LinkedIn Learning Review: How Popular Is This Elearning Platform?

Who Is LinkedIn Learning For?

If you are looking to develop your skills in Business, Creative or Technology topics than LinkedIn Learning is an online platform to consider. Its 20,500+ courses are presented through expert-led videos along with practice exercise files and quizzes which you can download anytime on your computer or smartphone.

LinkedIn Learning offers personalized course recommendations based on your skills and interests, giving you a filtered selection of courses to suit your needs. Once you complete a course, you will receive a certificate of completion which you can share via your LinkedIn Profile. If recognition of completing a course is what you are looking for, then you are considering the right platform.

It’s video course content is offered in multiple languages including; English, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. It’s content appeals to international learners studying in another language. In my experience of reviewing elearning platforms (let me tell you there have been a few) not many offer other languages outside of English. Some of the courses and features are not available in all the languages offered.

LinkedIn Learning for Teams & Organizations

LinkedIn Learning doesn’t only offer courses for individual learners, they have personalized online learning for your team or organization. Its team plan is designed for a smaller company of 20 or less and its plans for organizations is for 21 employees or more.

 LinkedIn Learning for your team

LinkedIn Learning for your team focuses on how learning online can benefit your organization by maximizing team training and promoting personalized development. If you want to find out more, you can check it out here.

How Much Are LinkedIn Learning Courses Really?

LinkedIn Learning courses have a couple of payment options. You can either pay for an individual course or sign up for either a Monthly or Annual subscription. Both of these subscriptions give you access to 20,500+ expert-led courses, personalized course recommendations, practice exercise files and quizzes, download to mobile app for offline viewing and earn a certificate on course completion.

• Annually: You will pay an annual fee is ($239.88) working out at $19.99/month
  
• Monthly: You will pay a monthly subscription of $39.99/month*

LinkedIn Learning Subscriptions

LinkedIn Learning offers monthly or annual billing system. If you do decide to pay for your subscription annually, you will save 50% of the full year.

LinkedIn Learning Features

The LinkedIn learning features include unlimited access to its library of courses, learning at your own time, a certificate of completion and full access to LinkedIn Premium.

Buy an individual course

If signing up for a monthly or annual subscription isn’t for you then you do have the option to purchase an individual course by selecting Buy this course (see image below). The cost of individual courses range from $20 to $40 including tax. You will find the individual course when you browse and select either the Subjects or Software.

LinkedIn Learning buy this course

Once you have purchased an individual course you will be able to rewatch and retake the course as many times as you like, as long as you keep your LinkedIn account. There is no time limit set for the amount of time you can access the course.

LinkedIn Learning secure checkout

For any courses, you have purchased and completed, you will receive certificates of completion which you can then share on your LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn Learning Refund & Cancellation Policy

LinkedIn Learning does not offer refunds on its premium annual or monthly subscription plans. But it does offer a 30-day refund guarantee if you purchase an individual LinkedIn Learning course.

If you do decide to cancel your annual or monthly subscription plan, you’ll retain access to your completed courses to add to your profile, but paid content will no longer be available after the end of your current billing cycle. To cancel just follow these easy steps:

1. Click on your profile photo (upper right-hand corner)
2. Click Settings
3. In Account Type: Learning Section, click Manage
4. My Premium page >> Click Manage Premium Account
5. Click Cancel Subscription

If you want to read in more detail about LinkedIn Learning Pricing, check out our latest article here.

LinkedIn Learning For Teams

LinkedIn Learning offers a couple of different subscription plans depending on the size of your team or organization.

• For Teams 2-20 Seats: $379.99 per seat/year (1-month free trial is included)
• For Organizations 21+ Seats: Contact LinkedIn Learning for Custom Quote

LinkedIn Learning For Teams

LinkedIn Learning For Teams focuses on smaller teams of less than 20 and a 1-month free trial is included to try out the plan. LinkedIn Learning for Organizations is for bigger Organizations of more than 21, and it offers a more extensive list of features like skill development insights, you will need to contact LinkedIn Learning for a quote.

> Check out LinkedIn Learning for Teams & Organizations here

How to Cancel LinkedIn Learning?

If you decide that LinkedIn learning isn’t for you, you can cancel or downgrade at anytime from your settings page. If you cancel, you will lose access to the premium features at the end of the billing cycle.

How To Open A LinkedIn Learning Account?

The registration process for LinkedIn Learning is really straightforward. I thought it would still be helpful to explain a little more of what the registration process looks like.

LinkedIn Learning sign up

1. Open a browser and visit www.linkedin.com/learning/
2. If you already have a LinkedIn.com account you can sign in with your email/phone and password.
3. If you don’t have a LinkedIn.com account you can be redirected to Join now
4. Then you can sign in to your LinkedIn Learning account

LinkedIn Learning browse categories

Once you are signed up you can then begin to Browse the categories Business, Creative and Technology. Once you select one of the categories they are broken into sub categories Subjects, Software and Learning Paths.

Examples Of The Most Popular LinkedIn Learning Courses

On the LinkedIn Learning landing page you can find its most highlighted courses with subheadings like Trending now, Learn within 30 minutes, New Releases and more (see image below). If you aren’t sure what you are looking for this can be a great place to start browsing.

I thought it would be helpful to highlight the most popular courses that LinkedIn Learners are most enjoying.

