Lynda.com used to be a subscription-based online learning platform where anybody could acquire new skills for a charge. LinkedIn purchased it in 2015 and renamed it LinkedIn Learning. Lynda was formerly the go-to place for learning software skills, particularly graphic design. Lynda could teach you a Photoshop or AutoCAD skill if you required it. Today, you can find several Lynda classics on LinkedIn Learning, but the new site is jam-packed with business-related courses, ranging from management training to entrepreneurship. All LinkedIn Premium customers have access to LinkedIn Learning, which includes a massive amount of information. The quality of the courses is variable, and the course classification system might be improved, since it can be difficult to discover what you want at times.

If you have a LinkedIn Premium account, you may as well have a look around and see what you can find. LinkedIn Learning is definitely not a compelling enough service on its own to justify paying LinkedIn’s premium if you don’t already have one. If you’re in the recruiting realm, a Premium membership only makes sense if you’ll also use the other features, which include more insights into who’s looking at your LinkedIn profile and information on possible job prospects.

How to Use LinkedIn for Education

To access LinkedIn Learning, you must have a premium Premium LinkedIn account. There is no opportunity to purchase individual course access, which is a shame because there are some fantastic courses for certain hard skills, notably software learning. LinkedIn Premium comes in several distinct flavors to suit different sorts of entrepreneurs. These subscription service tiers provide you with unrestricted access to everything in LinkedIn Learning.

The Premium Career level ($29.99 per month or $239.88 per year) is for job searchers and applicants. Premium Business ($59.99 per month or $575.88 per year) caters to those who want to know how their firm is perceived on LinkedIn. Then there are premium subscriptions for sales and hiring professionals, which are sold at discounted rates. You can probably obtain a one-month free trial if you’ve never had a Premium account before.

Remember that a premium LinkedIn account comes with a lot more than just LinkedIn Learning, such as the ability to message individuals even if you’re not linked to them. We consider LinkedIn Learning to be more of a benefit than a need to upgrade to a Premium membership.

What Do Competitors Charge?

The price of an online learning course might vary greatly. Furthermore, the manner in which each site sells its courses differs. For example, if you pay for Premium membership on LinkedIn Learning, you receive access to every class in the entire library. The same principle applies to Skillshare. Pay once and receive everything ($99 per year or $19 per month). However, sites like Teachable sell access to particular courses, and the price is determined by the instructor’s fee. The Great Courses is the same way.

MasterClass offers both annual subscriptions ($180) and single courses ($90). Even if you have your heart set on one particular lesson, once you’re within the doors, you’ll inevitably discover more intriguing things to watch.

Skillshare offers a free selection of video lessons, with the rest available for $19 per month or $99 per year. A premium subscription also eliminates advertisements and allows you to save videos for offline viewing. Scholarships and team plans are available on Skillshare for those who want financial assistance.

Khan Academy is completely free to use. It is a charitable organization that takes contributions. During the COVID-19 crisis, Teachable offered some of its courses free.

Courses on language acquisition are a different story. They usually charge a monthly fee and only allow you to use one language at a time. A few language learning companies charge a one-time fee for their software or audio packages, which you can download and keep forever. Pimsleur is one such example, and it’s especially useful for audio-focused language learners.

Courses on LinkedIn Learning

Log into LinkedIn and click Learning in the upper-right corner once you have a Premium account. When you first visit the Learning section of the site, you’ll see a few short surveys asking what kind of content you’d like to learn. Then LinkedIn Learning recommends relevant content.

You can also look for material by browsing categories. There are three categories at the highest level: business, creativity, and technology. Subjects, Software, and Learning Paths are the three subcategories of each. Additional themes can be found beneath those subcategories.

Browse LinkedIn Learning.

These classifications and subcategories are perplexing. For example, if you want to learn After Effects, you should look under Creative rather than Technology. Programming, development, security, and other information systems topics are covered in the Technology category. Look under either Business or Technology if you want to learn new Excel tricks. Microsoft Office is the same way. Where can I find courses on personal wellness? Listed under Business. If you’re looking for writing lessons, skip the Creative section because it doesn’t have any. However, if you use the search bar to look for writing classes, you’ll find dozens.

