As the world has moved toward digitalisation, career professionals must ensure they are constantly mastering the digital avenue. Digital marketing has a significant role to play in today's world by helping businesses focus on their target audiences using the internet and online-based digital technologies.

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Andrew Ng, a world leader in the development of artificial intelligence, said in an interview this week that he believes current talk about AI being an existential threat to humankind is vastly exaggerated.

Google Brain founder Andrew Ng says threat of AI causing human extinction is overblown

Google Brain founder says threat of AI causing human extinction is overblown

Massive open online course provider Coursera has reported a third-quarter 2023 net loss of $32.1 million. Stay up to date with all our events, awards and publications. Information you provide us with will be kept private at all times, and will be used for ...

US: Instructure buys academic credentialing platform

So, here are five of the best websites for you to learn in-demand skills, based on the top articles on Google. Coursera offers a vast selection of courses in partnership with leading global institutions. Its range encompasses areas from Data Science to ...

5 Websites For Learning In-Demand Skills

Streaming TV platform Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow after market close. Here's what to expect.

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BMO Capital Markets initiated its Coursera Inc [COUR] rating to an Outperform in a research note published on Friday, October 12, 2023; the price target was $24. PT values the company’s stock at a premium of 28.33 to its Friday closing price.

BMO Capital Markets’s latest rating for COUR stock

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Coursera delivered top-line growth of 21.4% year on year, beating analyst estimates by 4.21% and Netflix reported revenues up 7.77% year on year, exceeding estimates by 0.02%. Coursera traded up 15.6% on the results,

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Fintel reports that on October 30, 2023, Goldman Sachs maintained coverage of Coursera (NYSE:COUR) with a Neutral recommendation. Analyst Price Forecast Suggests 9.38% Upside As of October 5, 2023, the average one-year price target for Coursera is 18.81.

Goldman Sachs Maintains Coursera (COUR) Neutral Recommendation

Coursera

coursera

Hello friends, if you are looking for the best Coursera courses and certificates to improve your tech skills and learn new in-demand tech skills like Python, Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain, then you have come to the right place. Earlier, I shared the and today I will share the 20 Best Coursera courses from top tech companies like Google, IBM, Meta, and more. best Udemy courses for Python developers Many of you may now know that apart from having Courses from the world's reputed universities, also has online courses from the world's largest tech companies. Coursera You can join training courses taught by Google, IBM, AWS, and other large tech companies and learn from the world's best instructors. If this seems exciting to you then hang in and let's deep dive into the 20 best Coursera Coursera from top tech companies like Google, Meta, IBM, SAS, , and Alibaba. DeepLearning.ai Here is a list of 20 popular Coursera courses taught by top tech companies: 21 Coursera Courses and Certifications to Learn Data Science, Cloud Computing, and Python Now, let's deep dive into tech courses and find out why they are the best Coursera courses and why they should join them. 1. Google IT Support from Google This 5-course certificate, developed by Google, includes an innovative curriculum designed to prepare you for an entry-level role in IT support. A job in IT can mean in-person or remote help desk work in a small business or at a global company like Google. The program is part of Grow with Google, a Google initiative to help create economic opportunities for all. Upon completion of the certificate, you can share your information with top employers like Cognizant, GE Digital, Hulu, Infosys, Intel, KForce, MCPc, PNC Bank, RICOH USA, Sprint, TEKSystems, Veterans United Home Loans, Walmart, and their subsidiaries, and of course, Google. You can also earn a CompTIA and Google dual credentials when you complete the Google certificate and pass the CompTIA A+ certification exams. Btw, Google has a lot of exciting professional certificates on Coursera and I would suggest you check them out as you will not only get a chance to learn from Google experts but also you will get certificates that can boost your resume Here are notable Google Certificates on Coursera that are worth checking out. Here is a list of the best of them. [486,000 already enrolled] Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate [332K enrolled] Google Project Management: Professional Certificate [270K Students] Google UX Design Professional Certificate 2. [Most Comprehensive Blockchain Certification] Blockchain Specialization This is one of the best Coursera specializations to learn Blockchain in 2022, particularly for programmers and software developer who wants to learn about Blockchain and develop smart contracts and distributed applications leveraging Blockchain networks, particularly Ethereum. This specialization has 4 courses that will teach you everything you need to learn about Blockchain, how it facilitates peer-to-peer transactions without any intermediary, and then how to develop smart contracts and dApps on the Ethereum network. This course is offered by The State University of New York & the University at Buffalo and it's completely online. It will take almost 4 months to complete if you can spend 4 hours each week and you will also get a sharable certificate after completing this Blockchain certification. Bina Ramamurthy Instructor: The state university of NewYork, and the University at Buffalo Offered by: -  64 hours How long does it take to learn Blockchain -  intermediate, programming knowledge required Level Smart Contract, Ethereum, Blockchain, Solidity, Cryptography, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Remix IDE, MetaMask client, Decentralized Applications, Truffle IDE Skills - Talking about the social proof, this is the most popular Blockchain certification on courser and more than 70K students have already joined this program it has on average 4.6 rating from close to 5000 students which is remarkable. 3. Google IT Automation with Python from Google This new beginner-level, six-course certificate, developed by Google, is designed to provide IT professionals with in-demand skills --- including Python, Git, and IT automation --- that can help you advance your career. This course builds on your IT foundations to help you take your career to the next level. It's designed to teach you how to program with Python and how to use Python to automate common system administration tasks. You'll also learn to use Git and GitHub, troubleshoot and debug complex problems, and apply automation at scale using configuration management and the Cloud. 4. IBM AI Foundations for Business from IBM This specialization will explain and describe the overall focus areas for business leaders considering AI-based solutions for business challenges. The first course provides a business-oriented summary of technologies and basic concepts in AI. The second will introduce the technologies and concepts in data science. The third introduces the AI Ladder, which is a framework for understanding the work and processes that are necessary for the successful deployment of AI-based solutions. 5. IBM Data Science from IBM This program consists of 9 online courses that will provide you with the , including open-source tools and libraries, Python, databases, SQL, data visualization, data analysis, statistical analysis, predictive modeling, and machine learning algorithms. latest job-ready tools and skills You'll learn data science through hands-on practice in IBM Cloud using real data science tools and real-world data sets. Upon successfully completing these courses, you will have built a portfolio of data science projects to provide you with the confidence to plunge into an exciting profession in data science. In addition to earning a Professional Certificate from Coursera, you'll also receive a recognizing your proficiency in data science. digital badge from IBM 6. AWS Fundamentals from Amazon Web Services This specialization gives current or aspiring IT professionals an overview of the features, benefits, and capabilities of Amazon Web Services (AWS). As you proceed through these four interconnected courses, you will gain a more vivid understanding of core AWS services, key AWS security concepts, strategies for migrating from on-premises to AWS, and the basics of building serverless applications with AWS. Additionally, you will have opportunities to practice what you have learned by completing labs and exercises developed by AWS technical instructors. 7. Getting Started with AWS Machine Learning from Amazon Web Services This course is from AWS itself and it will teach you how to get started with AWS Machine Learning. Key topics include Machine Learning on AWS, Computer Vision on AWS, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) on AWS. Each topic consists of several modules deep-diving into a variety of ML concepts, AWS services as well as insights from experts to put the concepts into practice. 8. AWS Computer Vision: Getting Started with GluonCV from Amazon Web Services This course provides an overview of Computer Vision (CV), Machine Learning (ML) with Amazon Web Services (AWS), and how to build and train a CV model using the Apache MXNet and GluonCV toolkit. The course discusses artificial neural networks and other deep learning concepts, then walks through how to combine neural network building blocks into complete computer vision models and train them efficiently. 9. Alibaba Cloud Computing Specialization from Alibaba Cloud Academy This specialization is intended for both students and businesses who aim to learn more about how Cloud technology can help them grow. With Cloud Computing, Big Data, and Cloud Security courses, users will be exposed to a series of products that combine to make architecture fit for any task. This specialization will train the user on two levels: first, the basic specifications and functions of our principle product line, and second, evaluate a user's ability to use several different products together to create best practice solutions on Alibaba Cloud. 10. Cloud Architecture with Google Cloud from Google Cloud This program provides the skills you need to advance your career as a professional cloud architect and supports your preparation for the industry-recognized Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect certification. You'll learn how to deploy solution elements, including infrastructure components such as networks, systems, and application services, and you'll gain real-world experience through a number of hands-on Qwiklabs projects. 11. Security in Google Cloud Platform from Google Cloud This specialization incorporates hands-on labs using our Qwiklabs platform. These hands-on components will let you apply the skills you learn in the video lectures. Projects will incorporate topics such as Google Cloud products, which are used and configured within Qwiklabs. You can expect to gain practical hands-on experience with many of the concepts explained throughout the modules. 12. Cloud Engineering with Google Cloud from Google Cloud This professional certificate incorporates hands-on labs using our Qwiklabs platform. These hands-on components will let you apply the skills you learn in the video lectures. Projects will incorporate topics such as Google Cloud Platform products that are used and configured within Qwiklabs. You can expect to gain practical hands-on experience with the concepts explained throughout the modules. 13. Deep Learning from deeplearning.ai If you want to break into AI, this Specialization will help you do so. Deep Learning is one of the most highly sought-after skills in tech. We will help you become good at Deep Learning. In five courses, you will learn the foundations of Deep Learning, understand how to build neural networks, and learn how to lead successful machine learning projects. You will learn about Convolutional networks, RNNs, LSTM, Adam, Dropout, BatchNorm, Xavier/He initialization, and more. 14. Natural Language Processing from deeplearning.ai uses algorithms to understand and manipulate human language. This technology is one of the most broadly applied areas of machine learning. Natural Language Processing (NLP) As AI continues to expand, so will the demand for professionals skilled at building models that analyze speech and language, uncover contextual patterns, and produce insights from text and audio. By the end of this Specialization, you will be ready to design NLP applications that perform question-answering and sentiment analysis, create tools to translate languages, summarize text, and even build chatbots. 15. AI For Everyone from deeplearning.ai AI is not only for engineers. If you want your organization to become better at using AI, this is the course to tell everyone, especially, your non-technical colleagues to take. Though this course is largely non-technical, engineers can also take this course to learn the business aspects of AI. 16. AI For Medicine from deeplearning.ai AI is transforming the practice of medicine. It's helping doctors diagnose patients more accurately, make predictions about patients' future health, and recommend better treatments. This three-course Specialization will give you practical experience in applying machine learning to concrete problems in medicine. These courses go beyond the foundations of deep learning to teach you the nuances of applying AI to medical use cases. If you are new to deep learning or want to get a deeper foundation of how neural networks work. 17. SAS Programmer Professional Certificate from SAS When you complete the SAS® Base Programming course, you will have demonstrated skills in manipulating and transforming data, combining SAS data sets, creating basic detailed and summary reports using SAS procedures, and identifying and correcting data, syntax, and programming logic errors. These skills prepare you for the SAS® Base Programming Specialist certification exam. In the last course of this professional certificate program, you complete projects that demonstrate your knowledge of SAS programming. In the first project, you write programs for each stage of the SAS programming process to analyze passenger claims at United States airports. In the second project, you use your knowledge of the data preparation stage to write programs that restructure world tourism data. 18. Statistics with SAS from SAS This introductory course is for SAS software users who perform statistical analysis using SAS/STAT software. The focus is on t-tests, ANOVA, and linear regression, and includes a brief introduction to logistic regression. 19. SAS Visual Business Analytics from SAS Using SAS Visual Analytics, you will learn to access and manipulate data, analyze data with a variety of interactive reports and graphics, and design and share dashboards to visualize your data. SAS Visual Analytics is a useful skill in a variety of careers, including business analyst, researcher, statistician, and data scientist. 20. Facebook Social Media Marketing from Meta This is relatively new and probably the first professional certification/specialization by Facebook on the Coursera platform. Whether you've been tinkering with social media platforms for your business already or are completely new to the field of digital marketing, you've come to the right place. This five-course program, developed by digital marketing experts at Aptly together with Facebook marketers, includes an industry-relevant curriculum designed to prepare you for an entry-level role in social media marketing. After an introduction to digital marketing and the main social media platforms, you'll learn to establish an online presence, create posts, build a following, and manage your social media accounts. You'll develop skills in creating and managing advertising campaigns on social media and learn to evaluate the results of your marketing efforts. 22. SRE and DevOps Engineer with Google Cloud from Google Cloud This is another great course on Google Cloud Platform by none other than Google itself. SRE and Site Reliability Engineers are becoming more and more popular along with DevOps and it's important to understand SRE principles not only for GCP DevOps Engineer certification but also for future DevOps and SRE interviews. This program provides the skills you need to advance your career as a data engineer and provides training to support your preparation for the industry-recognized Google Cloud Professional DevOps Engineer certification. 87% of Google Cloud certified users feel more confident in their cloud skills. You'll also have the opportunity to practice key job skills using Google Cloud to build software delivery pipelines, deploy and monitor services, and manage and learn from incidents. You will learn to apply SRE principles to services and techniques for monitoring, troubleshooting, and improving infrastructure and application performance, among other things. It's all about the . These are also the best courses to take if you want to have a professional career in the IT industry whether you want to be a cloud engineer python developer or just learning for fun and acquiring new knowledge and skills. 20 best Coursera courses and certificates from top Tech companies like Google that you can join By the way, if you are planning to join multiple Coursera courses or specializations then consider taking a subscription which provides you unlimited access to their most popular courses, specialization, professional certificate, and guided projects. It cost around $399/year but it's completely worth your money as you get unlimited certificates. Coursera Plus Thanks for reading this article. If you like these best Coursera Courses for Software developers then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note.

