Introduction
You’ve likely heard of the old adage “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Well, this is especially true in the world of internet marketing. There are many scams out there that will try to steal your money for services that they cannot provide.
Lead Academy is not one of those services. This platform is designed to help you develop skills in just about any area, from business to accounting, animal care, and even beauty and wellness!
Whether you are interested in continuing your education to embark on a brand new career path or to help your current business or professional standing improve, you’ll find what you’re looking for with Lead Academy.
Lead Academy is a company that has come up with the solutions and skills you need to make your business grow and prosper – or to help you develop into a more well-rounded person both professionally and personally.
Is it right for you? This Lead Academy review will give you all the information you need about this company, so read on to learn more.
What is Lead Academy?
Lead Academy is an online course platform. Like many other massive open online course platforms, this MOOC is leading the charge when it comes to offering courses covering a wide variety of topics to people all around the world.
Whether you are looking to take online classes covering business administration or the creative arts, there’s a good chance that Lead Academy has what you are looking for. Popular course categories include coding, cooking, design, beauty, photography, and business.
You’ll have a comprehensive catalog of courses to choose from, with online classes offered at reasonable rates. There are several membership options you can choose from, too, but the main benefit of studying with Lead Academy is that you won’t have to adhere to a rigid teaching style or formal deadlines – you can learn on your own terms.
Unfortunately, there is a surprising dearth of information out there regarding Lead Academy’s origins. While you can find plenty of information about the courses that are offered, it’s hard to find any information on the MOOCs founder. It seems as though the platform is based out of the United Kingdom, based on the British English used in most of the website’s materials.
Who is Lead Academy For?
Lead Academy is best for the casual student who wants to take a class here or there – as well as for the student who is on a budget.
The courses are affordable and often offered at discount prices on third-party websites like Groupon and Deals Daddy. It’s a good “thrifty” pick for online learning, though the credentials of the lecturers can be tough to verify (as can the background of this company and its origins).
That said, it’s perfect for learners who want to be able to learn and focus at any time of the day, particularly for casual learners who are seeking a comprehensive, beginner’s-level knowledge in various topics. You’ll likely find that the courses on Lead Academy are informative and helpful, though perhaps not quite as in-depth as you might find on other websites.
How Does Lead Academy Work?
At first glance, Lead Academy seems to be like most other MOOC platforms out there – it simply hosts courses made by hundreds of thousands of different content creators, perhaps without a clear mission or organizational structure.
While it’s true that Lead Academy seems to be a dumping ground for thousands of different courses, upon further inspection, it should become clear that this platform actually does offer high-quality courses. Although these aren’t checked by in-house quality control professionals, there are multiple features and benefits of Lead Academy that are worth mentioning.
In fact, this online learning platform offers both accredited certificate of completion options along with a wide selection of courses. While it does take some digging to find what you’re looking for while researching this platform, you’ll likely find that the extra effort is worth it.
When you’re ready to sign up, all you need to do is head over to the official website and enter your contact information on the sign-up page. You’ll then be redirected to a dashboard where you can manage all of your account details. It’s a basic page that is easy to navigate.
Once you’ve made an account, you can head on over to check out all of the courses available on the site. If you know exactly what you’re looking for, you can save time by typing in the keyword you want into the search bar. Otherwise, courses are organized by topic category and by certifications (if available).
Then you can sign up to take the course, which is when you’ll proceed with the billing process.
Features and Functionality
Here are some of the top features of Lead Academy worth mentioning.
Courses in Many Different Areas
Lead Academy is the best platform for the self-described “jack of all trades.” With this platform, you’ll be able to browse courses in dozens of topics. General categories include:
- Design
- Photography
- Web design and development
- Counseling and psychology
- Animal care
- Leadership and management
- Personal development
- Mathematics
- Health and fitness
- Cooking
- Health and safety
- First aid
- Digital marketing
- Language
- Microsoft Office
- Beauty and makeup
- Food hygiene and safety
- Business and management
- Customers service
- Writing
…and much, much more.
Certificate of Completion
When you first start researching Lead Academy, you might assume that this platform is like others that host thousands of courses in a wide variety of subjects. It’s a jack of all trades, you might think, though a master of none!
However, that’s not the case. Although Lead Academy hits the mark when it comes to offering a wide diversity of courses, it also offers quality.
Upon digging deeper, you’ll learn that Lead Academy can be an excellent way for you to advance your career because it offers certified courses. Not all courses are paired with an accredited certificate of completion, but many are.
This means that those courses are checked by third-party credentialing organizations.
Because of this, when you take a course on Lead Academy that culminates in a formal certificate, you can rest assured that this is something current and future employers will appreciate seeing on your resume. The certificates show that you have studied and mastered useful, beneficial material – and you haven’t just taken a course that amounts to little more than an introductory YouTube video.
There are more than 500 different courses on Lead Academy that are Quality License Scheme Endorsed. This is an endorsement by a brand of the Skills and Education Group, an organization that is known for offering high-quality vocational qualifications across a vast array of industries.
In addition to QLS, there are other organizations that verify the legitimacy of Lead Academy’s courses, too. These include Continuing Professional Development (CPD), ROSPA, and the UK Register of Learning Providers.
