Udemy Research: What Are People Learning During the Online Education Boom?

• Online course enrollment on Udemy increased by 425%
• Udemy records a 55% rise in course offerings being sold on the platform
• The increased demand for online learning courses correlates with the timing of imposed home quarantine orders

In times when the home is the safest place to be, people around the world tried to make most of their time at home count. In pursuit of self-improvement, some people turned to online courses to enhance their skills, stay busy, and be productive during the stay-at-home reality.

Udemy, a prominent online learning platform, has recorded a 425% increase in enrollments. Their course offering also expanded as course creation grew about 55%. In the pursuit to understand the trends in online education, Udemy published insights on what people are studying online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using Udemy’s data as reference, it becomes clear that increased demand for online learning courses correlates with the timing of imposed quarantine orders (shelter-in-place order) from authorities. All the while when people were compelled to stay home, they saw incredible surges in course enrollments as learners looked to Udemy.

What Subjects Are People Studying?

The online learning boom is felt around the world, with a significant increase in Spain (280%), India (200%), and Italy (320%) during the pandemic disrupted the flow of life. Online learning enrollments have significantly increased all over the world with surges in technical subjects like Web Development (60%) and Data Science (58%).

Also,  lifestyle lessons, particularly toward wellness, significantly grew. Courses on Pilates (402%) drastically increased alongside Yoga (175%) and Meditation (111%). There is also an increased enrollment in online courses that are inclined toward personal interests and hobbies such as learning to play Ukulele (292%) and Technical Drawing (920%).

Looking at the infographic below, the demand for a specific course varies for every country and geographic area. Lessons on Communication Skills showed a skyrocketing 606% increase in India. Followed by, Keyboard Instrument 526% enrollment surge in the UK.

With the rise of employment uncertainty, an increase in financial trading lessons was also seen in Canada for stock trading (273%) and France for financial trading (223%).

What Are the New Courses?

According to Udemy’s record, human resources and companies have invested in office productivity lessons to cater to the demand in adaptive work from home reality. As COVID-19 shackles the economy, the pandemic resulted in a sudden increase in the unemployment rate.

The 55% increase in course creation started during the peak of quarantine. All categories records saw significant increase in enrollment with corresponding percentage increase: Office Productivity (159% increase); Health & Fitness (84%); IT & Software (77%); Personal Development (61%); Teaching & Academics (58%); Business (56%), and Music (55%).

The increase in courses has also been due to the goodwill of professionals who wish to aid others to upskill and inspire. According to one lady instructor, “I created design and photo-editing courses to help entrepreneurs who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and need to know these skills to manage their business digitally.”

The 30-year lady instructor from Australia further shares:  “I’m also hoping that these courses will help people who may have lost their jobs recently and want to learn new skills that will allow them to work from home.”

Aside from the will and passion for teaching and imparting knowledge — similar to the instructor above — there are several possible reasons for the rise of course creation on Udemy platforms. Contributors have more free time during the stay-at-home period, the need to divert regular classes to online classes or to work as an online teacher to earn and supplement the lost income.

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Every participant has their own motives and reasons for learning online. But one thing arose evidently: the uncertainty brought about the pandemic encouraged people around the world to upskill and focus on their self-improvement as a way to gear up themselves in a more competitive world and make most of their time at home.