21 Best Coursera Courses and Certificates for IT Professionals to Learn Data Science and Cloud 

Hello Devs, being an author of a popular and an I often receive questions like: Should I go for Coursera certifications? Are they worth it? Should I go for Udemy certifications or edX certification? Will they help me get a job and ease my career development process? e.t.c. Java blog educator After answering them separately over Facebook and Twitter, I thought to write this blog post to address common concerns from programmers and developers who want to learn new skills online but are concerned about their value. While online courses provide an excellent platform for learning at low cost, at your schedule, and at your own pace, when it comes to course completion certification, you can debate their value. As I said, I often received questions from my readers about the worth of the certifications they offer. Many people asked me whether course completion certificates offered by , , , , , or any such online platforms are worth anything? Udemy Coursera edX Educative Udacity The answer to this question is because it totally depends on what worth means for you? both Yes, and No If you are thinking that just completing a  Computer Science or on Coursera and displaying a completion certificate on your resume or on LinkedIn will land you a Job then definitely, it's not worth it. But, at the same time, these certifications can put your resume forward to many Recruiters looking for Data scientists. Data Science course A course completion certificate doesn't make you an expert, but it does show that you have completed a course on a particular subject, which means you know about it, and are a constant learner, an essential attribute that hiring managers look out for, while hiring Programmers, Engineers, Developers, and Data Scientists. It's a sad truth that . Yes, the number might seem surprising, but it's true. almost 90% of people who start an online course never complete them I know many of my friends who teach classes on Udemy with thousands of learners enrolled in them, but hardly a few of them ever complete the course. A course completion certification definitely gives you some edge. Even with my , not everyone who joins my course completes it. Java and Spring certification courses At the same time, you need to remember that a course completion certification is very different from Oracle's Java certification or AWS certification from Amazon, or Azure Certification from Microsoft which really tests your skill and then awards your certificate. The certifications listed above are definitely more valuable than a standard course completion certificate from Udemy, Coursera, edX, Educative, or Udacity but again there are exceptions like on Coursera which is highly valued by many employers. Google's IT support certification Are Coursera and Udemy Course Certifications Worth it? Do they boost your credentials? I have been on both sides of the table in Programming interviews. As a candidate, I have seen Recruiters show interest in my resume and talk about my certifications, while as an Interviewer and hiring manager, I also give more credence to people who have certifications on their resumes. To those who don't have them, they’re still considered, provided they show similar dedication and skill, with other things like experience. I have also seen recruiters storm a developer’s profile after the addition of , , and . There is certainly value there but just having the certification will not guarantee you anything exception initial exposure. Java Spring AWS certifications When I see a Resume with a certificate on it, I always think that this guy is a constant learner, believes in upgrading his skills, and also puts some effort apart from his job to learn something valuable for his career. These are definitely some of the important traits I look for in a potential hire. But, you need to be extremely careful here. It's Ok to not put a certification or a course completion proof on your Resume, but If you have evidence, you must be ready to prove that you have acquired them. For example, if someone is saying he is an and can't answer a couple of tricky questions about operator precedence in Java, I will doubt that he is really worth the certification. Oracle certified Java developer Similarly, if you say that you completed on Coursera but don't know what a compute engine, BigQueury or BigTable is, then I take it that you are not sincere and you are just concerned about points on a paper instead of learning skill acquisition, which is the primary goal of these online courses. The Google Cloud Certification It is definitely worth putting course completion certificates on your CV or LinkedIn Monster, or Naukri.com profile, but you must be ready to show that you have enough knowledge to justify those certificates. If you fail to justify your certification with knowledge and experience upon your interview its a big negative, and for many of hiring managers, it's just the end of the interview. It all depends on . They are definitely valuable in terms of providing recognition, adding the keyword in your resume, and providing initial boots, but you just cannot get a job or start a career by using them. You need to have solid skills to back those certificates. whether course certificates from Udemy, Coursera, edX, and Udacity are valuable or not Another subtle thing I would like to mention about the . For example, in general, Coursera or Udacity certificates offered by , , , , or is much more valuable than a random certificate provided by some unknown author. value of a course certification is perception Google Microsoft AWS IBM Stamford University Don't get me wrong, you may be able to learn better on the other course, and that should be the primary goal, but companies like Google, AWS, Microsoft, IBM, , and Universities like Stanford, Michigan, and Hong Kong university enjoys a SalesForce lot of trust in the public's eye. Whenever you are associated with these big companies, people pay attention, and it can act as an affirmative vote for your Resume and profile. Having said that, never join an online course just for certificates, your primary goal should always be learning skills and improving yourself, documents are a by-product of that. I would, on any day, hire a Java Programmer who is an expert in coding, algorithms, Java, over a person who has completed a couple of online courses on , , , , Udacity, or any other online platform but cannot write a program involving a couple of classes. Udemy Coursera edX Educative Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like this article, then please share it with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note. If you are looking for IT certification, I highly recommend you to go for a Cloud certification as the cloud is the most in-demand skill in today's world. And, in the cloud, AWS is most popular, hence is the best cloud certification to acquire.  Go for that. P. S. - AWS solution architect First Published here