You should start by using the search bar to find a specific skill or type of course. The Learning Paths are one of the advantages of browsing the categories. Learning Paths are a curated collection of videos on a single topic. One path, for example, teaches how to start a small business. LinkedIn Learning currently has 11 courses on this topic.

LinkedIn Learning is a learning path on LinkedIn.

How Do the Classes Work?

The new material from LinkedIn Learning, which includes videos created after the company was no longer known as Lynda.com, resembles a glorified slideshow presentation. This is especially true for business-related content. The videos have about as much personality as a PowerPoint presentation in a boardroom. The videos alternate between slides and a presenter who speaks slowly and clearly (and clearly reads from a script). There are some animated slides. Some include text. Some have video b-roll or photo stills, making them look more like traditional cutaways. Despite the high production values, they appear to be business-grade slideshows.

In these circumstances, the content can still be exceptional. For example, a course on plain language writing provided clear explanations of why people should write in plain language as well as how to do so. The entire presentation, on the other hand, was packaged in such a corporate manner that it drained the presenter of all personality.

Another course on overcoming your inner critic had some interesting ideas, but it was overproduced. The presenter smiles at the camera and delivers her scripted lines with zeal, but it all feels staged. She gets her point across, but nothing about it sticks with the learner. Compare this to Christina Aguilera’s MasterClass course. Even if you don’t know much about professional singers, you’ll remember her story about licking honey off a plate with her bare finger to lubricate her throat during performances. Storytelling, with Aguilera swiping up honey with her finger, leaves an indelible impression on the audience. PowerPoint presentations almost never work.

Consider taking a memoir writing course with Mary Karr on Skillshare. She may say “um” and “you know” a few times, or look away from the camera as she tries to put words together, but her genuineness shines through.

Some of LinkedIn Learning’s older courses are more vibrant. When Ben Long is outside talking about composition and light in his 2015 portrait photography course, he may be reading his notes, but he is noticeably more present than someone reading a script word for word. Mograph Techniques (2015) by EJ Hassenfratz is clearly scripted, but he occasionally interrupts to say, “Let me zoom in here,” while showing you a detail in how he uses his software. Despite the script, you get the impression he’s with you. The newer videos, in contrast, come across as rigid or overly corporate.

Lynda’s material for learning to code is still available on LinkedIn Learning. The courses range from basic HTML to advanced C++ and are suitable for both beginners and experts. There are classes on everything from programming fundamentals to user interface, responsive design, and mobile app development. Many tutorials, including some free ones, are specifically designed for children, which teachers will appreciate.

Because LinkedIn Learning covers such a wide range of topics, not just coding, it’s understandable that not all courses have dedicated forums or live phone chat. The best you can do is ask questions in the comments section of a video and hope that they are answered. LinkedIn, on the other hand, already has a large, career-hungry community to tap into for help and support.

The coding lessons on LinkedIn Learning aren’t as interactive as those on Treehouse or Codecademy, our Editors’ Choice picks for paid and free learn-to-code courses, respectively. For a similar monthly price, they compensate with a much greater breadth and depth of content beyond coding.

Learning Objectives and Certificates of Completion

You can set a weekly goal for how many minutes you want to spend watching videos in LinkedIn Learning, and you can track your progress in your account. The account also saves your progress in various courses, allowing you to pause Ariana Huffington when she starts talking about meditation and resume later.

Upon completion of many LinkedIn Learning courses, you will receive a certificate that you can download as a PDF or add to your LinkedIn profile. Certificates were also common in the days of Lynda.com, though it’s worth noting that they don’t always have any real-world value. They might be useful if your employer pays for your Premium account and wants proof that you’re using it properly.

A Great Benefit for LinkedIn Users

If you have a paid LinkedIn account, you should definitely look into LinkedIn Learning. To find exactly the types of lessons you want to learn, we recommend using the search bar rather than the browse feature. We preferred the software training, photography, and other technical skills videos from around 2015 and earlier to many of the more recent business courses, which all too often come across as overly corporate.

If you don’t already have a Premium LinkedIn account, the courses aren’t compelling enough to justify paying for one. Skillshare is a better place to learn specific skills, especially for creative types. MasterClass excels at inspirational content, while Khan Academy excels at academic courses. Treehouse and Codecademy are also excellent options for learning to code.