Leveling Up Your Work Skills with Coursera, Now Free for NYS Residents

While the U.S. unemployment rate continues to decline — reaching 6.9% in October — thousands of Americans still are finding themselves unemployed or underemployed (working in a position that is lower than one’s skills/training) as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic. As mentioned in previous articles, different professions have faced a disproportionate burden from the COVID-19 epidemic, with the travel, hospitality and entertainment (aside from gaming) sectors taking some of the largest economic hits, while STEM, the skilled trades, and medicine have fared much better.

As a response to Cronavirus caused job loss, the New York State department is now providing complimentary access to Coursera, an online learning platform for New York State residents who are currently unemployed or underemployed. The New York State DOL hopes the access to online courses will help to bridge the “skills gap” in growing sectors, particularly those requiring higher-skills technical knowledge.

Coursera provides access to a wide array of video-based courses, many of which are taught by university professors or top industry professionals. Additionally, many of these courses also include downloadable supplementary course readings and materials.

Those who are not current New York State residents who’d like to try out Coursera can access a limited range of free courses, in addition to a free trial subscription to access premium courses.

Getting Started with Coursera: A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Registering for Coursera Using NY Department of Labor Site

To begin registering for Coursera, first visit New York State’s Department of Labor site here, and then click on the “Register Now” button.

Click “Register Now” to proceed to the Sign-Up form.

Step 2: Fill Out Online Learning Registration Form

Upon clicking on the above link, you be redirected to a link requesting your name, phone number, ZIP code, New York State Region (i.e. Finger Lakes, New York City, Central NY, etc.), and up to three areas of interest (e.g. Advanced Manufacturing, Information Technology, etc.). After filling out this form you will need to wait up to 24 hours to receive an invitation email from the NY DOL.

Fill Out the Sign-Up Form

Step 3: Sign Up for Coursera Account

Within 24 hours, you should have received an invitation email (addressed to the email address you entered while filling out the registration form in the previous step) that looks like the one shown in the image below. Click the blue “Join Now” button to visit Coursera’s account registration page (seen in the next image).

Coursera Approval Email

From here, click on the white “Join for Free” icon. You will then be requested to set up a Coursera account, if you haven’t already at a previous time. If you have a Google, Facebook or Apple account, you can use one of these to log in speed up the registration process. If not, you can use your email and create a password.

Step 4: Exploring Corsera’s Lessons & Courses

Once your Coursera account has been created, you can now begin exploring the lessons that Coursera has to offer. If you have a skill in mind that you’re thinking about working on, you can search for it in the search bar at the top of the screen. You can also explore courses by category using the blue “Explore” dropdown menu.

You can use the “Explore” dropdown on the tap navigation bar to explore courses by subject, or you can type in your own search queries using the search bar.

Once you’ve found a course that’s piqued your interest, click on the “Enroll for Free” button, and then click the “Go to Course” button that will then appear directly next to it.

Once you have opened the lesson, you will be able to see a schedule for going through the course material. Keep in mind that most courses are prerecorded, so this is merely a suggested time frame, so you can complete courses as slowly (or as quick) as you desire.

To begin watching the “Start Lesson” button. You can also click the “Resources” button to download and review course readings, materials and slides for many of Coursera’s lessons.

If you’d like to watch Coursera courses on the go, you can do so using apps that are available for both iOS and Android.

During a time when work is in a precarious state for many, studying ways to proactively update and maintain your skills can be a good use of one’s free time.