As an American student or a student from other parts of the world besides Britain, these names might not mean much to you – but rest assured, they indicate that you’ll be receiving access to only the highest quality content.
Syllabus Access
When you’re preparing to take an online class, one of the most daunting aspects of doing so is not knowing what to expect. When you take a class on Lead Academy, you don’t have to worry about that because everything is spelled out for you.
All classes offer users the ability to view the syllabi for the courses before they enroll. You’ll be able to get an idea of what your expert teachers plan to cover in their courses so you can easily decide whether it’s a course that might be useful for you.
Affiliate Program
Lead Academy also has an affiliate program. It is surprisingly difficult to find verifiable information about the affiliate option, since there is limited information on the website regarding this pathway. When you click the affiliate dashboard button, you’ll be brought to a page where you are prompted to create an account. You won’t be able to view any details beyond that.
Lead Academy Pricing Model
Lead Academy’s pricing model is unique in that you won’t be paying a monthly subscription fee. Instead, you will pay per course.
Because of this, it’s tough to give you an idea of pricing. You might pay as little as $5 for a course or as much as $500. It truly depends on what kind of class you plan to take.
There are some courses that are placed into “bundles,” however. Lead Academy offers these bundles on a regular basis so that you can take multiple classes and save money on the whole lot. For example, there’s a makeup artist bundle of eight classes that costs £49 (around $70 USD).
With these bundles, you’ll learn from the same industry experts as you would in the individual courses and receive all the same benefits – you’ll just be paying a much lower cost. You even earn a childcare diploma or take a bundle of courses in pediatric first aid! There are lots of options to choose from and these change regularly – so be sure to keep checking back.
Support
Need to get in touch with someone at Lead Academy, either with a question about your membership or about a specific class? It’s pretty easy to find the support section on the platform’s website and for the most part, the support team is pretty responsive. You can direct inquiries to info@lead-academy.org or submit an email request for help form.
There doesn’t seem to be a phone number you can use to contact someone, which might be frustrating for users who want to be able to talk to a live person in real time.
That said, the chat feature is easy to access and the representatives are very responsive. You shouldn’t have any trouble getting the information you need – and fast! Responses tend to be concise, thorough, and easy to understand. When you ask a question, you won’t receive a regurgitated, computer-generated response. You’ll receive a no-fluff answer to any kind of inquiry you might have.
One unique and incredibly helpful feature of Lead Academy, however, is that all courses come with free tutor support (included in the price of the course). With each and every course, you will receive access to a live tutor so that you can get extra help if you’re having trouble navigating through a course.
The Advantages (Pros) of Lead Academy
Let’s dive a little bit deeper into the benefits of taking courses on Lead Academy.
Variety of Courses
If you’re looking for something a bit outside the box when it comes to online learning, there’s a good chance that Lead Academy has it.
This platform is one of the most varied in terms of its course selection. The courses are neatly broken down into separate categories so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.
It’s one of the few platforms out there that doesn’t cater primarily to learners in the technical and business niches. While there are plenty of MOOC providers that offer courses in coding, programming, digital marketing, and leadership, it’s challenging to find platforms that offer courses in more unique areas like teaching, beauty, and writing.
High-Quality Content
It’s easy to be skeptical when you first stumble upon Lead Academy. As a relatively young platform, it’s tough to find information out there regarding this site’s legitimacy. Plus, there are many other websites that share the same name, making it tough to find information that’s not confusing them all, to say the very least.
However, when it comes to quality, you need not worry. Because most of Lead Academy’s courses are certified (many of which are also fully accredited) you can rest easy knowing that the quality is up to par.
Individualized Pricing
Another helpful feature of Lead Academy is that all courses are individually priced. For someone who isn’t interested in becoming a lifelong student, this is a major benefit.
Far too many online course platforms base their pricing on a subscription-based pricing model. Although this is great for someone who wants to take classes constantly, if you only want to take a class here or there, a monthly subscription makes little sense.
With this individualized pricing model, you’ll just pay for the courses you want to take – and nothing else. There’s also zero commitment involved so if you decide that the course isn’t right for you, you aren’t locked into continuing to pay a monthly subscription model.
Plus, you can study at your own pace without having to worry about monthly payment fees adding up because you’ve decided to take your time.
Instructional Support
For many students, the most frustrating aspect of taking an online course is that you feel as though you are going it alone. In fact, that drawback alone is the leading reason as to why students either don’t enroll in the first place – or drop out of – online courses.
With Lead Academy, you’ll have outstanding instructional support in any class you decide to take. You’ll not only receive support from a tutor but you’ll also get instant feedback in your courses.
This feedback is delivered in a number of ways. You’ll be able to view assessment frameworks that are used for evaluation prior to enrolling in a course and you’ll also get practically instantaneous feedback with every assessment you complete.
Excellent Student Reviews
Head on over to the Lead Academy website, and you’ll find hundreds of reviews for the many courses posted there.
