Is SkillShare Premium Worth It

Introduction

It takes a lot more than eating superfoods, listening to NPR, and getting adequate sleep to feed your brain. It's all about pushing oneself to discover new things.

Fortunately, you don't need to enrol in a full-fledged college degree to exercise your cognitive muscles in today's world. Taking online classes is one of the most effective ways to begin a new learning adventure that will polish your skills, improve your grasp of new concepts, and allow you to discover new things.

There are numerous online learning sites where you may take online courses and learn new skills for free or very little money. There are numerous online learning groups to join, ranging from Udemy to Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and beyond.

Skillshare offers some of the greatest courses available. The Skillshare platform is a new online learning community that aims to make online learning simple, affordable, and effective.

You've come to the correct place if you're new to the concept and want to learn more about Skillshare classes. We'll cover everything you need to know about Skillshare in this review, including Skillshare membership details, pricing, available class offerings, and other essential characteristics of this unique resource.

What is Skillshare and how does it work?

Skillshare is a self-paced, self-guided online learning community headquartered in the United States for those who wish to learn at their own pace. The majority of Skillshare's material comes in the form of educational videos, with most courses costing money.

Skillshare is different from other online learning platforms in that it focuses more on community than lecture. It also offers the purpose of learning by completing a project. Entrepreneurship, arts, design, and technology are just a few of the major course categories in which you can obtain knowledge.

Michael Karnjanaprakrn and Michael Ong founded the platform in 2010, making it one of the most recent of its sort. There are over 30,000 free and subscription-based classes to choose from, many of which are taught by industry luminaries.

For Whom Is Skillshare Intended?

Skillshare is a platform that is open to anybody and everyone. Anyone who wants to take a class, develop a class, or teach a class can join our online learning community. You can work on your own projects, develop new skills, or teach.

Skillshare, on the other hand, is perfect for people interested in developing creative talents, such as creative writing, photography, leadership, and analytics.

What is the Process of Skillshare?

Skillshare is the platform for you if you want to become a lifelong learner. You may learn almost any skill on our website by participating in video lessons and online workshops.

Most online courses include both traditional lectures and extra materials such as readings, worksheets, and even interactive online learning communities where you can discuss your work with other students.

Skillshare is a platform that covers a wide range of topics, but its primary concentration is on providing online courses in the creative fields. You'll find a wide range of topics that can assist you in your profession or simply allow you to pursue your interests.

Functionality and features

Learning Opportunities for Everyone
Skillshare is unique in that it provides a collaborative learning environment similar to that of a traditional classroom, whether online or in person. You'll be able to collaborate with other students to improve your level of experience and point of view, as well as provide comments on previous lectures.

Instructional Features That Work Effortlessly
If you're an instructor interested in creating and selling courses on Skillshare, the procedure is rather simple. From creating and releasing classes to advertising and even getting paid, the Skillshare team will assist you through the entire process.

You can upload videos directly as an instructor and then add interactive project steps. These procedures will make it simple for you to display data exactly the way you want it.

Detailed Technical Information
Skillshare is available on the web and on mobile devices such as Android and iOS. There is also an app available. Classes are available on both a computer and a mobile device. Adobe, MailChimp, VS, Bigcartel, inVISION, Shapeways, Quirky, and others are among the companies and technologies it integrates with.

Tags for Skills
The "skill tags" setting is another standout feature of Skillshare. Instructors can use skill tags to label their courses depending on the skills they teach. They also assist students in finding those courses by allowing you to narrow your search to specific abilities and explore classes accordingly.

What Kinds of Skillshare Classes Are Available?
Classes on Skillshare

Thrive, Build, and Create are the three main categories of programmes offered by Skillshare.

There are only two subtopics in the Thrive category: Lifestyle and Productivity. Build provides classes on leadership and management, marketing, analytics, and freelance and entrepreneurship, among other topics.

Subtopics for – you guessed it – creators can be found in Create. Skills in creative writing, filmmaking, art, illustration, graphic design, photography, web development, animation, UI and UX design, and more are covered in subtopics.

It's crucial to note that while these categories appear to be restrictive, Skillshare has a large number of other courses that aren't covered in the categories listed above. While the aforementioned categories represent the great majority of Skillshare classes, there are plenty of others, such as cooking lessons, that don't fit neatly into any of the aforementioned categories.

As a result, Skillshare allows you to search for classes in two different ways. You can go through the categories or use the search bar to find what you're searching for.

How Should I Select Skillshare Courses?

