Introducing Udemy, available at the Abilene Public Library

Abilene Public Library staff
·2 min read

The Abilene Public Library invites all of its patrons to try one of our new offerings, Udemy.

Create your free account and you instantly will have access to more than 19,000 courses ranging from business to stress management. You can earn continuing education units or even take a class in one of several offered alternate languages.

To get started, visit https://www.abilenetx.gov/296/E-Resources.

Scroll down and click on Gale Presents: Udemy. From there you can create an account or log in with Google or Microsoft. The welcome page lists new courses, short courses, so you can get a feel for the database, and recommendations.

Udemy offers online learning, and is available at the Abilene Public Library
Udemy offers online learning, and is available at the Abilene Public Library

At the top, if you hover over Categories, a drop down lists all the different areas in which Udemy offers classes. Hover over a category to see the topics under that heading. For example, hover over the Design category and you will see results such as 3D & Animation. Beneath that are classes such as AutoCAD, Fusion 360 and Maya. If you simply click Design, a list of all the classes under that category will populate.

Once you have a list of courses to explore, you will be able to filter those offerings using the options along the left side. Here is where you will indicate if you want a class in an alternate language. You can also filter using ratings, topics, skill level as well as whether or not exercises, quizzes, tests and the like are offered. This is also where you will get a feel for the time commitment involved. For example, Photography Masterclass: A Complete Guide to Photography stretches out over 375 lectures.

Udemy also offers continuing education Units in three different areas.

  • CompTIA Continuing Education includes popular topics such as information security.

  • NASBA Continuing Professional Education has topics ranging from accounting to time management.

  • PMI Professional Development Units include Agile, Microsoft Project, PMP and others.

Udemy also has offerings for those seeking enrichment rather than education. Under Personal Development are courses in drawing, entrepreneurship, learning languages, parenting and speed reading, among others. A few courses are also available for kiddos such as coding and yoga but keep in mind that only those 13 and older can create an Udemy account.

In the upper right, you have access to your account setting and profile. This is also where you would visit to check on which classes you are taking as well as tools to help you reach your goals like a learning scheduler.

You just might be surprised at the diversity of topics covered by the Udemy database. Wander around explore the many offerings. If you have any questions, just give us a call, we would be happy to help you learn more about this exciting and useful resource.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Introducing Udemy, available at the Abilene Public Library