come and teach classes for them.
Skillshare’s classes aren’t just academic based. So, if you’re thinking that you’re unqualified, throw that thought away! Skillshare wants to walk with you the entire way as you explore the possibility of teaching for them. They understand that good teachers aren’t made strictly through rigorous years of schooling. Most people have something to offer, and Skillshare wants them to have a chance to share it!
Check out the Skillshare teachers’ page to find out more about what the process looks like. They even display personal stories of real teachers sharing their teaching journeys!
Most popular Skillshare classes
The most popular classes on Skillshare vary from month to month. So, how can you find the best classes? Thankfully, the platform has a blog! The blog is entirely free and offers tons of content for both members and non-members. The posted content becomes more relevant with a membership, but can be useful on its own too.
Most months, Skillshare publishes a post that talks about the previous month’s most popular courses. Again, because the platform is always bringing in new content, teachers, and members, the most popular classes change from month to month. Check out their blog to help see what others are exploring and what you might like to explore too!
Is Skillshare right for you?
Investing in a month or year-long membership to any online learning platform can be a bit daunting. You’ll most likely want to be sure that you’re not just wasting money. So, to close out this review, let’s do a quick evaluation about whether Skillshare is right for you by looking at three things:
Content
Before purchasing anything, take a look at Skillshare’s website and their most popular courses posted on their blog. You should be able to get a good feel for the kinds of courses they offer. If you’re looking for classes that are a bit more academic based, Skillshare may not be the right investment for you.
Time
Perhaps Skillshare is exactly what you’ve been looking for! You may have been ready to go all in because of one class you really want to take. If that’s the case, that’s great! But again, let’s pause for just a moment and evaluate how you spend your time now.
Take a quick inventory of the things you’ve got going on in your life. Are you in school? Do you work? Do you take care of family members? Are there other obligations that require your time each week?
Skillshare is great because you can work at your own pace and it’s not like taking college credits. But at the same time, you’ll want to make sure that if you invest in something, you have time to get everything out of it that you can!
Money
Finally, let’s look at the financial aspect. Based on your two answers above, you should feel confident with your decision to purchase or not purchase. Skillshare wants their courses to be accessible, but that doesn’t mean money can’t be your determining factor. However, be careful not to just look at this as a purchase of “something.” After all, when you buy a membership to learn, you’re investing in yourself!
Additional resources for online learners
Skillshare is a great platform for online learners, and it can help you decide whether you are interested in a particular field and gain some experience in it. But it is far from being the only option out there. Especially when it comes to furthering your professional life directly, options like Coursera, EdX, and the Google Certificate Program can be far better.
Online students who are pursuing accredited programs should also be sure to check out our guide to filling out the FAFSA to ensure they are getting as much aid as they can. You can also consult our list of the top scholarships for online students to help lighten your financial load.
Key Takeaways
Frequently asked questions about Skillshare
Does Skillshare offer scholarships?
First, college students are eligible for half off of the price of Skillshare. The platform also awards 10 monthly scholarships to those who fill out their “one free year of membership” scholarship. The application process is simple and takes just a couple of minutes to fill out!
Can you put Skillshare classes on your resume?
Oftentimes, the best way to demonstrate you learned something from a Platform like Skillshare is to use your new skills to complete an independent project and include it on your resume.
Can you cancel Skillshare at any time?
What other online learning platforms are there?
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