Happy winter holidays! We’re taking a break to spend time with our families. We’ll return on Jan 16, 2025 with a new podcast episode.
We all wish you a wonderful break and we look forward to continuing spreading the joys of the science of learning in 2025.
The Learning Scientists
What do you notice about book bans across the United States?
There are people who believe this is the best time of the year.
The holidays are just around the corner. Vacation – the true part of the workplace holiday spirit – is just around the corner.
Sure the days of potluck are gone (for most folks), after all, hard to have potluck when 10 people are in the office.
Then again, some folk’s “meals” are items you would put in your mouth, then right into the napkin and trash or tell them you can’t have this scrumptious food, due to an allergy (and with your wits, think quickly of one).
For me, this is the time of year when the Top 10 best learning systems are just around the corner.
This post, though, covers what used to be the 11-20 learning system rankings.
This year, I’ve decided to shake things up a bit. Instead of the traditional Top 10, I’ll be recognizing best-in-class systems in a variety of categories from vendors across the board.
You can be enthralled, and that is fine. And well, you can be thinking – huh?
For those of you wondering about the 11-20 rankings, I’ve made a change this year. I’ve extended the list to 11-25, but without any additional commentary, just the listing.
After all, the BEST IN CLASS is where we are going here – including some other gifts too.
11-25 Learning System Rankings
For how I conducted these rankings, I wrote a lengthy post – which you can read on your own, in case you forgot.
Let’s get to the list (clap, clap, clap)
Highlights
SparkLearn’s win is a testament to its excellent fit with deskless/frontline workers. Their mobile app is a game-changer, providing a user-friendly experience for those on the go.
The admins should use the website. Trust me when I say this—your frontline folks should not use the web. It’s not pretty. The winner here is the mobile app.
Bealink combines LXP with honest LMS capabilities, and its analytics strength is via an LRS. It’s quite impressive on the metrics side, and for those folks who remember what an LRS was initially designed for (and it’s rare to see vendors actually using it as it was intended), it does.
Umu and it may not have the wow UI/UX side, but they are nice systems with lots of potential.
Fuse who is working on a new UI/UX – when that launches, it’s a whole new ballgame. It’s not there yet, i.e., in 2024, and some capabilities that are in the works for 25 are the factor for the drop.
I still like the system.
Schoox takes a drop simply because it has lost its footing on what and only specifically market audience it should focus upon—L&D.
This entry into customer training is a mistake. The system heavily skews L&D – internal.
IMC – What they have with AI is impressive, and what they have now is equally sweet.
They have been stronger in Europe than the U.S., I believe that will slowly change.
Juno Journey is a Talent Development platform. I like the system, but I was expecting more from a system that was ranked in the top five last year.
Still, it’s very strong, and folks seeking a powerful LXP intertwined with an LMS and Performance feature set should check them out.
Learning Pool is another vendor with some high hits, some solids, and some – come on, do more.
Again, perhaps I had higher expectations here, but hey, I have higher expectations here.
Before we get to Best in Class, let’s announce the winners in other categories, including ones you never thought there could be an award for, but yeah, there could and should.
Bytekast – For those wanting a mobile app with your learning content and branded without costing you a fortune – Bytekast.
Regardless of if it is for your system, your company, or as a training consultant and so on, this is the vendor to go.
It is all around learning here, but what I love is the built-in content creator tool, the ability to add to iOS and Google, which Bytekast takes care of for you.
Perfect for onboarding, compliance, workforce development, content delivery, and lots of other options.
I am so fond of it, that I plan to use it for my content – so folks can access it on the go.
It is by far the best learning technology product I saw in 2024. Not even close.
EdFlex: They are a content aggregator, and they rock.
They offer a plethora of free content, from TED talks to other valuable resources, and a diverse range of publishers, sparking your curiosity and eagerness to explore.
Despite its name, EdFlex is a versatile content aggregator that is well-suited for the corporate space.
Its extensive library of free content includes TED talks and third-party commercial publishers’ content.
Make it the overall winner for this award – but wait…
Next, because it says, ” third party,” I wanted to add a specific publisher that isn’t per se an aggregator.
Nevertheless, there will be folks who say, “Wait a minute. It implies ‘Publisher,’ not publishers.” Therefore, I present two.