1. Finance and Accounting Tips – A course for beginners to help you understand balance sheets, debit and credits, company operating cycles and more. It has had close to 120,000 viewers and 30,000+ who have liked this course. The course instructors are Jim and Kay Stice who have been exploring financial information for a combined 60 years.
2. Effective Listening – A course to assess your current listening skills, understand the challenges to effective listening and develop behaviours to become a better listener. It has had over 200,000 viewers and 14,000+ who have liked this course. The course instructors are Tatiana Kolovou and Branda Bailey-Hughes who are communications experts.
3. Introduction to Graphic Design – A course that covers the concepts and software that every designer needs to know and explain how they fit into a typical graphic design workflow. It has had over 115,000 viewers and close to 5,000 who have liked this course. The course instructor Tony Harmer has worked in the creative industry for over 30 years on a range of design, illustration, and web/screen projects.
4. Python Essential Training – A course that helps you on how to use Python 3 to create well-designed scripts and maintain existing projects. It has had close to 300,000 viewers and 13,000+ who have liked this course. The course instructor Bill Weinman is a tech advocate, entrepreneur, and expert in programming languages such as Python.
5. Time Management Fundamentals – A course to help effectively manage time with indispensable skills by learning how to get more done in the shortest time possible and avoid obstacles and distractions. It has close to 300,000 viewers and over 13,000 who have liked this course. The course instructor Dave Crenshaw, a best-selling author and business coach lays out theoretical and practical foundations for managing your time becoming more productive.

7 tips To Find The Perfect LinkedIn Learning Course

Trying to decide on the right course or path for you isn’t always easy, especially when you have a library of 20,500+ courses to choose from. I have put together 7 helpful tips to help you pick the perfect LinkedIn Learning course.

Preview course

Previewing the course is one of the best ways to get a taste for the course and the instructors teaching it. Most courses offer a couple of sample videos to watch including the introduction and some from the first chapter.

LinkedIn Learning Preview Course

I would highly recommend watching the preview videos before purchasing the individual courses or paying for the subscription. This way you will be confident that the course is for you and will meet your expectations.

Course recommendations Feature

The recommendations of LinkedIn Learning courses are based on your existing skills and other profile details, like the skills you’re interested in.

LinkedIn Learning recommendations

On your LinkedIn Learning homepage you can find a list of categories for the course recommendations like Top picks, Learn within 30 minutes, Most liked on LinkedIn Learning, New Releases and more.

LinkedIn Learning Skills

If you want your course recommendations to be more personalised you can add your interests to the skills you’re interested in. By clicking on your profile picture and selecting Skills (see image above).

You are then taken to My Learning and can select suggested skills or Find skills you are looking for (see image above). This way you will be shown courses you’re Interested in on your LinkedIn Learning homepage.

Course description

The course description gives you a succinct description of the course, outlining what you will be learning and reference to the course instructor. Along with the description the skills covered are highlighted.

LinkedIn Learning course description

In the course description, you will find the What you’ll learn (see image below). This helps you to identify the specific knowledge of your chosen course and can be a really quick way for you to know if the course is for you or not.

LinkedIn Learning What you’ll learn

Learning Paths

LinkedIn Learning Paths connect the gap between career and the skills you need to get there. It is currently offering 70+ learning paths in Creative, Business and Technology subjects.

LinkedIn Learning Path

The Learning Path will provide you with several courses focused around a larger topic e.g. Become a web developer, Master Microsoft Excel and much more. So if learning the right skill set for a career is what you are looking for then considering the Learning Path is a great option for you.

Question & Answer

Majority of courses at LinkedIn Learning offer a Q&A for learners where you are able to ask questions on any doubts that you have about the course.

LinkedIn Learning Q&A

Other learners or instructors are able to answer the questions. It may also be worth just reading through the Q&A as it can answer any questions you have.

Check out the Instructor

Finding out more about the instructor of the course you are considering can be one of the best indications of whether the course is for you. You can read a small bio about the Instructor on the Course description page. It also includes links to their LinkedIn profile and other courses they teach.

LinkedIn Learning Instructor Bio

Try For Free

When you first sign up you will have the option to get a 1-month free trial which gives you access to the following:

• Unlimited library access (20,500+ courses)
• Self-paced learning (bite-sized videos & offline viewing)
• Personalized for you (course recommendations)
• Certificate of completion (added to LinkedIn profile)
• Interactive learning (practice with exercise files & quizzes)
• Full access to LinkedIn Premium (salary & job insights, unlimited profile viewing)

LinkedIn Learning free trial

You will be required to input your credit/debit card number to get the free trial which when that month ends it will convert to a paid subscription. If at any moment during your free trial you decide LinkedIn Learning isn’t for you, you can cancel before your trial expires and won’t be charged a penny.

So, why not give it ago to get a real taste for this platform and the courses it has to offer.

Will LinkedIn Learning Help Me With My Career?

LinkedIn Learning courses are ideal for someone wanting to develop their skills in either Business, Technology or Creative related topics. The learning paths option is focused towards gaining the tools and skills to become equipped for a particular career track.

LinkedIn Learning browse Learning Paths

Successful completion of a Learning Path will mean you will receive a certificate of completion. The certificate can then be shared on your LinkedIn profile and will document to clients, employers, colleagues, friends and potential future employers of your skill set. The Certificate of Completion will be automatically generated when LinkedIn Learning detects that all videos have been completed of the course.

LinkedIn Learning Certificate of Completion example

If you already have a full or part job, then studying with LinkedIn Learning could be an ideal option for you as all its courses are self-paced and flexible.

Is LinkedIn Learning Legit?

Something which many of us ask ourselves: Is this course legit?

You are not alone in having these doubts, especially if you are considering the annual subscription or considering a plan for your team.

In 2015, LinkedIn bought Lynda.com and then in 2017, Lynda.com was merged and renamed LinkedIn Learning. In 2019 it was announced the users would need a LinkedIn profile to access LinkedIn Learning.

It’s headquarters are located in California and its community of 700+ million users is ever growing.

Anyways, to clarify LinkedIn Learning is legit and won’t be scammed