Below, colleagues from across the FSC talk about their experiences of training and using the courses available. Please do let us know about the courses that you are doing and any feedback that your colleagues might find useful.
Zena Plaskett, HR Officer:
As we now head towards the end of week 7 of ‘lockdown’, some of us on are on furlough, some of us are working from home and some of us are working from home with very young children. Others like myself are working from home whilst trying to home school older children. In this time it has become clear to me that my skills as a home school teacher are just not up to par, especially when it comes to maths. Trying to recollect the way I was taught at school is a stretch too far in my memory bank and having to rely on my 16 year old to help my 11 year old has made me realise that I really should refresh my knowledge of my maths skills, so things like: long division, multiplication, percentages, ratios, decimals (to name but a few) but worst of all my nemesis- fractions!
So hearing that the government are promoting a free online learning platform to boost workplace skills aroused my curiosity and having delved a little further found that ‘The Skills Toolkit’ gives people access to free, high-quality digital and numeracy courses which aid in building skills was an opportunity too good to miss. I was certainly very pleased to find that after a couple of ‘clicks’ was led to a course called Everyday maths 1 – which was just what I needed! The course was designed to introduce you to every day maths problems that relate to everyday lives such as assisting with running your home – so not just for the workplace, plus it was flexible enough for me to do it at my leisure but would only take around 48 hours to complete (give or take depending on your capabilities). A quick and easy online registration set up with the Open University and off I went. The course is great, it covers step by step examples of maths questions that can be done online or downloaded and printed if required. Nothing to strenuous and it is done in stages with an online test when you feel ready at the end. The course is not accredited but gives you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge (more than one can be collected) and these badges will help you if you decide you wish to go further and enrol on a formal qualification. In addition to the badge you will receive an Open Learn Statement of Participation all of which can help you progress within your work and boost any future job prospects.
Philip Turvil, FSC Eco-Business Director:
There’s lots I know about; far more I don’t. My solution is continuous learning and sharing knowledge. That’s why I thoroughly recommend FSC’s list of training opportunities. These experiences range from quick webinars to regular coursework – and from technical skills to personal analysis. My career and personal life would be very different if it weren’t for making time to give and receive knowhow and perspectives. As FSC, we champion learning in others, so it’s brilliant that all of FSC’s training opportunities were suggested by our colleagues from across the organisation.
Emma Lowe, Tutor at FSC Margam:
During my time on furlough I was beginning to feel a lack of stimulation in terms of learning and engaging in materials on our environment, so when Jane suggested the free Open University courses on our weekly slack catch-up, I went straight online to check out what was available. I used OpenLearn, the free learning courses available from the Open University, so I didn’t need to apply or pay anything, just a simple registration process involving filling out some simple details before I was ready to get started. They have over 900 free courses available to study for free, on a vast range of subjects, with varying levels of commitment, with some courses taking as little as 2-3 hours to complete, and some more intense ones taking over 20.
As a self-confessed marine obsessive I of course immediately signed up for the ocean-based courses to top-up my knowledge from university, starting with a short course on Marine Mammals. What makes it really easy is being able to sign up to a variety of courses, and dip in and out of them, with the site saving where you left off, and you can also download materials to read offline. Other courses I then signed up for included Climate Change, Effects of pollutants on the aquatic environment, Microbes – friend or foe, Migration, Neighbourhood Nature and The Oceans. They also vary in complexity, from introductory, to intermediate, to advanced. Once I’ve finished indulging in the familiar environment-based courses, I plan on looking at some more STEM and teaching based courses to work on areas I am less confident in. I also really enjoyed that the course isn’t just lots of material to read – which there is plenty of, and in good quality – but it also gets you to complete short activities on the different stages of the course, not just repetition-style answering questions, but things that make you really think about the content and apply what you’ve just learnt about to try to solve problems and think independently. I couldn’t recommend these courses enough as a way of killing some boredom and feeling productive whilst enjoying the easy-to-use sites and engaging material. Big thanks to Jane for the suggestion!
Maryanne Wills, Education Team Leader talks about the Make Every Contact Count course:
I thought this course was really valuable, as well as learning from it, it also gave time for some personal reflection. I liked the structure of the course as well as the content. I find online learning quite difficult as it isn’t a format I find that engaging most of the time (I haven’t completed some of the FutureLearn courses I have previously signed up to!) but this course was really well set up with lots of different activities. The course took me around 4 hours to complete but it was time well spent and I have already used some things learned from it in planning a future events programme promoting wellbeing.