How Useful are Certificates from Coursera, edX, and Udemy?

The pandemic has impacted almost all industries. Some of them flourished greatly, whereas some went to a standstill. eLearning is one of the industries that experienced tremendous growth. With more people confined to their homes, the demand for online learning has increased. Advanced online learning platforms offer opportunities for almost everyone from school to graduation to improve their academic knowledge and skills. If you are interested in investing in the eLearning sector, you will find helpful information in this blog about building an eLearning platform to grow your business. What makes eLearning platforms like Coursera or Udemy successful? eLearning platforms like Udemy have become a convenient and impactful learning tool allowing students to take online courses anytime, anywhere. It facilitates learners to follow a self-paced learning pattern where they can choose their learning schedule according to their convenience. Here are some important factors that distinguish eLearning platforms like Udemy from other online teaching platforms. : This allows learners to enjoy a great learning experience. Advanced technology eLearning platforms host an extensive list of courses from experts of various niches to choose from. Extensive database of courses and tutors: : The eLearning platform offers many courses for free and others at competitive price packages. Competitive pricing policy : Learners can learn from qualified teachers all across the world and view the content in their preferred language. Content in different languages : Allows learners to assess the quality of the content and the expertise of the tutors. Rating system Take the first step Before , properly validate your idea to ensure you are building an effective and productive service that has a demand in the market. The next thing to do is define a niche and come with the list of courses and types of classes you will host on your eLearning platform. You can pick anything from a broad range and decide whether to focus on academics alone or offer some unconventional skill-based courses too. starting an eLearning business It is smart to have a wide range of online courses from different industries and niches as it increases the chances of attracting learners from different verticals. Some of the common niches to choose from include business & entrepreneurship, fitness, health and nutrition, computer and technologies, personal development, arts & crafts, and more. Think about your learner demographics, including age, gender, educational background, etc., to decide the primary objective of your eLearning business and the eLearning preferences. Choose the right business model Selecting the business model is the first thing you need to sort out before starting with the development of your eLearning platform. The business model determines how you will make money through your eLearning platform. Let’s explore some of the most common business models to choose from: Subscription model Users can access your eLearning products and services for a monthly or yearly subscription. Paid online courses Learners can purchase paid courses, and the revenue goes to the tutor and the website ( in the form of commissions per transaction). Paid certificates Students can pay for a verified certificate after completion of the course. Collaboration with corporates You can collaborate with corporates and business organizations to offer specific training services and online courses. Affiliate model You can place integrated links to learning resources or equipment that your learners might need to make progress in the course. Must-have features of your eLearning business When building your eLearning platform, there are several features that you must integrate into your website to bring full functionality. The features can be divided into the student, tutor, and admin features. Student profile features ● Search Integrate search for specific keywords like subject, expertise level, prices, and a lot more. ● Recommendations Displays online courses based on the type of courses a learner has already enrolled for. ● Easy and secure payment choices Student profiles must be integrated with secure payment gateways to facilitate easy, quick, and secure monetary transactions. Teacher profile features ● Course creation Tutors must be able to create, edit, and manage the online courses and classes they create. ● Dashboard The dashboard is another essential feature for tutors to track the courses they have put up, the number of learners participating in it, scheduled online classes, etc. Admin profile feature ● User management Admin must be able to add, edit, and remove all users, both tutors and students. ● Course management Enable add, edit, and remove online courses ● Analytic reports Admin should be able to generate analytic reports with relevant insights. ● Notification management Must be able to manage the notifications sent out by the eLearning platform Select the development approach When it comes to building a site like Udemy or Coursera, you can take two main development approaches- Building the platform from scratch and choosing a readymade solution. Developing from scratch If you want unique functionalities with a lot of customization, developing a custom-made solution is the best choice. However, this is the most elaborate and time-consuming affair; it costs a lot of money as well. Readymade solution Readymade or white label solutions allow you to create a full-fledged learning site like Udemy easily without having to build from scratch. You can choose a to build your eLearning platform designed for tutoring and learning. Pinlearn is a professional, ready-made script to power self-paced learning and live classes on your online tutoring website. It is also one of the cost-efficient approaches you can follow to create and launch your eLearning website. Udemy clone script Conclusion eLearning platforms like Udemy provide online education and training for learners worldwide. Keep in mind that a highly competitive market requires you to bring in exceptional functionalities and a great eLearning experience. Hope this guide gave you valuable tips to build your eLearning platform.

How to Build a Successful eLearning Platform Like Coursera or Udemy

E-learning platforms like Udemy and Coursera are booming today. The demand for e-learning platforms has in the last couple of years, particularly after the Covid-19 outbreak. With the majority of schools and universities shifting to remote learning, both teachers and students have started using such platforms regularly. skyrocketed Coursera and Udemy are two of the most renowned e-learning platforms, but the question remains: which one should you choose? Which one is better? To help make this decision easier, I have chosen several factors to judge the two platforms on. Coursera vs. Udemy: Factors to Review Interface and Design Learning Approach Pricing and Financial Aid Languages Certificates Instructors 1. Interface and Design Udemy has a simple interface that is easy to navigate around. You can easily look for courses by clicking on the ‘Categories’ section. You can also find recommended courses by searching which is especially helpful considering the vast volume of courses Udemy has to offer. Coursera also provides a visually appealing design. The homepage instantly captures the readers’ attention by informing them about the various partner universities and organizations the company has collaborated with. You can browse through the partners and read about the courses they offer. 2. Learning Approach Udemy contains over , divided into 13 main sections. There are lots of filtering options as well; you can filter courses by level, duration, language and price, among other options. There are nearly 600 free courses available as well across all categories, but they don’t offer a certificate of completion. 32,000 courses Coursera, on the other hand, contains around 4000 courses across 11 categories and many subcategories. Once you pick your chosen course, the section provides lots of useful information regarding the course to help you decide if it’s the right one for you. The course content is usually free to watch and read, but users have to pay for course completion certificates. About This Course Udemy focuses on courses that are shorter than Coursera, and you can complete them in a few hours. They are precise to the topic and taught in a more practical way. Coursera, on the other hand, offers courses on harder topics and more in-depth, and they usually last for months. 3.  Pricing and Financial Aid Udemy offers a large number of courses that are , and there are many with comparatively low prices. You will also find good Black Friday and January sales for Udemy courses. Offers like these bring massive user enrollments to Udemy. However, the platform does not offer any financial aid to people looking for it. All courses on Udemy have a 30-day money-back guarantee. free of cost Coursera, on the other hand, offers mixed pricing. There are individual courses and some specialization paths which make the prices vary. Coursera also offers a monthly subscription costing from $33-$59, which you can also use to access specialization courses. Finally, Coursera offers financial aid for those who cannot afford to pay and qualify for it. With financial aid, you get access to all courses with certificates and graded quizzes and assignments. Most courses are also available as an option allowing access to course material without certification and grades. Audit only 4. Languages Udemy offers courses in 65 languages, including English, Spanish, German and Portuguese. You can easily choose your preferred language through the filter option. Additionally, you can use the transcript feature if you’re watching a lesson in any language other than your native, although this feature is not supported in the mobile application. Coursera lags behind Udemy in this regard, as it has 55 languages. However, the majority of the video lessons have an interactive transcript and this feature is mobile-friendly, unlike Udemy. 5. Certificates On Udemy, you’ll be able to earn a completion certificate once you have completed a course, provided it's a paid course. However, it will not be a formal, accredited certificate, so it wouldn’t hold a lot of weight with any potential employer. If you want an accredited certificate, you will need to pay a specific fee, depending on the type and length of the course you are studying. Coursera, meanwhile, provides verified that include the course name, instructor signature, logo of the partner institution, a statement by Coursera confirming the identity of the learner, and a verification URL allowing others to check the authenticity of the certificate. However, Coursera certificates not only require you to pay the full course fee, but also complete the course . Otherwise, you have to pay the full fee again to attain the course certificate. certificates within 180-days 6. Instructors Any experienced instructor can create courses on Udemy, as long as he/she completes the instructor identity . You can read a brief description of the instructors’ past experiences, see their ratings and reviews as well as the amount of courses they teach. You can also connect with them via social media in case of queries. verification process The instructors on Coursera, meanwhile, are professors from reputed universities and institutions. Each course is created in collaboration with its partnered institution to ensure maximum quality. An instructor rating is given in the course description, where you can also read his/her bio and prior experience. Udemy vs. Coursera, Which is Better? The final answer to the Udemy vs Coursera debate boils down to what you are looking for in an e-learning platform. Udemy’s main strength lies in its vast course availability. With such diversity in the subject matter of the courses, the opportunities for you to learn are limitless. If you have a specific non-academic interest like gymnastics or cooking, Udemy’s courses would serve you better. On the other hand, Coursera is the right platform for you if you have a particular academic interest like psychology, and want to learn it like it is taught at a university program. You’ll also earn an officially recognized certificate which holds great value.
In the end, there is no absolute answer for which platform is better; it all depends on your own needs and requirements. What did you think about both of the MOOC platforms? Let us know in the . HackerNoon Community