One is a publisher, and the other is, as a bonus, the best custom dev entity I have seen and always recommend.
Biz Library is a content publisher and a key player in the corporate learning space. Their content can be purchased for use in their system or found on various e-learning content marketplaces.
Yes, you can buy their content to use in their system, but you can also find it on numerous learning systems’ e-learning content marketplaces/exchanges.
One of the advantages of Biz Library’s content is its adaptability.
You can use their courses in your learning system, or you can find them on other e-learning content marketplaces, providing you with multiple options for integrating high-quality content into your training programs.
I like that the courses/content are created and developed by in-house instructional designers and e-learning developers—experts in their own right. Biz was founded by Dean Pichee, who I’d argue is one of the pioneers in WBT.
They keep up to date with the content (which is huge), bringing in the latest topics, including AI.
Along the way, interactive and engaging content exists.
Class Custom Development – Mindspring.
A complete in-house team of instructional designer experts and e-learning developers.
I love them because they know the ins and outs of developing courses/content with an understanding of all the nuances.
Tailored to the exact standards of your use cases and/or what you specifically desire, including truly interactive content and real-life/real-world scenarios (not just for technical skills), this is how you use it to gain mass usage and repeat usage.
This is new this year, and because of that, I chose a few categories under this placement.
Each vendor listed below deserves the “Best in Class” award 2024.
Going into the final selection process, Cypher Learning was the leader.
I had one more system to look at, and after seeing what could be done, 360Learning just outdid CL by a blade of grass—okay, it’s more like half a lawn in a small subdivision.
The most common feature in a system is the content creators with AI. It’s like picking low-hanging fruit. In this aspect, 360 did a commendable job. However, it’s important to note that it lacked a couple of items that many vendors fail to mention in their content creator tools and other AI-related pieces.
The big one is that there is no notice that AI may produce fake or false information and that a person should review it before accepting it.
It’s a rare find to see a vendor explicitly stating the need for human review of AI-generated content in their system. This is a feature that CL has, but 360 doesn’t.
Despite the few shortcomings, 360 was overall, better than Cypher Learning.
Big Wins
Many systems fell under this category, aligning with what I was seeking in the perspective I noted above.
I believe a misnomer in the industry is the presumption that a system that has been around a long time is not ideal for someone with no background who jumps in (after training, I hope) and goes.
Equally, a misnomer that simply means easier, or that higher cost is better, or target audience means X or Y.
You can have a system that is not expensive, offers many of the key functionality folks are looking for, and will do the trick (for many people).
There is no perfect system out there.
There is no system that aligns with every use case that someone wants without fail 100% of the time.
Plus, a client may say XYS as the use case, then get into the system and change to BXY, which results in them being irritated because they thought the system did this when it didn’t.
I see that a lot too.
What I thought about was around the newbies, a streamlined system on the admin side, that if the person got sick or won the lottery, someone could sit down and take control without crying privately.
This system isn’t for everyone—again, no system is guaranteed—but I like it anyway. They are in my Top 10 Learning Systems for 2024 and were in 2023.
A streamlined admin side, easy to use, and if you had no idea what you were doing—because the other admin is out, plus the person overseeing the department has never been trained because they didn’t think it was relevant (and this happens WAY too much)—BizLMS delivers.
The Skills component is streamlined, too.
BizLMS focuses on employees (internal is how the industry refers to the audience), not customer training. However, I will dive more into this in the Top 10, 2024.
The other systems that went to the finals were Docebo, Learn Amp, and Eurekos.
One is a combo (internal and external), one is internal-driven, and the other is customer training-focused, and only that segment. Yes, I did that in order with the system.
I love how they onboard new clients.
They do it the right way, and I often note one thing that I have never seen a vendor do before—however, it makes perfect sense.
That is how impressive it is.
They do this, because of what if the admin wins the lottery, who will take over, until someone is hired to replace?
They train each of these employees and certify them at the end, validating that they know how to perform the key admin items that the use case(s) require.
Plus, they recommend a few additional items based on TI’s analysis of essentials.
This highly impressed me.
I should mention that they do charge a fee for the extensive onboarding process.
It is intensive and goes beyond the standard approach in the industry.
The last category.
