My Udemy courses

Udemy is a learning platform where anyone can build a course, and anyone can take a course.Udemy courses by John Bandler

I realized I had invested a great deal of time building knowledge, content, and resources in my formal (but part time) teaching of students at the undergraduate, graduate, and law school level. So I decided to put them out to a broader audience.

Quick links to and descriptions of my Udemy courses

Here are links to the courses on Udemy (without a coupon code)

Coupon codesUdemy coupon codes for John Bandler's courses

Here are some coupon codes to my Udemy courses (embedded in the link too if you click it):

Remember to check for periodic coupon codes from either me or Udemy, and shop around so you get the best price. Some may expire or have redemption limits. Udemy has periodic sales and also does "dynamic pricing" which means the displayed list price fluctuates. More on pricing later.

If you are a current or past student of mine at an academic institution, contact me for a free coupon code. I am not allowed to make this offer on the Udemy site so hopefully you see this first.

More on each course

1. Introduction to Law

This course is for non-lawyers to learn about law. Every citizen and resident of the U.S. needs to know about law because we are a nation of laws, it is in the news daily, and citizens have important duties to uphold.

I break it down into simple terms.

It is about 27 lectures, for a total of almost four hours, with an outline handout and links to resources on my site. I continually update it.

2. CIPP/US for law students and lawyers

This course is for lawyers and law students to learn about privacy and prepare for the CIPP/US exam. Its about 27 lectures and just over 7 hours. It includes an outline handout and links to my site and helpful IAPP materials. I aim to keep it updated.

3. How to learn, study, take an exam, write, and research

This is a free quick course for anyone. Learning, studying, exam taking, writing, and researching are skills we all can (and should) improve upon. There are no magic tricks, just solid principles followed by your solid effort. This is a free course with just under 2 hours of lecture content and an outline handout.

Why did I build them?

I have spent many years of teaching and building courses and trainings for academic institutions and professional audiences on topics such as cyberlaw, cybersecurity, cybercrime, privacy, policies, and more. These academic institutions are at the undergraduate, graduate, and law school level. As I taught the topic subjects at each level I refined each year. Then I realized students also need general skills for learning, researching, and writing so I created resources for that. Along the way, I also built two online courses for a cybersecurity online learning platform -- Infosec, part of Cengage.

Since 2017 I have taught topics in over a dozen successive iterations, and put a lot of effort into my materials. With all that effort, I only reach a small number of students each year though this teaching. So I asked myself if I should try to reach more people?

What if more people could have solid, reliable information about:

  • Law
  • Privacy
  • Basic skills for learning, writing, researching
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cybercrime
  • Other topics.

So I tried Udemy. In this online setting, my lectures are planned, recorded, and then available for anyone who desires to see it, anywhere in the world. The content I have built over the years becomes available to more people. Maybe they will benefit from it? And I don't have to grade, which is my least favorite aspect of formal education teaching!

Value for the student

I think my courses offer excellent value. I am qualified to teach them, I put a lot of effort into them, and I provide quality information in a simple, straightforward, and streamlined manner. We cover a lot of material in a short time. You have the rewind button, supplementary free articles that I have written, refined, and continually improve, and the ability to ask questions.

Pricing

I did not do this for the money, and I will not get rich off of it, but let's talk prices.

Udemy requires any course over 2 hours to charge at least $19.99 -- it cannot be free and it cannot be set at lower than $19.99.

Consider also that Udemy engages in dynamic pricing. I set my paid courses at the minimum allowable of $19.99 but Udemy may vary that price and display a higher price or lower price. They control that, not me.

Now let's talk perception too. Many people are under the assumption that anything free is poor quality. Sometimes that is true as there are many free courses that just to market paid courses, goods, or services. Students who obtain free access to a quality course may not value it as much as a student who paid for it. People perceive value in something if they make a conscious choice to pay for it. That's an unfortunate reality about humans and their perceptions, and how they might be different from substance.

I do not intend to take any money from current or past students at formal academic institutions, and nor do I intend to market paid courses towards schools where I teach. Thus:

  • If you are a current or past student of mine at an academic institution, contact me for a free coupon code.
  • If you are a current student at one of those institutions where I currently teach, I can also give you a free coupon code.
  • I am not allowed to make this offer on the Udemy site.

Value for me

I have built and refined many resources which a small groups of students experience each semester. It seemed wasteful that those resources would sit unused when the world needs reliable, factual, logical, sensible information.

The value for me is not financial, but the feeling that I am providing valuable knowledge to a broader audience on important subjects. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and many make decisions out of fear or anger. Many people don't understand law or the framework of our government. Many people want or need reliable information. So Udemy is a platform where I can put my information, which is valuable to me.

If you find my work valuable, more value to me is if you communicate that to me and others, such as with a positive review or other acknowledgement. If you have constructive and kind feedback, I appreciate hearing that too.

Yes, I do receive some author royalties and commissions for the course, but it is pretty small.

Edutainment?

If you are looking for entertainment, comedy routines, fancy graphics, and awesome video editing, my courses are not for you.

I provide no-nonsense information and knowledge with bullet point PowerPoint slides, trying to pack the most important nuggets into a ten-ish minute lecture.

I am not an entertainer, and I never will be. I will never have a Netflix comedy special. And I can barely edit a video. So I provide a lecture on a topic with a visual aid (PowerPoint) and provide some supplementary reading materials. That's pretty much it.

The courses aren't for everyone, but are for some. Reminds me of this great country song.

Who are these right for?

These are right for people who want some no-nonsense solid information, without any frills, and have a decent attention span with some time to invest.

As above, these courses are not right for everyone. They are not edutainment or entertainment, there are no fancy graphics and no fancy video editing. Just a PowerPoint I created and my lecture, plus additional resources (usually on this website).

See the promo video and sample some of the videos. If it is right for you, welcome! If it's not for you, pass it by, or get your money back promptly and go find something that works better for you.

Udemy

The Udemy platform has their own rules and policies. If you have or open an account with them, use their platform, or take my course on their platform, you are agreeing to their terms of use and privacy practices. That is between you and Udemy.

I built my course and am responsible for my content, but I do not run their platform, I just use it and I need to abide by their rules too.

Conclusion

With Udemy, my content has a broader platform now beyond the undergraduate, graduate, and law schools where I teach.

It is incredible that I am up to almost 2,000 students as of April 2024. Let's see how it goes.

Links

This page is hosted at https://johnbandler.com/udemy-courses. Copyright John Bandler, all rights reserved.

Page posted 4/5/2023 building on other material. Updated 4/16/2024.