Gizmodo – Coursera Makes Online Catalog Free for Unemployed Workers
Late last week the online education company Coursera announced it’s pulling down the paywall on its 3,800-course catalogue for workers who now find themselves unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gizmodo noted in the article.
Federal, state, and local government agencies that serve the unemployed can apply here to provide free access to Coursera’s courses—an offer that typically costs $399 per year—through Sept. 30. Here’s what you need to know about the offerings:
- Called the Coursera Workforce Recovery Initiative, it’s an extension of the company’s Coursera for Government program, an initiative originally launched in 2017 to help equip government employees and residents with in-demand skills.
- Anyone enrolled will have until the end of the year to complete their courses and earn professional credits.
- Topics run the range from cloud computing and app development to digital marketing and analytics.
- Coursera’s partnership with several big names in tech allows users to earn qualifications tailored specifically to those companies, such as the Google IT Support or IBM z/OS Mainframe professional certificates.
- Agencies in Illinois, Arizona, and Oklahoma will be the first to offer Coursera’s new program, along with governments in Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Malaysia, Panama, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
- Coursera anticipates that more U.S. states and countries will take up the offer over the next few weeks, and it will be considering eligibility for non-profits and other non-governmental organizations that serve the unemployed “on a case-by-case basis.”