Things I Have Learned – Gov.uk #4 Pt.1

Professional Development

This is going to be a long one. There are 16 courses in this section of the Skills Toolkit of the .gov website. This will be set into two blogs of eight. So let’s get started.

FutureLearn: Create a Professional Online Presence

This course is setup as a two two hour courses that you can stretch over two weeks. Or you can do in one sitting. I, of course, chose the later.

The first week is about your online presence. If you have any sort of internet policy at work this should be common sense for you. It also covers how you are seen on the internet and how possible employers see you online. Then shows you ways on improving it.

The second week you learn about the pros and cons of using different social networks. And learning how it can benefit you in the long run. By connecting with people that interest you. Plus maintaining your presence.

There are little tasks and videos to help you through the course. Plus you will write about and give feedback on how you will achieve the next steps of your social media empire. A nice simple course with some good advice.

FutureLearn: Thriving in the Digital Workplace

This is actual three courses joined together :

Learn about Current Digital Workplace Trends.

Essential Skills for Your Career Development. Which is already part of this section on the list. I will do this course when I come up to it on the list.

Wellbeing and Resilience at Work. If you have already completed all of the Personal and Growth Wellbeing section on the website. You would have already done this course. As I have already completed this, I will not be doing it again.

This course is a two week course of two hour segments.

In week one, the course discusses the impact of modern technology. The Fourth Industrial Revolution. How it has a positive and negative impact on jobs and the way we will need to improve our skills, set for the future. This continues with how our data is being used in the wider world. With how everything we do online is being recorded somewhere. Is it a benefit?

In week two, you move on to, the robots are taking our jobs! This part discusses what skills you will need now and going into the future as more and more jobs are being automated.

This course is very informative. There are little quizzes and a main test at the end to see what you have learned. Worth having a go.

FutureLearn: Presenting Your Work with Impact

In this course, with the usual two hours over two weeks. In the first week you learn about how to tell a story. How telling a good story can draw people to you and can help achieve your goals in the workplace or in life.

They have little audio stories in the course giving you an example of how a good story compels people. This leads to, how to present yourself in a meeting and such. And using different techniques to present them.

The second week is about how you prepare for a presentation. Getting rid of the nervousness and being confident. How to show yourself to everyone whilst performing in front of a group of people. This is more of psychological/ hippie experience. Which isn’t a bad thing, at all. Teaching you to relax and as long as you’ve done all you can. Knowing, everything will be okay. They go through various techniques that help you present yourself.

Learning Curve Group: Business and customer awareness

This is a short course, two hours long. This is a different experience. Ideal for people who have a problem with reading as the course is read out to you as you go along. Except for the little test segments.

This is a basic course, split into three sections with a test at the end of each section. You will learn about understanding different sectors of business. Understanding what employers are looking for when you are looking for a job. And preparing for an interview. A short and sweet little course.

Google: Communicate Effectively at Work

This is a “nine hour” course describing how to use google products to help with meetings and presentations. This is a series of how to videos following:

How to use the google products whilst having a online meeting: How to build a survey and how to view the responses. How to build a proposal where you can work with someone online sharing and editing documents. How to use Google slides for presentations.

Each lessons is a set of about six videos with a comment section at the end.

At the end of the course you can download the certificate. When opened, you will need to insert your own name then save it to your computer. This is a nice easy course to follow. Nothing too complicated. Well presented. If you have any problems, just rewatch the video until you get it.

Side note. Unless you have a fully paid pdf reader with all the the extras. The fill bars on the certificate will not go away when you print to the computer. I had to print the certificate into a .XPS file then open that file and print it to pdf. So I could keep a pdf copy on my computer. Fun times!

FutureLearn, Institute of Coding and University of Leeds: Collaborative Working in a Remote Team

This is another two hour, two week course. Week one discusses the benefits and some possible downfalls of working remotely, anywhere in the world. From your home to on the road. Is it the future of employment? How to look after yourself if you do end up having to work remotely. The mental and physical health aspects of it all.

Week two is about how you would achieve working remotely. Talking to colleagues and potential clients. Understanding the separation of work and personal time is important. Working to schedules with other people around the world. Setting up a list of goals and how to achieve them in a certain time frame. What are the tools you will need to complete this?

The course has a series of videos and quizzes to see if you understand what you have been learning. I did cock up with the final quiz. I clicked on one of the answers thinking it was the one I had already pressed the on, twice. Making me think the one I was originally going for was wrong. Finding out afterwards it was the right answer. AAGGHH!! My only excuse is I got distracted by my wife. I did this course early in the morning and my wife had just woke up. Bugger!

FutureLearn, Institute of Coding and University of Leeds: Communication and Interpersonal Skills at Work

This is a two week, two hour course. Week one is learning about communication and how you would approach. But most importantly “Who are you?” What can you learn about yourself to improve your skills?

Week two is about how you would use these skills in your work and even your social life. Who can you learn from? How would you approach a meeting? How would you adapt to different situations? Building a plan to develop and improve your skills.

There are audio clips, videos and tasks. That lead to a final quiz to see how much you understand. It’s an interesting course. Even my wife got involved with the audio clips. As most of this is physiological and how having the right mindset at the beginning can help alot.

This is part 1. See you in the part 2.