Top Agile Project Management Courses - Q2 2023

Content Coverage (5/5)

This course is structured into four modules, each containing video lectures, readings, discussion prompts, exercises, practice quizzes, and final quizzes.  The syllabus for this course is extremely thorough and covers all topics we consider required for a course on agile.   The topics are presented in a sequence that is easy for learners to follow.  Finally, the wide variety of types of learning adds is an excellent way to make the course engaging to different learning styles.

Lecture Quality (5/5)

Video lectures in this course are expertly developed, with well-organized scripts and a confident, knowledgeable presenter.  Key words, conceptual graphics, and animations are used throughout to highlight concepts to the learner.  Each video lecture is brief (less than 10 minutes) to enable flexible learning timelines.

Quiz Quality (5/5)

There are both practice quizzes throughout modules and summary quizzes at the end of each module.

Practice quizzes are comprised of multiple-choice and multiple-select questions that cover the material preceding the quiz.  These quizzes are automatically scored and learners receive immediate feedback, including helpful hints for questions answered incorrectly.  Learners must receive a score of 75% or higher to earn credit for the practice quizzes and can take them as many times as necessary.

The summary quizzes consist of multiple-choice and multiple-select questions.  There are sufficient questions to assess the learner’s knowledge of the content covered in the module and the questions are well-written with plausible answer choices.  The quizzes are automatically scored and learners receive immediate feedback, including links back to the lectures covered by each question.  Learners must receive a score of 80% to earn credit for the module quizzes, and can take the module quizzes up to three times each day.

Assignment/Exercise Quality (5/5)

There are a wide variety of assignments in this course – from web-based simulations to exercises using spreadsheet downloads, to peer-reviewed assignments.  The range and variety of assignments provide more than enough opportunity for learners to apply what they’ve learned through real-world examples and hands-on experience.

Certificate Brand Quality (5/5)

This course is offered by Google through Coursera.  Google is one of the most well-known and respected brands in technology and Coursera is one of the leading online learning platforms.  Both brand ensure that a certificate for this course will add credence to resumes.

Content Coverage (5/5)

This is a comprehensive course covering all major topics we believe to be critical for Agile training.  The course is organized into four modules, which contain brief, well-constructed video lectures, readings, hands-on simulations, and quizzes.  The sequence of the course is logical and easy to follow.

Lecture Quality (5/5)

The instructor  – John J. Rofrano – is a Senior Technical Staff Member and DevOps Champion at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center.  His credentials are very impressive and he is a confident, organized, and poised lecturer.  All lectures start with a list of learning objectives, followed by a well-written lecture with Mr. Rafrano presenting to the learner, accompanied by bullets or conceptual graphics and animations.   The graphics, while simple, are well-designed for helping the learner conceptualize complex topics.

Quiz Quality (5/5)

Practice quizzes conclude every section of every module of this course and there is also a graded summative quiz at the end of each module.  Practice quizzes consist of well-written multiple-choice questions that cover all of the content taught in the section.  Learners receive immediate feedback upon submission of the quiz, which includes helpful hints for questions answered incorrectly.  Learners must receive a score of 83% or higher to earn credit for the practice quizzes and can retake them as many times as necessary.

Graded module quizzes conclude each module and are summative in nature, containing multiple-choice questions that address all topics covered in the chapter.  Learners are provided immediate feedback on submission of the module quizzes, which includes a hint of which section to review for incorrect answers.  Learners must receive a grade of 70% or higher to earn credit for the module quizzes and can retake the quizzes as many times as necessary.

Assignment/Exercise Quality (4/5)

There are several exercises in the course that provide step-by-step instructions for learners to perform certain actions within Zenhub software.   The instructions are very well written and include screenshots.  If learners choose to complete the exercises, they will indeed provide practice for concepts learned.  However, there is no feedback mechanism or way to ensure that learners have completed the exercises.

Certificate Brand Quality (5/5)

This course is offered by IBM through Coursera.  IBM is one of the most well-respected technology corporations in the world and Coursera is one of the leading online learning platforms.

Content Coverage (5/5)

This course is structured into 17 sections containing brief, focused video lectures, readings, quizzes, and practice tests.  The content covers all topics required of an Agile course, plus many extras, such as Scaled Scrum, Getting PSM Certified, and Preparing for the PSM II assessment.  The content is well organized and sequenced in a manner that is easy to follow.