Coursera vs Udemy: 6 Factors to Consider

Coursera — the world’s biggest provider of online courses — launched a special New Year’s promo: From December 28th to January 10th, students get $100 off the first year of Coursera Plus. I’ve previously written about a deal to get tons of Coursera courses completely for free — but that’s limited to just New Yorkers — so this is the next best thing. Coursera Plus is an annual subscription that gives access to over from a huge range of universities and companies — everyone from Facebook to Google to Harvard. 3,000 courses The $100 off offer is available from . this promotions page Are Online Courses Worth It? We all want to accomplish a million and one things, so it’s important to consider where to allocate our time. Bill Gates and Elon Musk famously schedule their days into 5-minute chunks, and while you don’t need to be that extreme, it’s good to remember that your time is limited. Thus, while it's probably overkill to take hundreds of courses, it's a must-have to be a continuous learner, and online courses are a great, convenient way to learn from anywhere. That said, courses aren't the thing you should be focusing on. I've written about how many aspiring data scientists are turning to to try to land a job, but to no avail. That's because we're in a highly-competitive job market, and winning applicants prove they have practical, valuable skills - not just certificates and courses. only certificates Ultimately, courses are meaningful for the learning process that allows you to things and show off projects with what you learned. If you skip out on executing what you learned, you might as well skip the course. make Top Courses Coursera boasts a whopping 3,900+ courses, across a wealth of categories: Business, marketing, sales, AI, and more. AI skills are red-hot, and several leading minds have published AI courses on Coursera, from Andrew Ng to IBM. DeepLearning.AI has also published a series of courses recently ranging from beginner to expert level. After the discount, Coursera Plus is still several hundred dollars, so keep in mind that there are free options to learning AI, this (disclaimer: I work at Obviously AI, but as noted, the course is free). no-code AI crash course Other options include a free , a free , and free . online IIT Delhi course ethics of AI course AI courses from Finland Summary AI will be bigger than ever in 2021, and AI skills are increasingly in demand. There are a myriad of courses to get up-to-speed, whether you're a coder or not.

Coursera is Giving Out $100 Discounts For New Years

This is an A-Z guide for entrepreneurs who wish to develop an LMS like , , , , etc providing MOOCs. Here, we will be discussing everything, from features to cost of developing such Learning Management Software for mobile or web. Coursera FutureLearn Udacity edX To begin with, what is LMS? The term eLearning was publicly used for the first time in 1999. Perhaps nobody knew how convenient the service would get. Learning Management Software has become pretty common in the last few years. They are much . more than just a dimension of eLearning MOOC refers to Massive Open Online Courses. These courses first became available by institutes like , and . Although, as of today are actively engaging in offering MOOC to their students. Stanford MIT Harvard 941 universities from across the world Are big universities actually in favour of LMS? The Stanford professors founded Coursera, after thorough research about the student preferences. It’s important to note that many leading universities including Stanford, Harvard, , , s and firms like , , etc have MOOCs. They were in fact, one of the first universities to experiment with the concept. Yale MIT IIT Google Microsoft Administration and faculty from over 80 institutes offering MOOC were interviewed for a report released by and . The idea behind this was to determine why institutions are offering MOOCs. About 38% of institutions expected . Some believed that the improved would occur within the MOOC format offered by these LMS. Brown University Columbia University LMS to lead to improvements in educational outcomes Universities prefer MOOCs for numerous reasons. Coursera and Udacity offer paid degree-granting MOOCs. Although, the majority of the courses are still free and open to everyone. It not only allows them to extend reach and access but also in building a brand. In addition, it brings innovation and research to teaching and learning. What are the opportunities for entrepreneurs? When Coursera first came out in 2012, the founders only had one intention in their mind: bringing the best quality education accessible to as many people as they could. Prior to starting the LMS platform, the two founders and were professors at Stanford. Andrew Ng Daphne Koller In one of her , Daphne mentioned the , as a result of the higher education crisis. TED Talks infamous stampede at a South African University Even today, incidents like the highlight everything that is wrong with our current educational system. In such a scenario, LMS is a promising ray of hope. Not just for the students and financially burdened parents but also entrepreneurs. How? 2019 college admissions bribery scandal It’s only fair that the revolution that began with Coursera way back in 2012 became a cause for social entrepreneurship. It has been predicted by MarketsandMarkets that by 2023, the worldwide ! It is feasible to make the best out of this opportunity, given the market size. LMS market value will reach $22.4 billion What Are The Features Of An LMS? LMS can be developed for various institutes and organisations, ranging from but not limited to schools, colleges, community learning centres and corporate setups. A complete framework of LMS comprises of 5 basic modules: content, learning, learner/teacher interface, knowledge interface and evaluation. If you're going for the development of an LMS or MOOC, we recommend shortlisting a web/app development IT firm that has enough experience and domain expertise in the industry. Second, Uskill: A platform with online training courses for CyberSecurity and Ethical Hacking. And third, VocabGuru. An app for helping students build their vocabulary skills. The Total Cost of Development: An eLearning mobile app can be inclusive of these above-mentioned features. The modules specified above usually form the basic structure. Your next question would definitely be, “ ?“. Allow us to make it clear for you: the cost and time taken for the development of LMS depend on a number of factors. How much will all that cost Let's shortlist the components that would affect the final prices. The basic pricing plans include Web Design Wireframe Invisionapp Project Management Tool Architecture Document, and Database Management The web development company you shortlist would look after the Server Setup & Deployment, Notifications Management and make it Future proof. In addition, they would hand over a complete product with end to end Testing, Security Compliances, Performance and Code Quality Test. The total investment depends on the scope of your application. Although, for the above-mentioned features’ list, initial investment starts with 9 Lakh + Taxes (for PHP, Codeigniter) and 13 Lakh + Taxes (for Angular, Node). Also, it is recommended to go with PHP given the SEO leverage. But there's no performance difference between both of these. Did we answer all of your concerns? Let us know in the comment section below.

A-Z Guide For Developing A MOOC LMS [Like Coursera]