When you're ready to start taking Skillshare classes, the most difficult part will most likely be choose which class to take first. When it comes to making the final cut, there are thousands of courses to choose from, which might be intimidating.

There are several options for finding a class. You can check for classes that are trending or recommended, or you can explore by topic or category. Of course, if you already have a course in mind, the quickest method to find it is to utilise the search box.

Once you've found a class that looks interesting, bookmark it so you can view it later. To achieve this, you'll need a Skillshare account, which is highly recommended because it allows the site to recommend classes to you based on your tastes. After you've created an account, you'll be able to save classes that you're interested in and organise them into playlists.

When you first visit the course, you'll see a larger video player to the right, as well as a list of videos. Below the video player is a description of the teacher, class, and course resources. You'll be able to check how many students registered for the class and how interested they were.

You can even look at ratings to see if the class is suitable for you and your degree of experience (the courses are ranked based on their suitability for beginners, people with a bit of experience, or people at all levels).

Review of Skillshare Costs and Pricing

Pricing for Skillshare

When it comes to Skillshare price, you have a few options to consider. The free membership is the most basic package. The free version is ad-supported and does not provide you access to all of Skillshare's video classes. You will also be unable to access related content or supporting documents such as PDF workbooks or community conversations.

The Premium Membership is the next rung on the Skillshare pricing ladder. This Skillshare membership removes all advertisements and gives you access to the entire course catalogue.

You'll also be able to download cases to your mobile apps, allowing you to watch them online. The Premium Skillshare Membership is $19 per month or $99 for the entire year.

Not only that, but by becoming a Premium Member, you'll have access to a slew of other "freebies," like savings on Squarespace, Adobe Creative Cloud, Shutterstock, and more.

The Team's account is a final alternative. This subscription costs the same as a Premium Skillshare Membership, however it has a few differences in terms of functionality. You'll just pay $99 per month for this membership, which is designed for enterprises who want to give their employees Skillshare accounts that are managed under a single account.

However, there is one catch to this Skillshare membership. You must have fewer than 20 individuals on your team to qualify for this Skillshare price model. If your team has more than 20 members, you'll need to talk to someone at Skillshare about your choices.

Many other online learning platforms are substantially more expensive than Skillshare. If you want to join up for MasterClass, a similar service, for example, you'll have to pay $180 each year. Even if you only take one class, it will cost you $90 or more.

There is a yearly subscription price for LinkedIn Learning, however it is exclusively available to LinkedIn Premium users. You'll be required to pay at least $29 every month.

There are, of course, other platforms that provide free or pay-as-you-go online courses. Khan Academy, Udemy, and Coursera are all examples of online learning platforms. However, keep in mind that you get what you pay for; just because you can find free classes doesn't mean they're necessarily better.

Skillshare's Advantages (Pros)
Using Skillshare to expand your talents and learn about new areas has various advantages.

User-Friendly and Simple to Use
Skillshare's courses may fluctuate slightly across instructors – after all, they all have distinct teaching styles and modalities – but for the most part, Skillshare is a consistent and easy-to-use online learning platform. For each lesson, you'll know what to expect.

You can use a variety of technology resources to make Skillshare more comfortable and convenient to use. You can, for example, enable closed captioning or slow down the video playback speed, which is useful if you need to relisten to anything you've already heard.

You can also pause, skip, or return to a video. You'll be able to see the title and description of each video listed off to the side, so you'll know what you've previously seen and what's coming up next. You can easily skip ahead to new sections without having to listen to hours of audio.

Interaction in the Community
Another great aspect of Skillshare is the ability to communicate with the community and actively contribute. You'll be able to share your projects and work, and other Skillshare users will be able to comment on it.

At first glance, this appears to be the start of a can of worms. What if your work is disliked by the other students? What if they're too harsh? Fortunately, this is not the case on Skillshare, where other users are generally pleasant and provide constructive feedback.

There are other methods to stay connected to the Skillshare community, which is unique to this platform and not available on other online course platforms.

Skillshare Workshops, for example, are structured courses with community interaction that run between defined calendar days and include a project timetable that students must adhere to.

These courses feature deadlines and a more engaging community, comparable to what you'd find in a regular college class.

Of course, whether or not you're enrolled in a Workshop class, you'll be able to work on projects. Most classes include projects that allow you to earn experience while in class.

Excellent for Developing Creativity
Although there are other online course platforms available, Skillshare is by far the best if you want to improve your artistic skills, such as writing or photography.