Speaking of misperceptions, way too many folks think that the newest system or the most recent one will have a better UI/UX than one they identify as old-school, traditional, or long in the tooth (wait, that is my term).
You get the point.
Are there a lot of systems that offer outstanding UI/UX?
Absolutely.
Plus, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
In this case, which will be your learners – or should be your focus, not you.
Ditto on the admin side unless you are also the admin and running the department.
It is you and the admin.
However, for different reasons.
As they say, “One person’s garbage is another person’s grand piano.”
I put ease of use and flexibility into my bucket; any learner could see this and go, “Wow,” learner-friendly, learner-driven navigation you can figure out.
Again, not you.
Let’s remember who will use the system and who will see it day to day. In this case, it’s not all about you.
The probability that an end-user is going to tell you that the system is garbage is low.
Even if you do surveys – you are tracking them or asking for their name.
Who is going to be honest, about something, if they know of the tracking, or you want their name and info?
Hence, anonymity is the only way to do this.
I digress.
When I looked at the systems, I recognized that adding your logo, perhaps having a carousel on the top and that side – was not a factor.
System – the one learners will use for learning or training here. Not job planning, interviewing, recruting items, or whatever else a vendor offers beyond just learning or training.
Finalists: In no particular order: When I say Solid that is what a vendor wants.
Reporting was considered, but vendors tht are even solid are all over the map here – and we are talking about UI/UX, not what reporting looks like.
Metrics, though – please, I want to avoid seeing Excel here.
But a lot of people do not care – which I ask why.
Back to Finalists
If you are seeking the Rolls Royce of UI/UX there is only one vendor in the list that stands out
Screenshots in the Top 10.
Luxury at its finest. They focus heavy on customer training/client, B2B, but have just started into L&D.
Bottom Line
That’s the list folks. The “Best in Class” awards, the top content publisher, learning tech product of the year, and last but not least – 11-25 rankings.
Congrats to all the winners, only one of which, was aware that uh, they would win – and that was the content creator.
Everyone else?
Surprise!!!!
Which reminds me
If you are now in the office, just remember
Whose food item,
Will you need a napkin
and trash can
To toss.
E-Learning 24/7
This time of year, if you look for it, we have a sneaky feeling you’ll find that data actually is all around us — no, seriously. From your Spotify Wrapped digest to Google’s Year in Search and our very own Code Review, the data in our lives tells a compelling story about the year we’re leaving behind.
End-of-year wrap-ups are fun ways that companies across industries are leveraging data to entertain and inform people. If, like us, you get giddy about stats like the number of minutes our learners spent learning this year (507,530,006 minutes), then there’s a pretty good chance you’ll enjoy learning about data science.
Data science is a multidisciplinary field that involves extracting insights and knowledge from data. It combines expertise from statistics, computer science, and domain-specific knowledge to analyze and interpret complex datasets. Data science is all about transforming copious amounts of information into actionable and interpretable insights.
As JR Waggoner, Data Analytics Manager at Codecademy, puts it: “Data engineering is sometimes very much like traditional software development. Other times, it’s the Wild West,” he says. “You’re taking this list of metrics or data points that the team has compiled and converting them into what we know from the data.”
Data scientists use various techniques, like machine learning and statistical modeling, to uncover patterns, trends, and valuable information that can inform decision-making and solve problems across diverse industries. A common thread among data scientists is a robust grasp of statistics, coding skills, and strong communication skills. Here are some data science courses, paths, and programming languages that’ll teach you techniques like the ones we used to build Code Review.
Data is really just a jumble of information until you have the knowledge to contextualize it and draw conclusions. Data literacy is a crucial skill that helps you make sense of all the data floating around — like understanding what it’s trying to tell you or whether the info is trustworthy.
Knowing how to collect data, assess its quality, use statistical thinking, and manage bias will enable you to work with data confidently and responsibly. Data literacy makes you stand out in any field where you have to make informed decisions and back up your arguments with evidence.
Our data pipeline that captures user interactions like code submissions is pretty sophisticated. For Code Review, our engineers used SQL to access information stored in our data warehouse. SQL is a programming language specifically designed for managing and manipulating data within relational databases. You don’t need to be a programmer to use SQL; its syntax is designed to be straightforward and readable, so it’s an accessible and beginner-friendly option for anyone who wants to interact with data.