After years of underappreciation, EdTech has finally attracted the interest of the IT giants and startups alike. The future education technology is a trillion-dollar industry with a potential to create a lifelong fan base among students and teachers. If you are wondering what are the latest technology used in education, we’ve already covered . Today we’ll talk about why the business model behind the platforms, like Udemy and Coursera, is so successful. the major current trends in EdTech The most successful projects exercise common functions of educational technology. They Cater to an international target market with a wide range of income; Support individual and corporate-level clients; Offer free and premium educational products; Provide an income generation toolkit for premium course authors. At Freshcode, we have years of experience in harnessing innovation in education technology and building successful EdTech projects from the ground up. Each project is unique, and educational app development companies know, that some startups go through bankruptcy before emerging on top. Learn more about due to FreshCode’s expertise and professionalism. the development story or failure that turned into success You can learn more about other EdTech projects implemented by FreshCode educational app developers: Educadio Play Attention Spiral Udemy And Coursera Success Factors MOOCs are ready to take on the traditional education with courses, specialties and college degrees available online at a fraction of the cost. Millions of users frequent Coursera and Udemy because these projects offer value through: Innovative educational technology that provides high-quality, affordable learning possibilities; Competition-based pricing policy for courses with free educational options available; A variety of educational materials in different languages to facilitate learning from leading experts any time, any place; Course-creation toolkit to develop free and premium courses, promote passive income generation means for users, and increase the amount of quality content; Feedback and rating system to evaluate the classes and instructors and support the best learning materials. This is just a fraction of the full list of the benefits Coursera and Udemy offer to their users. There are many more reasons for the platforms’ popularity. However, it’s enough to evaluate the business potential MOOC platforms offer for EdTech startups. Typical E-learning Platform Features: Udemy And Coursera With their benefits in mind, let’s take a closer look at how Coursera and Udemy attract customers and keep their loyalty through streamlined custom e-learning design and multiple user-friendly features: The list of the most popular courses on the homepage. High ratings and thousands of reviews promote new users to take a peak and enroll. Quick and easy user sign up via email, Google or Facebook accounts. Making the registration process painless ensures the higher number of new learners. Easy-to-use catalog and filters. User-friendly search tools allow online learners to locate courses they might be interested in quickly. Free and premium courses filters. Building trust through high-quality free materials makes upselling easier. Courses and specialties creation toolkit. Experts can develop new courses without help and generate passive income. Various content, assignment, and certification options. Users can watch, listen, or read the course materials and pass tests and quizzes to check retained knowledge. Course sharing link generation for social media. Users get to share their progress and success while attracting new learners to the platform. Personal courses library. Streamlined dashboard navigation ensures that users can always go back to any of the courses to review the material. Feedback and rating system. Reviews allow learners to share their experience and promote high-quality courses and weed out useless materials. Flexible personal account settings. Users can alter their language, notification settings, and payment options. Various payment systems integration. Secure credit card or PayPal payments are available. Multilingual courses. The most popular classes are translated into many languages, including German, Spanish, Russian and Chinese. Corporate employees education options. Businesses create corporate accounts for their employees to deepen expertise and gain new knowledge. Cross-device adaptability. Web applications are compatible with desktop and mobile devices, and mobile apps are best suited for smartphones. Mobile apps for Android and iOS. Applications share the features of the web app and promote learning anyplace, even offline. Blog. MOOC platforms share their latest news and insight with prospective users, introducing new courses and successful graduates. How To Manage An EdTech Project: Budget And Deadline Every startup deals with two major limiting factors: app development cost and timeframe. The sooner you get the product on the market, the better your chances are. However, rapid educational mobile app development requires larger expenses and often overlooks issues that can cause bugs and ultimate failure in the long run. You must be wondering “How much does it cost to make an app?” To give you a clear picture of how much time and money you will need to launch an EdTech project, we’ve developed a rough estimate. The numbers can be larger or smaller depending on your project’s scope and features, but you can assess the average values. Please be aware that the time and cost estimation is given for an MVP, but not for a fully functional application. The cost of the development of the final product will depend on exact features that you may want to implement in the future application. However, if you have a ready SRS with the description of all features, Freshcode team will be happy to assist you in estimating your product. Successful project management methodology for an EdTech project does not differ from any other industry. There are seven steps a successful project manager should take: Requirements Elicitation. Identify stakeholders and end users, interview them, develop use cases and scenarios to create an actionable list of their requirements. SRS Development. Organize and refine the requirements and devise several features for every user need and develop several test cases for every element to make up the high-quality SRS. Project Estimation. Estimate optimistic and pessimistic timelines for every task, use Monte-Carlo analysis to evaluate the feasibility of the deadlines and visualize the development process using the Gantt Chart. Scope Reduction. Reevaluate the project’s requirements and priorities if the estimation does not fit your budget or timeline, reduce the features to develop a minimum viable product (MVP). Development Planning. Break down the development process into small tasks and assign them to individual specialists adding new details to your Gantt Chart. Risk Management. Assess potential risks using a premortem method and create a risk matrix to address the most likely risks with the most severe impact. Project Execution. Daily progress evaluation according to the Gantt Chart and weekly risk assessment sessions will keep the project on track. Learn more about from our article. how to manage your project in greater detail How To Create An E-Learning Website Or App? Every project is unique, and there are no universal solutions. However, every successful EdTech startup goes through the same eLearning development stages: Define The Target Audience And Create The Beta-testers List First, you need to define the critical characteristics of your potential users. These include: Gender Age Location Social Context Interests You might target American 30+ elementary school teachers interested in DIY or 50+ top-level European executives of international companies. Once you have a general idea of the audience, scour Facebook or LinkedIn to find 3 to 5 profiles that could serve as the basis for your customer portraits. Analyze the data derived from social media to expand and detail the user portraits for the typical target audience representatives. With these portraits in mind, use filters to create a list of 1000 LinkedIn or Facebook users that could be your beta-testers. Establish contact by sending a friend request or a message. Do not stop at 100 or 300 profiles. The more prospective beta-users you attract, the more feedback you will receive to improve your product and make it more profitable. Develop A Business Model Map And An SRS You can rely on the existing business models of Udemy and Coursera or come up with a new model, starting with solving the user’s problem. Once you realize the ways to monetize the project, list the features that will set it apart from the competition. To get a better understanding of the project and all its nuances, develop a roadmap, a mind-map, and an SRS. You can learn how to do it correctly in our previous article “How to create SRS for EdTech Application?” Select The Technology Stack You should rely on the chosen in selecting the technology stack. It will influence the development speed, the maintenance costs, and the number of future problems you will face. FreshCode software engineers recommend these technologies for custom eLearning solutions: eLearning development company Front end: React.js, Apollo, React Native, Graphql Back end: Postgres Our developers rely on these technologies due to their adaptability, reliability, and high performance. Most of these advanced technologies are open-source, so they reduce the e-learning app development expenses. Create An MVP Armed with preliminary project documentation, you can safely implement your ideas and develop an MVP. If you wonder how to develop an app, it will go through: UI/UX design development. Streamlined and intuitive e-learning design ensures satisfying user experience and promotes loyalty. Technical diagram preparation. Breaking the project down into manageable parts and devising the development plan ensure the project’s rapid implementation. Code writing. Software engineers utilize libraries and develop code from scratch to implement the critical features. Testing. Automatic and manual tests ensure the application is bug-free and can support the desired load without failure. Hosting and launch. After the project is safely transferred to the server and launched, users finally get the first taste of your idea. Promote The MVP And Collect Feedback Notify your target audience of the project’s launch through email, social media, and other communication channels. Post the update on ProductHunt and similar startup platforms to attract more users. The first month after the launch should be dedicated to feedback collection and analysis. Beta-users’ reviews will help you understand which features require extra work, and which need to be reworked from the ground up. This stage should give you the understanding of whether your product solves the users’ problems and how you can improve its next iteration. The goal is to create the product that will satisfy the target audience 100% and inspire users to share the knowledge with others and recommend the project to new customers online and offline. Final Product Development And Launch After you have collected the feedback from the target audience and got new inspiration from the users’ comments, it’s time to update the RoadMap and the SRS. Broaden them to include the customers’ requirements and suggestions. Afterward, you are ready to develop the final product based on the MVP with added features from the updated RoadMap and SRS. The development process comprises several critical steps: New features’ UI/UX design Code writing Testing Live project’s updating To ensure the project’s rapid development and launch, divide the process into two stages. First, develop the critical features that define the product’s value for the target audience. This way you can launch the project sooner and still satisfy the customer’s needs. Once the platform is up and running, you can continue the educational app development with less critical features, like localization or various file types import and export support. In preparation for the final product launch ensure your target audience knows about the project. Use social media, independent blogs, specialized forums and other platforms frequented by your potential customers. Social media accounts are the most valuable tool for the project’s promotion. You can use them to glean information about the future customers’ interests by analyzing their subscriptions and reposts. Reach out to the most outspoken representatives of your target audience to learn more about which forums, websites, and blogs they frequent. Use this information to tweak your marketing campaign and improve its efficiency. EdTech projects, like Udemy and Coursera, offer user-friendly features and passive income options for their users among other benefits. If you wish to develop a similar platform and be successful, start with a clear understanding of your users’ needs and a workable MVP. Use our project management methodology well-tried by many education software development companies to ensure your project’s long-term success. Are You Ready To Cash In On EdTech? If you are ready to start a project, send Freshcode your SRS or let us write one for you. But if you are still waiting for a million-dollar idea, sign up for our , and you will be the first to get the latest IT inspiration and insights. And if this article was helpful, spear the word on social media! custom eLearning development blog updates If you have questions like “How to advertise a new website or an EdTech application?” or “How can I promote my website for free?”, stay tuned. We consider sharing our marketing experience using free and premium tools soon. Would you be interested in that? Originally How to create Udemy or Coursera clone easily: cost, features, MVP, launch published at freshcodeit.com .