Lecture Quality (5/5)

The video lectures are all organized in small chunks (less than 5 minutes), which is great for busy adult learners.  The scripts are very well written and researched.  Videos consist of the instructor speaking in one of the lower corners, while graphics, slides, and animations are presented in the main area of the screen.  The graphics and animations are very well designed to assist learners in understanding basic concepts.  The instructor does have an accent, which could be a barrier for some learners.  But we found him easy to understand and there are captions available.

Quiz Quality (5/5)

There are quizzes containing multiple-choice and true/false questions for most of the major sections within the course.  The quizzes for most sections are relatively short, with one question for each topic.  Questions are presented one at a time and feedback is provided immediately.  Learners must answer all questions to gain credit for the quiz, but there is no minimum score.

There are also several simulated assessments to assist learners in preparing for the Professional Scrum Master (PSM II) Certificate Exam.  These are excellent tools with thorough feedback.  They reinforce most of the content taught in all of the other sections, so tend to make up for the more simple quizzes in other sections.

Assignment/Exercise Quality (3/5)

There are many videos in which the instructor presents mock questions from the PSM exam, pauses, and then explains how best to answer the questions.  There are also several practice exams that provide experiential practice for preparing for the exam.

Certificate Brand Quality (3/5)

The instructor for this course – Mirko Perkusich – holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and professional Scrum certifications (PSM, PSPO, CSM, and CSPO) and has experienced software development projects for ten years.  While Mr. Perkusich clearly has the credentials to teach the course, he is not well-known within the agile community.  Udemy, the platform on which the course is provided, is well-known, but course quality varies dramaticaly.  For these reasons, a certification from this course may not make the same impression as other courses on our list.

Content Coverage (5/5)

While this course is relatively brief, the content covers all major topics we consider to be critical for an Agile course, along with some extras, such as an in-depth review of Agile XP and a section on Scaling Agile.  The course is structured into 5 sections, each consisting short video lectures and a comprehensive quiz.

Lecture Quality (5/5)

The lectures are very well produced with an instructor who is knowledgeable, confident, and poised.  Video lectures consist of the instructor presenting directly to the learner with accompanying images and animations.   The images and animations are professionally produced and well-designed to aid the learner with more complex concepts.

Quiz Quality (5/5)

Comprehensive quizzes complete each section.  Quizzes consist of multiple-choice and true/false questions that are presented one at a time to learners.  All questions are well-designed with plausible answer choices.  Learners are provided immediate feedback after answering each question, which includes a link back to the lecture covered by the question.  Learners must answer all questions to earn credit for the quiz, but there is no minimum grade requirement.

Assignment/Exercise Quality (1/5)

There are no assignments or exercises offered in this course.

Certificate Brand Quality (4/5)

This course is offered by LinkedIn Learning.  Formerly Lynda Learning, LinkedIn Learning has a strong reputation in corporate training.

Content Coverage (5/5)

This course covers all of the topics we consider critical for agile training, focusing on the perspective of developers in an agile team.  As such, the course provides additional information relevant to developers, such as advanced concepts of Jira, using Confluence for documentation, various certifications related to Scrum, and Planning Poker.  The course is organized into 8 modules, each containing brief and targeted video lectures and a quiz.

Lecture Quality (5/5)

Lectures in this course consist of presentation slides with useful graphics, text, and animations, accompanied by a voice-over.  The scripts for each section are well-organized and the graphics and animations are well-designed.  Each lecture is brief (less than 4 minutes) to accommodate learners who have shorter periods of study time.

Quiz Quality (5/5)

Each module ends with a quiz containing multiple-choice questions that test the learner’s knowledge of all topics covered in the module.  The questions are all well-written with plausible answers and the number of questions is appropriate for the material covered.  Learners are presented with one question at a time and provided immediate feedback upon submission of the question.  When the learner answers a question incorrectly, this feedback includes links back to the lecture covered by the question.  Learners must answer all questions to earn credit for the quiz, but there is no minimum grade required.  Learners can retake the quiz as often as they wish.

Assignment/Exercise Quality (1/5)

There are no exercises offered for this course.

Certificate Brand Quality (4/5)

The certificate is offered by LinkedIn Learning.  Formerly Lynda Learning, this is a very well-respected corporate learning platform.  LinkedIn Learning certificates can be automatically added to Learner’s LinkedIn profile.  Given the notoriety of Lynda Learning and LinkedIn, this certificate is likely to impress employers.