Once we’d gathered all the data for Code Review, then came the fun part: figuring out what sort of stories and trends we could uncover. Communicating your data science findings in a visually pleasing and understandable way is an important part of any data scientist’s work. There are a number of data visualization tools and programming languages that you can use to create reports and dashboards.
We hope that Code Review inspires you to add some data science skills to your tech stack. If you want to work towards a career in data science, we have focused career paths that’ll help you quickly land a job you want in a variety of data science specializations.
This blog was originally published in December 2023 and has been updated to include additional courses.
It’s officially time to ship 2024 — congrats! At the end of any big project or undertaking, it’s wise to look back on what went well and think ahead about what you want to try next. If your team uses the Agile approach to development, you know this as a “retrospective.”
As the year wraps up, we want to pause and take stock of the goals you’ve reached, the lessons you’ve learned, and the progress you’ve made. This is Code Review, our annual exploration of data from our learners and courses that uncovers key trends and challenges shaping the tech world today.
We couldn’t have done this without you — our learners, our community, our biggest champions. Every new feature, update, and milestone we hit this year was inspired by your curiosity, ambition, and feedback. Together, we’ve pushed Codecademy far beyond our beginnings as a starting point for coding. In 2024, it’s a place where careers are built, tech skills are sharpened, and barriers to growth are smashed.
This year, we took big strides to reflect the diverse journeys of learners at every stage of their careers. Whether you’re just dipping your toes into tech, pivoting to a new role, or leveling up for a promotion, we’ve got you covered. From certification prep skill paths in new fields like cloud computing and IT, to tools that bring our learning environment to life — like AI-powered coaching and mock interview simulations — we’ve worked hard to meet you wherever you are and help you get to where you want to go.
In 2024, learners collectively spent 507,530,006 minutes learning with Codecademy. That’s enough time to sit through Dune Part One and Part Two over 1 million times. Or, it’s about as long as it’d take to watch all 149 of the Eras Tour concerts that Taylor Swift performed in 2024 over 17,000 times. This colossal amount of time invested in learning new skills underscores how committed and enthusiastic our community of learners is when it comes to achieving personal goals and advancing careers.
Everyone has different amounts of time to commit to learning technical skills, because we all have unique goals, schedules, and responsibilities. Casual learners may take a couple of years, career changers can achieve their goals in under a year with focused effort, and upskillers might work learning into their daily routine. It doesn’t matter if it takes you a year or a week to complete a Codecademy course or path. Everything is self-paced, so you have the freedom to stop and start when you need a break and revisit concepts whenever you want.
We’ve also made it easier for entire teams to build technical expertise through our interactive courses. With Codecademy Teams, you can unlock Codecademy Pro access for your team of 2 or more members plus use advanced analytics and reporting tools to track individual progress and group growth. You can jump right in and start a 14-day free trial of Codecademy Teams now.
If coding was an Olympic sport, we’d have enough Codecademy learners to represent all of the countries that participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics and then some. This year, our global community expanded to 237 countries and territories, with our most learners residing in the United States, India, and the United Kingdom. We’re constantly blown away by how learning can bridge gaps and bring people from different corners of the world (even Antarctica!) closer together.
This summer we organized our own global competition, the World Coding Games. Over the course of 7 days, we challenged our learners to see how many skill XP they could earn by completing content items in our courses and paths. Every content item in a course or path grants a unique amount of skill XP, determined by its type, the time and effort needed to finish it, and its connection with Bloom’s Taxonomy, the educational framework that shapes our curriculum. For example, completing a lesson or project earns you 25 XP, while tackling a portfolio project rewards you with 50 XP. The inaugural World Coding Games drew thousands of participants who collectively earned over 1.15 million XP — and built some serious skills. In the end, the first-place winner of the World Coding Games racked up 9,510 XP.
Codecademy learners collectively earned a staggering 676,443,705 skill XP in 2024 — and we have you to thank! Wondering how many XP you’ve earned to date? In your dashboard, you’ll see a log of the XP you’ve earned in various skill areas, and you can sort them based on the amount of progress earned or the most recent skills you’ve worked on.
