The online learning web site Udemy already offers both free and
paid courses in its effort to differentiate itself from the other massive open
online course platforms. Now, Udemy has released an iPhone app to make it easier to access courses from smartphones.
From surveys of more than 600 students, Udemy found
that nearly 50% said on-demand access was the most important thing about online
learning.
The app will allow users to browse, then sign up for
either free or paid courses. It will also provide access to video lectures,
articles, and presentations in a mobile format, save the courses for offline
viewing, and let users watch videos at multiple speeds.
“We talk to our students constantly,” Dinesh Thiru,
vice president of marketing, said in a statement.
“We find that Udemy students are taking their courses from planes, trains, and
buses, during lunch, from the comfort of their couch, or before bed. With the
Udemy iPhone app, we want to empower even more students to learn where and when
they want to learn.”
One thing the iOS app does not yet offer is the social
element to allow students to interact with peers, although that should become
available in a future update. The company is also looking to bring its online
marketplace to Android in the coming months.
