Best Jira Courses - Q2 2023

Content Coverage (5/5)

The scope and sequence of this course are excellent.  The course covers all of the minimum topics for a beginner to intermediate user.

Lecture Quality (4/5)

The video lectures consist of Powerpoint slides with simple bullets, some conceptual graphics, and screenshots with important aspects highlighted.  All of these are accompanied by the instructor’s voice-over.  While the lectures are well-constructed, they tend to be a bit monotonous and long.  The instructor is clearly reading a script, with little emphasis or inflection in his voice.  Many lectures exceed 20 minutes in length, which is longer than we recommend.  Lectures are broken up with formative quiz questions that learners must answer before moving forward.

Quiz Quality (5/5)

Each module ends with a thorough multiple-choice quiz.  Quizzes contain plenty of questions to reinforce the concepts covered in each module.  After submitting a quiz, the learner receives a full report of the questions they answered correctly or incorrectly.  Learners must complete all quizzes with a grade of 75% or higher in order to earn a certificate for the course.  Coursera enables learners to retake quizzes up to 3 times every eight hours.  This ensures that the learner completes the quiz with a passing grade and learns from the assessment.

Assignment/Exercise Quality (5/5)

Well-written “labs” are available as PDF downloads.  The labs allow learners to practice specific concepts using a free version of Jira.  Each module contains several labs that enable learners to practice more complex concepts.  Labs don’t receive any feedback from the instructor and completion of labs is based on the honor system.

Certificate Branding (5/5)

This course is offered by Atlassian, the maker of Jira.  Atlassian is a highly respected source for this topic.

Content Coverage (4/5)

This course is structured in five modules.  Each module is comprised of short, focused video lectures, “challenge” exercises, and multiple-choice quizzes.  The content covers most of the topics necessary for a standard user of Jira.  However, more complex concepts like users, roles, and permissions are not covered.  Also, many complex concepts like Kanban and Scrum boards are not explained thoroughly.

The modules are sequenced well, allowing learners to scaffold more and more complex concepts.

LinkedIn Learning is known for creating micro-courses.  At 1 hour and 18 minutes, this course certainly meets that description.  However, we believe that Jira is complex enough to require a little more time and explanation.

Lecture Quality (5/5)

The video lectures consist of screen shares with voice over.  The screens are sometimes highlighted to indicate key concepts.  The lectures and voice-over are very well thought out and produced.

Quiz Quality (5/5)

Each module ends with a multiple-choice quiz with adequate questions to reinforce the user’s knowledge of the concepts in that module.   Each question is presented one at a time.  If the learner answers the question incorrectly, a link is provided to the segment of a lecture that covers that video.  Learners can retake the quiz as many times as they’d like. This is an excellent use of assessment and feedback as a learning tool.

Learners must answer all questions in all quizzes in order to earn their certificate, but there is no score requirement.  This means that learners can simply guess all questions in order to quickly move through and earn credit for the quiz.

Assignment/Excercise Quality (5/5)

Each module in the course contains “challenges” – labs that ask the user to perform a specific task within a free version of Jira.  The challenges are focused and very well designed.  After each challenge, a solution is shown along with a demonstration of how the solution was achieved within Jira.

Certificate Branding (4/5)

While not as strong as a major university or corporation, LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda Learning) has a strong reputation in online corporate training.  Further, their connection to LinkedIn and the ability to automatically add certificates to your LinkedIn profile means that employers are likely to be impressed by a certificate for this course.

Content Coverage (5/5)

This course is structured into 5 modules comprised of short video lectures and a quiz.  The topics contain the minimal course concepts expected at the beginner-to-intermediate level.  The course also offers extras such as an overview of Agile project management.  The lectures are short enough to keep the learner’s attention.  These short lectures also allow the learner to leave the course and pick up later if needed.  Concepts are sequenced well to allow the learner to scaffold more complex topics.

Lecture Quality (5/5)

The video lectures consist of conceptual graphics, slides, and screen shares with callouts, all of which are used effectively.  The voice-over of the instructor is engaging and the lectures and screens are well thought out.  Real-world examples are provided throughout the lectures.

Quiz Quality (5/5)

Quizzes are comprised of multiple-choice and true/false questions. The quizzes are offered at the end of each module and adequately cover all concepts taught in the module.  Learners view one question at a time and receive immediate feedback on whether they answered correctly or incorrectly.  Learners can retry the quizzes as many times as they wish.  Credit is given for the quiz as soon as all questions are answered.  There is no minimum score required to gain credit for the quiz.

Assignment/Excercise Quality (1/5)

There are no assignments offered in this course.

Certificate Branding (3/5)

This course is offered by Simon Sez IT, which has a relatively good reputation in technical corporate training.  However, this brand does not have as strong a reputation as some of the other courses on our list.

Content Coverage (5/5)

This course is structured into 5 modules, each containing short, focused lectures and a quiz.  The material covered meets the minimum requirements for an intermediate Jira course and goes in-depth on aspects such as JQL, Jira automation, and Confluence integration.  Topics are sequenced in a way that allows learners to build their knowledge to more and more complex concepts.

Lecture Quality (4/5)

The video lecture mostly contains the instructor talking directly on-camera, or screen-shares with voice-over.  While the topics and sequence of the modules are well thought out, the lectures themselves can be somewhat long-winded and relatively unfocused.  Each of the videos could be shortened if the instructor organized a script and the software more carefully.

Quiz Quality (5/5)

Each module ends with a quiz comprised of multiple-choice questions that adequately test and reinforce the content covered in that module.  Learners are required to answer one question at a time and are provided with feedback immediately after answering each question.  Feedback includes whether the learner answered correctly or incorrectly, and a link to the lecture related to the question.  This form of self-test, reinforcement, and review is excellent learning tool.

Assignment/Excercise Quality (1/5)

There are no assignments or exercises offered in this course.

Certificate Branding (4/5)

This course is offered by Agile Apothecary, a corporate training organization that has taught over 45,000 learners on Udemy.  While not as impactful as a major university or corporation, the name is likely to carry some weight with employers.