If 2022 was the year AI burst on the scene, 2024 was the year that AI entered our lives in a meaningful way. We believe that AI can enhance the learning experience, not replace it, which is why we added an AI Learning Assistant to provide AI-powered personalized support and guidance right in our learning environment.
The AI Learning Assistant harnesses OpenAI’s latest model to give you instant, personalized coding guidance. Inside courses, projects, and articles, you can pick a piece of your code, click “Explain code,” and get a clear explanation powered by GPT. You can then keep the conversation going by asking follow-ups, getting extra details, or using the AI Learning Assistant to catch any bugs.
Since the launch of our AI Learning Assistant, we’ve seen an impressive 976,331 conversations from over 270,000 learners and a total of 3,177,777 learner questions and messages exchanged. Good to know: Learners with Pro and Plus subscription plans have access to unlimited prompts, while folks with a free account can try twice per day.
Another significant AI feature that we rolled out in 2024 was the Interview Simulator, a tool that creates interview questions like those you’d encounter from recruiters or hiring managers for Front-End, Back-End, and Full-Stack Developer roles. You can customize it to suit your target company, skill level, and where you are in the interview process. The Interview Simulator can currently run a mock get-to-know-you phone screener, and soon we’ll add technical or final-stage interview.
It’s awesome to see how many of you are using the Interview Simulator to prepare for job interviews — to date, we’ve had over 20,000 interviews practiced with this tool. We hope the practice helped and you nailed the job! You can try the Interview Simulator now; you get 3 free uses with a Basic account, while Pro members get unlimited access to the tool.
Our catalog grew by over 220 new courses this year. The new offerings cover in-demand languages and topics, like Learn Next.js, Learn Prompt Engineering, and Intro to Angular. With our cutting-edge learning environment, these new courses make it easier than ever for you to dive into emerging tech topics at your own pace, regardless of your previous experience level.
Our introductory (and recently updated!) Python course Learn Python 3 continues to reign supreme as the most popular course started on Codecademy, and it’s easy to see why. Python is a perpetual fan favorite, especially for folks learning to code, because it has a concise, English-like syntax. Versatility is another big draw — Python can be used across domains, from web development to data analysis and, of course, machine learning and AI. Python’s importance in AI makes it essential for anyone looking to enter or advance in the tech industry or understand new AI tools.
One of the latest changes to our catalog is our expansion into cybersecurity and cloud topics. We now have double the course offerings in these areas, including free introductory courses and over 20 comprehensive skill paths that prepare you to take in-demand certification exams.
Industry certifications validate your knowledge of specific skills and can increase job opportunities, salaries, and chances for bonuses and promotions. Our test prep courses prepare you for some of the most sought-after certifications, including CompTIA A+ 220-1101 (Core 1), AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02, and Cisco Certified Network Associate 200-301.
We’re also doubling down on professional development with our new professional skills domain. We know that soft skills are a crucial dimension to technical training, and these expert-led video-based professional skills courses help you fill in your skills gaps in areas like communication, problem-solving, and critical thinking. The free course Effective Stakeholder Communications for Technology Professionals has quickly become a favorite.
Connecting with other learners is one of the best ways to find motivation. Our Codecademy community members are 50% more likely to meet their learning goals. If you’re not part of our vibrant community yet, be sure to join our community platform for access to exclusive events, clubs, and opportunities.
We hosted over 200 impactful events this year that foster collaboration and skill-building across our community. From coding hangouts to monthly challenges, these virtual events are open to everyone in our community and are great opportunities for knowledge sharing and networking. Want to see what’s coming up? Check out the events page.
On our community platform, you’ll notice that we’ve launched over 16 clubs (with more to come), each covering a diverse range of topics. There are career-focused clubs, like the Future Founders and Freelancers Club and Machine and Deep Learning Club, as well as location-based clubs in cities around the world. Whether you’re looking to dive deep into a specific subject or simply chat with like-minded tech enthusiasts, our clubs provide the perfect environment to explore and grow.
Have you seen Codecademy come across your TikTok For You Page? We joined TikTok this year and have loved sharing videos with practical project ideas, career roadmap tips, and tech history lessons with you. Our most popular video on TikTok was this roundup of summer-themed coding project ideas. (BTW, keep an eye out for a new way to brainstorm coding project ideas coming soon to our learning environment.)