How to create Udemy or Coursera clone easily: cost, features, MVP, launch

Deep has taken the world by storm and the juggernaut has kept rolling since early 2017. Learning As far as the core methodology goes, neural have been around since decades and convolutional neural networks and recurrent neural networks have been around since 15 odd years. networks What has changed suddenly you ask? GPUs and breakthroughs in automated systems like self driving cars. As Andrew Ng himself says, “I think the other reasons the term deep learning has taken off is just branding. These things are just neural networks with more hidden layers, but the phrase deep learning is just a great brand, it’s just so deep.” Developers all around the globe are heavily motivated seeing the innovation DL is driving in each and every sector. Every company is either pitching themselves as providing Artificial Intelligent solutions or a blockchain company. Quite frankly, these 2 things have become the Guitars and DSLRs which college going students use to impress people but very few take it to the next level. So how do we get our skin in the game? I will try to analyse some of the most popular and widely accepted online courses for deep learning as I have almost completed them (I am yet to finish Udacity’s NanoDegree’s RL part, which itself is a discourse on its own) and break them down in terms of the value they add versus the cost it takes out of you — time and money. all We will discuss about 4 courses in totality: Deeplearning.ai Specialisation — Coursera Deep Learning A-Z — Hands On Experimentation — (SuperDataScience) Udemy Applied AI with Deep Learning — IBM ( ) Coursera Deep Learning NanoDegree — Udacity Lets begin with a short intro to all the courses: Deeplearning.ai, Andrew Ng’s boat which leads us towards autonomous salvation is split over 5 courses covering NN, CNN, RNN and dedicated courses to hyperparameter tuning and ml project structuring. The courses contains 3–4 weeks respectively(except course 2 and 3) which contain as many quizzes and programming assignments in python hosted on coursera’s jupyter hub. DeepLearning A-Z on Udemy provided by folks at superdatascience.com is a 23 hour rigorous course which splits the course into 3 parts : Supervised learning(ANN,CNN,RNN), Unsupervised Learning( SOM, Boltzmann Machines, Autoencoders) and some basic ML referesher and data preprocssing techniques and templates. Applied AI with Deep Learning by IBM is focused more towards the IoT/ production level design of deep learning systems with introduction to various frameworks like deeplearning4j, systemml and tools like Apache Spark and IBM Bluemix platform which makes exploring deep learning on real time data. Its a 4 week course which covers a lot in lost less time. Udacity’s Deep Learning Nanodegree covers everything from NN to GANS and previously was marketed as a foundations course but they added Reinforcement Learning and dropped the former name. Contains rich video content and hands on mini segments which are presented in the form of self paced jupyter notebooks. Assignments are reviewed and mentors are also assigned for a personalised touch. So, after a brief introduction to all the nominees for the Best Course on Deep Learning, the Oscar goes too… Hold on, lets take this to the jury room. From a learner’s perspective, I came up with an evaluate-tionary framework of auto M.A.T.I.C.S ( oney ssignments ime ntuition ontent upport) M A T I C S - Registered in the state of Beliefotopia. All hail our saviour Geoff Hinton and his scribe Yann Lecun. Good things come to those who wait and the metric goes in the increasing order of relevance as well, so stick around! You are not the only one with fancy acronyms, Marvel! Lets discuss all these points with the perspective of students(S) and working professionals(P) oney 1) M S: — Coursera is known for the it has in place to help students not only get its content but also get certified for the course for full or partial payments. Udemy’s courses are comparatively very cheap (Less than $20) and the content might be available on the internet if you look . Udacity is probably the only one which provides free alternative to its nanodegree course content but then it charges $300–$500 dollars for its nanodegrees for the personalized code reviews and mentors. financial aid system closely P: — If your company is paying for your courses as part of L&D policy, I’d say do them all! If its your own pocket through which you are looking to pay then I’d suggest having Coursera’s $49 per month full access to their catalogue. Udemy is just a day’s salary for you and Udacity probably worth 2–3 weeks. Here’s a free certificate for your resume courtesy John Oliver Verdict:- If you don’t want but only knowledge then audit coursera courses, skip udacity nanodegree and be a pirate, harry! Else, shell out some bucks for the course creators’s hardwork and be a responsible student. certificates ssignments 2) A Udacity beats everyone in terms of assignment quality and code reviews. Andrew Ng has provided some cool Ipython notebooks but I must say, the assignments are not at all intuitive. Udemy course provides some very hands on intuitive level assignments/explanation where the tutor explains each and every line of the code which does help if your theory is on point. IBM’s course provides weird yet interesting assignments as they try to bring IBM Watson platform and big data aspect into real time production level assignments but are poorly explained/structured with weird UX around IBM platform. Verdict:- If you like someone explaining all the code, Udemy assignments are very good. You want your code to be reviewed/mentorship — Udacity is bang on. For everything else, there is Coursera. ime 3) T S — Students are at an advantage for they can easily pace out the courses over time. Coursera 4 week courses if done properly hardly take a week if you are clear with your math fundamentals. Udacity has much more to offer in terms of mini assignments and longer syllabus which justifies its ask of 8–10 hours per week. IBM course is very swift but it covers very less things. Udemy course is around 23 hours runtime which clearly takes atleast 2 weeks to finish. P — All the courses are also kept keeping professionals in mind. Udacity has some deadline based projects so you kinda have to keep up. But burning the midnight oil everyday is better than chugging through the whole content over the weekend for you will forget it the next week. Verdict:- Coursera is value for time, Udemy is self paced but might be frightening at times. Udacity is not for the faint-hearted if you are not well versed with its prerequisites of math and python ntuition 4) I Andrew Ng covers the underlying math in a much much better way than all of the tutors but at times it proves to be counter intuitive if you like coding and hacking your way through it. Udemy course covers both code logic and tech intuition in a nice and precise way but visually is unappealing.They also provide links to research papers to read which can be used as supplementary material to strengthen your knowledge on a particular topic. Udacity content is very intuitive though they provide some write ups and math below their videos, some math intensive sessions (RNN) surely are snoozeworthy.( Important, yet snoozyy) IBM course gives you an idea about IoT and production level deep learning with its very basic and intuitive videos which are good if you are looking to quickly try and build something without going into the grittiness of deep learning. That’s not what she said… Verdict:- I personally found Udacity content to have cleared a lot of mydoubts, but then Udemy clears your coding intuition and Andrew Ng’s lectures though less intuitive but are necessary if you re looking to understand how everything works. You can choose to go for Udemy if your aim is to prototype rapidly and learn intuitively only. ontent 5) C Andrew Ng’s content is very standard and it feels as if you are sitting in a classroom and your professor is breaking down each and every difficult concept into simpler terms. Udacity’s content is graphically attractive and doesn’t make you sleep( RL and RNN will) coupled with special content by Andrew Trask, Ian Goodfellow and Sebastian Thrun keeps things interesting from time to time. SuperDataScience team has come up with their hit A-Z series in many verticals of AI/ML/DL and though their slides are not a visual treat, their content is precise and inclined more towards the practical aspect. They provide some very cool templates which are heavily reusable if you plan to experiment. IBM content is a bit hasty I would say, the varied pace at which different instructors go and the accent of the main tutor is sometimes very difficult to comprehend without subtitles. Verdict:- Udacity — Yayyyy, Udemy — Yayyy, DeepLearning.ai — Yayy, IBM — Yay upport 6) S I’d say Udacity’s 60% fees might be justified for the support they provide. Slack channels, weekly office hours, live webinars with top scholars, mentors to help you out with code and logical errors and portfolio building skills make taking a mooc a very wholesome experience. Coursera and Udemy have support forums where you can discuss with your fellow classmates or reach out to TAs but then it depends on how much grasping power you have. Better the support, Better the understanding.I personally got frustrated with the IBM course as the assignments are so rigid I almost gave it up at one point just because I was copy pasting wrong json file. Verdict:- Udacity takes the cake and justifies its price in this segment FINAL VERDICT Its one thing to download tutorial videos and other thing to take an actual course. I have had like 30–40 gb worth of tutorials ranging from Game Theory to How To Make Delicious Pastas and I still eat instant pasta packets. The point being if you are commiting yourself to a course and are serious about entering this field or are just wanting to have an overview of the fuss in the market, I have some yoda wisdom to pass on. Chronological Order : Deeplearning.ai, Udemy, IBM, Udacity Machete Order: Udemy, IBM and then watch the world burn The Chosen One: Udacity DLND Original Trilogy — Andrew Ng’s Machine Learning-> Khan Academy Math ->DeepLearning.ai

