In case you’re not struggling for time, overwhelmed by working from home whilst looking after the kids and stopping your house from looking like a crime scene, or even if you are and like me when it gets to the end of the day and the kids are in bed you’re way too wired to catch-up on sleep yourself or you miss being busy, learning online is a great way to fill your time.
Whether you’re looking to develop your cooking skills, learning how to Marie Kondo your home or you want to invest your new found time into developing your career or pursue your dream job.
Online learning is not a new concept, but this lockdown is unlike anything we’ve experienced before and with the advancements in technology you can earn a degree or qualification from the comfort of your own home.
We’ve been asking our #MidlandsHour audience on Twitter all week to share with us the online learning platforms they’ve used before and would recommend to others.
Important things to remember before entering a new online course:
- If it costs money, do you have a secure income to pay for it? Unfortunately in these circumstances a lot of us are experiencing that nothing is as secure as we thought it was.
- On top of that, if the course is a long term investment, will you still have the time to put in the hard work if and when you go back to full time work?
- If you’re taking part in a free trial and you don’t want to continue with it after a month – remember to cancel your membership in advance. I’ve experienced some companies that say it’s easy to cancel but suddenly it’s Sunday night at 1-minute to midnight and your trial is about to expire so you’re going to be charged £50 the following day but now you need to ring a number that’s only open on weekdays 9am – 5pm and they’re experiencing high numbers of calls right now and they don’t offer refunds…. You don’t want to be in that situation. READ the small print!
- Hold yourself accountable – no this isn’t like school any more, you’re not going to get a detention and miss playing footy with your friends at lunchtime if you don’t do your homework. But if you don’t put in the effort, the new skills and end of module certificate AREN’T going to land in your lap one day.
- Set aside quiet time to do the course – give yourself a clear start and finish time and limit your number of trips to make a tea or look in the fridge for a snack that doesn’t exist because you can’t be bothered to queue for 30 minutes outside Aldi today.
FREE Online Course
- YouTube – OK they might not end in a certificate and you might end up knee deep in cat videos afterwards but looking on YouTube is a great way to learn how to make that meal you had that one time in Spain when you’re feeling nostalgic. It’s also a good way to learn crafts, arts, music and workout exercises such as; Yoga or PE with Joe Wicks.
- Google Digital Garage – I am currently taking the digital marketing certificate on Google, it’s great for people without any experience and if you’ve got that little side hustle you want to launch while you’ve got the time but you’re not sure how to get it online – definitely recommend.
- Alison.com – a recommendation by one of our tweeters, I’ve only had a quick browse so far but it looks like a good platform. When I get into it a bit more I’ll do an update for you.
- OpenLearning – another recommendation by one of our tweeters, again I’ve only had a quick glance but it looks like a mix of free and paid for learning sessions ran by institutions. What is cool though, if you’re looking to add your own courses online you can upload them to here.
These are just a few of the ones I’ve been using or recommended so far but if you guys have any more please tweet us @MidlandsHour.
Remember to join us Wednesdays 8pm – 9pm on Twitter using #MidlandsHour for free and friendly networking!
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