Google UX Design Coursera still worth it? (Honest Review)
Overview About Google UX Design Coursera
In this section, maybe a glimpse of the Google UX Design Course on Coursera. For those who don’t know, Google created a special course for UX design around 2020/2021 (CMIIW) in Coursera and This course is intended for people who want to have a career in ux design or who want a shifting career in ux. Actually, it’s quite helpful to have this course so you can consider choosing learning materials between courses or some kind of bootcamp out there. However, after trying the course from start to finish, which totals around 6–7 chapters, I found the pros and cons of this course. Honestly, this is my personal opinion, if anyone disagrees, please understand.
Pros:
- Well-Structured
This course is very well designed and structured starting from the definition of ux itself, the scope of ux, the definition of each material, case study examples etc., so it is quite helpful for people who want to get into ux but there is just as overwhelming information out there.
2. Financial Aid
This is quite helpful, because this course is in collaboration with coursera where on coursera you can apply for free course fees through the financial aid program. So for those of you who are hindered by the cost of wanting to take the course, you can apply via financial aid.
3. Insight
Honestly, I can get more insight from the material provided from Google and for each chapter a different product person teach us so we can get additional insight from a different perspective.
4. Discussion
CMIIW, So at the end of the chapter/session, there is a kind of chatbox like that for discussion with people who take part in this course, it’s quite interesting to share insights from the discussion of each chapter.
Cons:
- Too Broad
Because this is a course product from Google, what they conveyed during the product build from Google which in my opinion is too broad in certain cases and for early UX designers who enter the early-mid startup, they may rarely or do not find some of the cases presented in the material.
2. About Google
It’s all about google!! yes of course because this is from google so all designs are more like google’s style which is material design. Good at certain points but for me a bit lacking it’s just my opinion.
3. Assignment Check and Feedback
At the end of every chapter and session there is always a kind of mini test and usually at the end there is some kind of file that we have to upload for correction. Now, this is the part that I don’t like, I just found out that it’s not the Google employee who checks it, but the fellow who follows the course. So it’s for assignments and feedback to check with each other, it’s a bit biased because each person taking this course has different goals. If this method is still carried out, the goal of people taking this course is not to want to learn but to complete the course.
4. Template
The ux case study template is very boring and I think it’s not free enough for us to explore in a case study. So it looks coherent, for example, after this step, you have to do this step and so on.
5. Expensive
For those who don’t use financial aid in taking the course, this is quite expensive in my opinion but it’s up to you whether you want to take it or not.
Final Result? IMO
The last question is it worth it to take this course? I have several cases for consideration. For newcomers in UX design who are overwhelming with information and have a hard time sorting information from where to start, this course is okay for you if you apply for financial aid for a free course fee. But for those of you who only want the certificate, maybe reconsider because the time to spend on this course is quite long and it ends up being a waste of time. In the end, it’s all your choice, whether you want to take this or not, there are actually many free courses out there that can be used as options.