DeepLearning 101: Coursera Vs Udemy Vs Udacity

Welcome to part 3 of our multi-part (CMR) series. This series implements concepts learned from CMR with and a . Coursera’s Control of Mobile Robots ROS ROSbots robot About ROSbots ROSbots is a . Based off a Raspberry Pi and Arduino-compatible UNO board, the ROSbots robot kit caters to a Maker’s desire by being extremely hackable to implement any new robotics concepts you come across. All our code is . ROS + OpenCV robot kit for Makers open source on Github Previously in Part 2, What‘s in Part 3 Back in , we wrote about the convenience of using a Unicycle Model to intuitively represent robot dynamics. But since our ROSbots robot is a differential drive robot, we need to talk about how the Unicycle Model relates to the Differential Drive Model dynamics. We then walked through ROS code to “drive” our ROSbots robot in a systematic manner, via remote control (RC). part 2 of our Control of Mobile Robots series In this part 3, we will build upon the Differential Drive dynamics to: Introduce the concept of feedback Describe how our ROSbots’ wheel encoder sensors work, and Define the equations needed to compute the pose — the position and orientation — of our robot using feedback and our encoder readings. : In this post, we actually won’t be showcasing any ROS code and will stick to talking about the equations and concepts behind feedback and odometry. But this sets us up for the next post which will have ROS code — promise!! Disclaimer ROSbots’ wheel encoders used for odometry Need for Feedback Even though we successfully sent drive commands to our robot, we cannot guarantee that our robot has executed on the commands. The packet may have dropped. The heavy payload may have stalled the motors. In order to know if our robot has actually moved, we need sensors to return back some information. We need feedback. In general, we define a couple of components in our feedback system: r → a target which we want to achieve, ie a goal we want to get to, a speed we want to track, a line we want to follow. reference u → r translates to some series of commands we want to give to our robot to help us achieve, track r. input x → this is our current . Our input u affects the state by a set of rules known as dynamics, or how the system evolves over time. state y → this is our measurement of the current state. Often times, it is impossible to actually observe the state x directly. But we can create sensors to measure it. Credit: Magnus Egerstedt, Control of Mobile Robots, Georgia Ins<tute of Technology The measurement y is fed back to the beginning of the system to help us tweak our input u. Without y and a feedback process, we cannot know if we are tracking our reference preventing us from implementing an effective, stable controller to control our robot. Odometry Like with the and used in the Coursera course, our ROSbots robot comes equipped with wheel encoders that measure the rotational velocity of the wheel. Quickbot robot Khepera robot The notches on the encoder disk of our ROSbots robot interfere with a light switch on the tips of the U arm on the speed sensor. When the wheel turns, the notches alternate between blocking and unblocking the light switch — ie a “tick”. By counting the number of “ticks” that has gone by, you can determine how much the wheel has rotated. By using the encoders, we can update our robots — which is defined as the use of motion sensing data to update robot pose, or the position and heading, of our robot. odometry Recall pose as the defined by the following: x - position on the x-axis (ie in meters) y - position on the y-axis (ie in meters) φ - phi - angle of the unicycle counter clockwise from x-axis (ie in radians) The positional and angular velocities of our Unicycle Model are defined by: v - directional velocity w - angular velocity To update the odometry, we need to employ a couple of equations that help us compute the change in our position and heading from the distance traveled per right and left wheel of our differential drive robot. How far did each wheel rotate? The first is the equation that uses our encoder ticks to compute how far, in meters, the right and left wheel has turned D_left = 2 * pi * R * (nTicksLeft / nTotalTicks)D_right = 2 * pi * R * (nTicksRight / nTotalTicks) R → the radius of the wheel (in meters) nTicksLeft/Right → the number of ticks that we sample, say, every second (in 1 / second). nTotalTicks → the total number of ticks per revolution for the encoder disk Since R is in meters, nTicksLeft/Right is in 1/second, then D_left and D_right are both in meters/second. What is the directional and angular velocity of our robot? With D_left and D_right, we can compute the directional and angular velocity used to represent a Unicycle Robot’s dynamics— v and w respectively. v = (D_right + D_left) / 2.0 (ie. in meters per second)w = (D_right - D_left) / L (ie. in radians per second) Recall, L → the wheelbase of our robot (ie in meters per radian) Since in our example, we sampled the encoder ticks once per second, both D_right and D_left are in meters per second, so v is also in meters per second. Since L is in meters per radian, w is in radians per second. What’s the new pose of our robot? For a Unicycle Model, the change in pose is defined as the following: dx/dt = v * cos(φ)dy/dt = v * sin(φ)dφ/dt = w In our example, dt is 1 second — the sample rate of our encoder ticks. With the v and the w we computed in the section above, we can determine the new pose of our robot after a certain delta T: x' = x + (dx/dt * delta_t)y' = y + (dy/dt * delta_t)φ' = φ + (dφ/dt * delta_t) If delta_t = 1 second, then x’, y’, and φ’ will represent our robot’s new pose after 1 second. Conclusion In this part 3, we talked about: The need for feedback in a control system — specifically the system we use to compute pose for our ROSbots differential drive robot. How to use speed encoders to measure the movement from our differential drive robot. Recapped the dynamics for a Unicycle Model robot. What we need to compute unicycle directional and angular velocity dynamics with the movement measurements from our differential drive robot’s speed encoders How to compute the change in pose — position and heading/orientation — of our robot with the unicycle directional and angular velocities. In the next part 4, we will look at some ROS code which implements these equations and use the implementation to drive our ROSbots robot to a specific location. As usual, follow @rosbots on Medium for updates. Follow us on and too! Instagram Facebook Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions, comments, general feedback, if you want to collaborate, or just to say hello. And if you haven’t already done so, to follow along. purchase your own ROSbots robot here Thanks!Jack “the ROSbots Maker”

Feedback & Odometry: Coursera’s Control of Mobile Robots with ROS and ROSbots — Part 3