The only downside to these reviews is that they’re all hosted on Lead Academy so it’s impossible to determine whether they are verified or not – and of course, the platform doesn’t post the negative reviews! However, the reviews can be helpful in giving you more information about what you might be getting yourself into in a course.
That said, if you want to get down into the nitty-gritty of what Lead Academy has to offer and you don’t necessarily trust the reviews posted on the website, you can always head on over to a third-party feedback site.
Trustpilot, for example, posts a large selection of Lead Academy reviews. While most of these reviews are positive, there are some that express various criticisms – so it’s easy to get a good idea of whether this platform is right for you.
Self-Paced Learning
Of course, Lead Academy isn’t the only MOOC that offers self-paced learning – but it is a major benefit of using this platform worth noting. When you take classes on Lead Academy, you won’t be locked into paying a monthly subscription fee. Because of this, you don’t have to worry about speeding through a class just to get out of having to pay for multiple months.
There are a few other online learning platforms out there that offer this, but many of them try to encourage you to speed things up by putting time limits on certain segments, imposing an expiration date on the course, or using upselling techniques to try to get you to take another course covering the same topic (before you’ve even finished this one!). You won’t find any of that with Lead Academy.
You can truly study at your own pace, with no rushing or worrying at all.
The Disadvantages (Cons) of Lead Academy
Of course, there are a few disadvantages to utilizing Lead Academy for your online education, too.
Very Dated Site Design
A common misconception people have about Lead Academy is whether it’s legit or not – most of the time, this question stems from the fact that the website looks like it was made many, any years ago – and it almost looks like a fraudulent site.
However, if you dig a little deeper in your research, you’ll discover that Lead Academy is legit. It just has an old-looking website. It has an outdated, somewhat antiquated website that can be a bit difficult to use – some pages load quite slowly and others have features that never load at all.
And then there are some pages that just look downright strange!
If you don’t care too much about appearances and just want high-quality course content, then this shouldn’t be a major deterrent. It is just something to keep in mind as you are deciding which course platform is right for you.
Long Wait Times for Customer Service
The customer support on Lead Academy is excellent (unless, again, you’re trying to get in touch by phone, which can be tough to do).
The Only downside is that it can take some time to get a response. Once you’ve locked yourself into a conversation with a customer service agent, it won’t take long to get an answer – but it can take some time to get yourself to the front of the line.
Once you click on the chat bubble for live support, it can take up to three or four hours to receive a response. Of course, you’re getting live support – and not dealing with a boy – so in some ways, this might be more worth the wait to you.
Pricing
You might be thinking, “wait! Didn’t you say the pricing on Lead Academy was a benefit – not a con?”
Yes, in most cases. However, depending on the class you want to take, you may find that the pricing is a bit high. Some courses only cost a few dollars, but others can cost several hundred dollars.
If you’re planning on taking multiple courses, then a subscription-based learning platform might be best. Again, though, this is a highly individualized decision.
Lead Academy Alternatives
Has our Lead Academy review convinced you that this is the right online learning platform for your needs? If not, then don’t worry – it’s not the only online course provider to consider.
If you’re looking for free or affordable classes, Udemy should be the first you consider. As the world’s largest MOOC, this platform has more than 150,000 courses in 65 languages. You can take free courses, though many require a fee. When you purchase a premium membership, you’ll be able to tap into extra resources like Q&A features, direct messaging, and more.
Khan Academy is another great option if you’re looking for free classes. Nothing on here will cost you a cent – everything is offered completely free of charge. Unfortunately, though, the classes on this MOOC are tailored specifically for K-12 students. While there are some courses for older students (typically college-aged students), there’s not much for the nontraditional learner.
A final option is Udacity. This for-profit MOOC platform focuses on career development in vocational and technical areas. The list of topics covered here is a bit more limited, but Udacity offers some of the best career services, like resume writing assistance and personalized job coaching.
FAQ
Is Lead Academy legit?
Despite its antiquated appearance, Lead Academy is a legit website. It is one of the less popular MOOC providers out there, but don’t let its lack of visibility fool you – it’s one of the best places to take courses online because it offers diversity and quality in its course selection.
Is Lead Academy worth it?
Yes. Lead Academy is definitely worth it. You’ll find a variety of features and benefits here, from a selection of individually-priced courses to certificates that are fully accredited. Since each course varies in its pricing, you won’t be locked into a monthly subscription, either.
Is Lead Academy accredited?
Many courses on Lead Academy offer accredited certificates. Accrediting organizations include Quality License Scheme Endorsed, Continuing Professional Development, ROSPA, and the UK Register of Learning Providers.
What courses are offered at Lead Academy?
You can take courses in just about anything on Lead Academy, including business, technology, education, beauty, health and wellness, the arts, and more.
How much does Lead Academy cost?
Lead Academy courses vary in their individual pricing. You could pay as little as a few dollars for a course or as much as several hundred.
Does Lead Academy offer a money-back guarantee?
Lead Academy offers a quality guarantee. All courses are designed by industry experts and meet rigorous quality standards in their instructional design and content.
You can receive a full refund within 14 calendar days following the date of the purchase of your course. However, if you already finished more than 20% of the course or received the certificate, you cannot receive a refund.