Anyone is welcome to participate.
Skillshare is unique in that it is free and open to everyone. To teach a class, you don't need a college diploma, and to take one, you don't need to enrol as a student or pay exorbitant tuition fees. It's completely free and open source.

Skillshare's Disadvantages (Cons)

Depth is lacking.
One criticism of Skillshare courses – and one that can be applied to other online learning platforms as well – is that they are shallow. There isn't a single Skillshare class with a discussion board that gets into the heart of an issue or any form of theory.

Other online classes you may have taken at traditional universities encourage collaboration and extensive discussion among students, but this isn't something you'll find with Udemy, Coursera, or Skillshare.

Interaction with the instructor is poor.
Some Skillshare customers report that getting feedback from instructors and interacting with them via the platform is difficult. Unfortunately, this appears to be a widespread tendency throughout many online learning sites, not just Skillshare.

From the Learner's Point of View

As a Skillshare student, you'll find a simple, straightforward learning experience that's easy to get used to. Classes follow a constant format, so you don't have to worry about adjusting to a new format every time you start a new course.

The length of the classes is the only item that differs greatly. Some Classes have 50 or more short, one- or two-minute films, while others only have 10 videos, each lasting 10 minutes. There are no limitations or limits on the length or duration of a lesson.

Likewise, some classes offer homework, while others do not. Most of the time, you'll be asked to share your work with other students in the class. Some teachers continue to provide comments on student work, while others do not. This is a useful approach to determine whether or not a Skillshare class is worth your time.

Skillshare classes are divided into two categories: Skillshare Originals and individual-created classes.

If you create a class on Skillshare as an individual, you will generate money from the class and sell it yourself. A Skillshare Original, on the other hand, is one that Skillshare has created in collaboration with other companies such as Patreon and Mailchimp. These classes may be given by celebrities and are normally of a higher standard. The majority of these sessions will comprise many ten-minute videos that should be watched in order and are simple to follow.

These are some of the best classes to attend if you truly want to learn a subject. You'll know precisely what you're getting, and the videos are short enough that you may view them in chunks, pausing and restarting as needed for a truly self-paced education.

User-created (or individual-created) classes are likewise generally of excellent quality, though not as uniform. These are usually a little shorter, and they're less likely to be taught by someone you already know and like. Skillshare, on the other hand, is different from other online learning platforms in that its team will audit courses on a regular basis, deleting those that aren't of the greatest quality.

As a Skillshare student, you'll appreciate the diverse selection of courses accessible. There are numerous options available, and the majority of sessions are delivered by qualified professors. Of course, some are clearly taught by instructors who have little knowledge of what they are attempting to teach. However, reading reviews from other students and taking a quick preview of the course can help you weed these out.

The Instructor's Point of View

As a Skillshare instructor, there are various benefits to presenting your class here, especially when compared to other course platforms.

The beauty of Skillshare is that anyone can be an instructor; you don't need a degree or any other certifications to do so. Not only that, but when it comes to your course, you'll have entire control. You are in charge of deciding how to structure the course, how to design it, and even how to handle all of the day-to-day details, such as uploading materials and videos.

You'll make money from course royalties as a Skillshare instructor. Unfortunately, finding out precisely how much you'll make can be a little tricky at first, but it's a price structure you'll get used to gradually.

Your royalties, according to Skillshare, will be deposited into a monthly pool of funds. This represents 30% of the earnings from Premium memberships. In addition, Skillshare will track the amount of minutes that Premium members, including those who aren't paying, spent watching your videos. Unpaid subscribers who watch the videos are also factored into the equation.

Surprisingly, the time and speed with which each student watches your video has an effect on your royalties. When a student, for example, slows down the playback speed on a movie, the amount of time spent watching it drops, and the royalties you receive diminish.

You'll receive a payment that includes all Premium minutes watched for the month, and then a percentage for each teacher will be calculated. It's vital to know that in order to collect royalties every month, you must have at least 30 minutes watched across all of your films.

For many Skillshare instructors, the payment structure is too confusing, prompting them to move their sessions to other online learning sites. The benefit of Skillshare, on the other hand, is that you don't have to worry about paying a membership fee, and you can figure out how much you'll make each month so you can more or less budget for it.

Conclusion

Are you ready to broaden your horizons and gain new skills? If that's the case, Skillshare could be a good option. This online learning platform offers training in a wide range of abilities, and there's no excuse not to give it a try, especially when there's a free version accessible.

This Skillshare review can prove useful as you look for the top online courses and job development options. Sign up now and get started learning!