Over on Instagram, our most viral post was this relatable cat video about error messages.
Be sure to smash that follow button on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube to get more tech inspiration (and Moo Deng memes) in your feed. And if you love reading our blog, there’s a new way to get the latest articles sent to your inbox each month. Subscribe to our blog-focused in_development newsletter using the form below for useful tips, real stories about learners, and more updates like this.
Is internet culture killing our creativity? Or, are powerful algorithms just hiding it?
Do you find it hard to concentrate? What can we learn from a Formula 1 driver’s mental tool kit?
What do you think this image is communicating?
By Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO, Coursera
I’m excited to share Coursera’s fourth annual Job Skills Report, which highlights the critical skills that individuals and institutions are prioritizing for 2025. Drawing from insights across five million enterprise learners and over 7,000 institutional customers, this report provides a data-driven analysis of the trends shaping the future of learning and work.
With proliferation and advancements in foundational models, generative AI (GenAI) will continue to reshape jobs and industries at an unprecedented rate. With the potential to unlock $15.7 trillion in global economic value by 2030, these gains will depend on our ability to help people develop skills to use AI effectively and make the most of its potential.
The Job Skills Report 2025 identifies the fastest-growing skills in AI, business, data science, and tech, with a spotlight on high-demand areas like GenAI and cybersecurity. Key findings include:
GenAI is now the fastest-growing skill among our enterprise learners—including employees, students, and job seekers. Notably, more than half (54%) of GenAI course enrollments come from learners in India, Colombia, and Mexico, signaling a shift in the globalization of AI talent and their availability in emerging markets. Foundational courses such as Google Cloud’s Introduction to Generative AI and Google’s AI Essentials, and courses that teach practical AI skills such as Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT from Vanderbilt University and IBM’s Generative AI: Introduction and Applications are driving the highest enrolment rates among enterprise learners. In 2025, we expect the global race toward AI literacy will further accelerate.
With AI and ML Specialist roles expected to grow by 40% over the next four years, learners are rapidly upskilling and reskilling themselves through courses like IBM’s Deep Neural Networks and PyTorch and the University of Buffalo’s Computer Vision Basics. However, while more women are learning on Coursera overall (up 3% year over year), only 28% of Coursera’s GenAI course enrollments are from women. Encouraging women to pursue AI skills through educational initiatives and workplace policies will be crucial to narrowing the gender gap and ensuring AI benefits everyone.
Data ethics is among the fastest-growing skills on Coursera, driven by the need for employees to responsibly manage and analyze customer data. Despite its importance, there’s a notable gap in interest among students and job seekers. This is a major curricula improvement opportunity for campuses since 60% of data leaders identify data governance as a primary concern. A Deloitte survey found that 78% of organizations prioritize “safe and secure” AI use as a top ethical principle – a 37% increase from last year. As demand for data roles increases, learners who upskill in data ethics and governance will position themselves more competitively for future employment.
With 93% of organizations experiencing two or more identity-related breaches in the past year, demand for risk management and cybersecurity skills is rising. Six of the top ten fastest-growing tech skills this year are cybersecurity-related, including computer security, threat management & modeling, and network planning and design. Given the global shortage of nearly five million cybersecurity professionals, acquiring these skills will position learners as invaluable assets in a high-demand job market.
Human skills are essential, as 84% of managers believe new employees must possess and demonstrate the ability to communicate in a professional manner and articulate their ideas. Gen Z lags behind employees and job seekers here, with 71% of Gen Z workers finding it difficult to speak up and contribute in meetings. Instead, younger student learners are prioritizing green skills like waste management and business continuity planning, with over half of Gen Z expressing concern about the effects of climate change. Though ESG skills are in high demand, our findings indicate that Gen Z workers must also focus on core human skills, to align their skill sets more closely with employer needs.
Technology, especially GenAI, is accelerating change, and the rate of learning must keep pace. This report serves as a guide to better understand the skills needed to thrive in 2025 and beyond so everyone can learn, adapt, and succeed.
Download the 2025 Job Skills Report here.
Interested in turning these insights into a skills development plan for your institution? Book a meeting with a Coursera team member today.
This word has appeared in 55 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?