Welcome back to Part 2 of our multi-part (CMR) series. This series implements concepts learned from CMR with and a . Coursera’s Control of Mobile Robots ROS ROSbots robot ROSbots is a . The robot kit is designed to be an accessible and extremely hack-friendly platform for breadboarding, adding other sensors and actuators to implement any new robotics concepts you come across. Our code is . ROS + OpenCV robot kit for Makers based off a Raspberry Pi open source on Github The kit takes about an hour to assemble. To avoid the pains of compiling ROS and OpenCV yourself, we have a you can download and use. Raspbian ROS + OpenCV SD card image In Part 1 of our series, . The ROS firmware we compiled and uploaded onto the UNO subscribes to two ROS topics, and . The ROS messages published down these topics describe the normalized power (max reverse to max forward is between -1.0 and 1.0) to turn each respective wheel via the respective pulse width. we wired up the ROSbots’ L9110 motor driver and implemented the ROS node to have the UNO board drive our robot’s wheels /wheel_power_left /wheel_power_right Float32 We ended Part 1 by manually publishing a ROS message to drive each wheel using the built-in command line tool. Float32 rostopic In this Part 2, we will describe the kinematics and the dynamics of the ROSbots’ differential drive system. We’ll then apply this understanding and implement the ROS code to predictably drive the robot in a remote-control (RC) tele-operational manner. This will roughly follow along with the lessons and the programming assignments from and . CMR week 1 week 2 For those familiar with the CMR course and who perhaps implemented the course’s Matlab programming assignments using the , we will be implementing our ROS version using roughly the same file and architectural structure described in the CMR course. Sim.I.am simulator Unicycle and Differential Drive Models Since a wheeled robot cannot fly, we only care about these 3 states that define it’s pose: x - position on the x-axis (ie in meters) y - position on the y-axis (ie in meters) φ - phi - angle of the unicycle counter clockwise from x-axis (ie in radians) State and inputs for a unicycle model For a unicycle model, there are 2 inputs that affect these 3 states of the robot: v = forward velocity (ie meters per second) w = angular velocity (ie radians per second) While wheeled robot can have any number of wheels and more complicated factors that can affect its pose, we conveniently use a unicycle model to describe the dynamics of most wheeled robot since it is easy and intuitive to understand. Specifically, we intuitively use and to describe how the unicycle will move. v w This is all fine and dandy, but our ROSbots robot is a differential drive robot with 2 inputs for each of its two wheels: v_r = clockwise angular velocity of right wheel (ie radians per second) v_l = counter-clockwise angular velocity of left wheel (ie radians per second) Fortunately for us, we can convert unicycle inputs into differential drive inputs. Before we describe the equations to do the conversion, there are a couple of measurements we need to make with a straight edge. Differential Drive Model L = wheelbase (in meters per radian) R = wheel radius (in meters per radian) Because is a measurement of the radius of a wheel, it makes sense to think of as meters per radian. R R For , it is not as intuitive. In the differential drive kinematics model, you can think of as the radius of the circle drawn by one wheel spinning while holding the other wheel still. So is also in the units of meters per radian where the radius is of that circle’s. L L L L is in meters per radian We won’t go into excruciating details (since this is not a post on kinematics), but in summary, we can use the and to come up with the following equations to convert unicycle and inputs into and differential drive inputs for our ROSbots robot. kinematics for a unicycle model kinematics for a differential drive model v w v_r v_l v_r = ((2 * v) + (w * L)) / (2 * R) v_l = ((2 * v) - (w * L)) / (2 * R) The numerator for both equations are in meters per second. The denominator is in meters per radian. Both v_r and v_l result in radians per second, clock-wise and counter-clock-wise respectively— what we would expect. Unicycle to Differential Drive Conversion in ROS The two equations above are our sweetheart equations which we implement in a ROS node on our ROSbots robot. To take our robot on a test spin, we will drive our robot in a remote-control (RC) tele-operational manner, with and inputs you specify through keyboard commands. The keyboard interface is through a application created by the ROS community. v w teleop_twist_keyboard ROS node SSH into your Raspberry Pi (RPi) on your ROSbots robot. From your RPi run: $ update_rosbots_git_repos That should pick up the latest ROSbots repository source files from Github. We’ll also assume you are picking up right where we left off from the Part 1 post. Specifically, you have the motor_driver firmware compiled and uploaded on the ROSBots’ UNO board via: $ upload_firmware ~/gitspace/rosbots_driver/platformio/rosbots_firmware/examples/motor_driver/ As a sanity check, here are the running ROS nodes if you run : $ rosnode list /rosout/uno_serial_node Here are the ROS topics if you run : $ rostopic list /diagnostics/rosout/rosout_agg/wheel_power_left/wheel_power_right Now run let’s run the unicycle to diff drive model robot code. Again, from your RPi SSH terminal run: $ rosrun rosbots_driver part2_cmr.py If you should see the following outputs, the ROS node is working: [INFO] [1521228417.529282]: /part2_cmr RCTeleop initialized[INFO] [1521228417.595446]: /part2_cmr wheelbase: 0.14 wheel radius: 0.035[INFO] [1521228417.596918]: /part2_cmr v: 0 w: 0[INFO] [1521228417.598303]: /part2_cmr vl: 0.0 vr: 0.0[INFO] [1521228417.605237]: /part2_cmr right power: data: 0.0 left power: data: 0.0[INFO] [1521228418.098403]: /part2_cmr v: 0 w: 0[INFO] [1521228418.101346]: /part2_cmr vl: 0.0 vr: 0.0[INFO] [1521228418.104728]: /part2_cmr right power: data: 0.0 left power: data: 0.0... Now for the RPi on your robot. open another SSH terminal Let’s take a look at what additional ROS topics are published. From the 2nd SSH terminal on your RPi run and you should see the new ROS node listed: $ rosnode list /part2_cmr /part2_cmr/rosout/uno_serial_node Now let’s see what other topics are added to the ROS system from running the ROS node. /part2_cmr From your 2nd SSH RPi terminal, type — you should see an additional topic. $ rostopic list /part2_cmr/cmd_vel Type and you’ll get more info about the topic: $ rostopic info /part2_cmr/cmd_vel /part2_cmr/cmd_vel Type: geometry_msgs/Twist Publishers: None Subscribers:* /part2_cmr ( ) http://192.168.0.22:33183/ This topic transports a type. The Twist message is part of the standard which includes a number of common messages used to describe robot geometry and kinematics. ROS Twist message geometry_msgs ROS package If you look at the definition of the , you’ll notice it actually can encode motion in 6 degrees of freedom (DOF)— 3 as linear motion and 3 as angular. We actually only need 2 DOF’s — linear.x which is our and angular.z which is our . ROS Twist message v w Notice that our ROS node is a subscriber to the topic, but currently there are no publishers! No one is telling the robot what to do. /part2_cmr Let’s add a publisher by running the ROS node. From the 2nd SSH RPi terminal, type: teleop_twist_keyboard $ rosrun teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard.py /cmd_vel:=/part2_cmr/cmd_vel By default, the ROS node publishes Twist messages to a topic named . The argument tells rosrun to remap the name to so now the published topic name is the same for both the publishing ROS node and the subscribing ROS node. teleop_twist_keyboard /cmd_vel /cmd_vel:=/part2_cmr/cmd_vel /cmd_vel /part2_cmr/cmd_vel teleop_twist_keyboard /part2_cmr Once you have the ROS node running, let’s tune the linear and angular speed factors first. Hit the “x” button until you get to around and hit the “e” key util you get . If you’re a 3 to 4 decimal places off, that’s fine: teleop_twist_keyboard speed 0.174 turn 2.59 ...currently: speed 0.17433922005 turn 2.5937424601 As described by the output from running teleop_twist_keyboard, use the lower case u i o j k l… keys to drive your ROSbots robot. RC Teleoperating ROSbots Aw yeah! ROSbots Implementation Details We roughly paralleled the software design and file structure from the CMR course’s Sim.I.am Matlab simulator. From the via the ./part2/full folder, you’ll see the following file structure: top level of our source code ├── controller│   ├── controller.py│   ├── dynamics│   │   ├── differential_drive.py│   │   ├── __init__.py│   ├── go_to_angle.py│   ├── __init__.py│   ├── rc_teleop.py│   ├── robot.py│   ├── supervisor.py└── part2_cmr.py The main() function for the ROS node is in at the top level. Inside the main(), we create a object and call its execute() function twice a second (2Hz) via: /part2_cmr part2_cmr.py Supervisor When the Supervisor is created, it does 3 things. Creates a object Robot Creates a object. DifferentialDrive Creates all the Controller objects it needs for the defined objectives — in our case, we only need one Controller object, the controller. RCTeleop Controllers dictate what the robot does. For instance, you can create a Go-To-Goal controller to plan a path to go to a specific waypoint. You can create a Go-To-Angle controller to steer to and track at a specific angle orientation phi. Modern day cars have a Go-To-Velocity controller, aka cruise controller to accelerate/decelerate and track a specific velocity. For the purposes of this Part 2 post, our supervisor will have a single RCTeleop controller that does whatever a teleoperational unicycle command dictates. At init time, the subscribes to the topic and listens for unicycle commands. RCTeleop /part2_cmr/cmd_vel Twist rc_teleop.py The callback function gets called when a message comes in, and stores the and velocities away. self.twist_cb(.) Twist v w rc_teleop.py When the supervisor creates the object, the object fetches the dimensions of its wheelbase and wheel radius as well as the min and max velocities of its motors (yes, real robots have real physical limits) from the . Robot Robot ROS parameter server robot.py When the supervisor creates a object, it passes the wheelbase and wheel radius measurements so the object can accurately when asked to do so. DifferentialDrive DifferentialDrive convert unicycle forward and angular velocity inputs to differential drive wheel velocity inputs That’s pretty much for initialization. Each time the gets called, the supervisor does the following: supervisor.execute() Executes the current controller — the controller — to get the unicycle and velocities. RCTeleop v w Calls the to convert the unicycle , velocities to the and wheel velocities. DifferentialDrive v w v_r v_l Passes the and velocities to the who publishes the ROS messages to the and ROS topics — directing our UNO board to turn ROSbots’ respective wheels as described in Part 1 of our series. v_r v_l Robot Float32 /wheel_power_left /wheel_power_right Each time the Supervisor gets executed: supervisor.py The controller’s execute function simply returns back the current and it has stored away. Nothing exciting here. RCTeleop v w rc_teleop.py The function implements the unicycle to differential drive model conversion. This is where our 2 sweetheart functions get implemented. DifferentialDrive’s uni_to_diff(.) The ’s function has a couple of important responsibilities. Robot set_wheel_speed(.) It clamps the wheel velocity to the motor’s physical limitations. . If you recall from Part 1, our motor_driver firmware only supports wheel power normalized between -1.0 and 1.0 — full speed back to full speed forward. The function converts velocity into power using a lookup table of no-load speeds we measured on our ROSbots robot prior. Converts wheel velocity to wheel power set_wheel_speed(.) . There is a minimum pulse width threshold where the motors just won’t turn. If the controller wants a speed lower than this threshold, the motors won’t be able to support it so currently we just set the motor speed to zero to save power. Our motors also has a minimum speed velocity Don’t we love the messiness of real hardware? This brings us to the conclusion of Part 2. We’ve touched upon unicycle models and how to convert unicycle model inputs to differential drive model inputs. We implemented this system using ROS on a ROSbots robot and got to test the system out in an RC tele-operational manner. In the next Part 3 post, we’ll start to implement feedback which is the critical component to effective control systems. As usual, follow @rosbots on Medium for updates. Follow us on and too! Instagram Facebook Feel free to comment or ask questions here. But if you have technical questions, please post them on answers.ros.org (subject “ROSbots question: ”, tag “rosbots”). blahblah Don’t hesitate to reach out with general feedback, if you want to collaborate, or just to say hello. And if you haven’t already done so, to follow along. purchase your own ROSbots robot here Thanks!Jack “the ROSbots Maker”

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