Swarthmore has a site license for Linkedin Learning, a resource for on-line learning across a variety of different software tools, programming languages, business development, DEI, and even time management! What this means is that faculty, staff and students can take advantage of this opportunity to acquire skills in a range of technical areas to both enhance their ability to complete course work, to develop their technical skills, enhance their career prospects and improve their ability to approach research in new ways. Having this license means that these online training courses are free for the Swarthmore College community. All you need is a bit of time to develop a new skill, and perhaps even acquire a certificate in that area. And it’s far better and more effective than just Googling how to do everything! The amount and quality of what’s available through Linkedin Learning has been dramatically improving over the recent years.
Save classroom time
For a faculty member who wants their students to use a particular software tool to accomplish a class assignment, you don’t have to teach it yourself. You can simply assign the relevant learning module in Linkedin Learning, and use your class time more productively, to address more complex and critical issues that are more relevant for your topic area.
Examples
Linkedin Learning has courses on the entire Adobe Creative Cloud suite, including Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign and more! Courses available also include the full Microsoft office suite including both 365 and the Desktop suite, so you can ask students to get into the details of equation building in Excel, and then focus on the analysis of data, rather than teaching basics. If you need the basics of Python or Java coding, or Javascript or CSS, that’s here too! Even getting started with the statistical and data visualization tool “R” is covered in Linkedin Learning.
Brush up on DEI
Similarly, there is a tremendous number of high quality DEI workshops within Linkedin Learning. These can be starting points for learning about communicating about culturally sensitive issues, or learning about inclusive language and pronouns. There are even training offerings on developing your awareness of and responding to mental health issues! This online training content can be the foundation for a more meaningful classroom discussion, or department workshop.
Getting Things Donetm
One of my favorite courses in Linkedin Learning, is the workshop by David Allen on the Getting Things Done method for organizing all those To Do’s you have running around in your head, so that you don’t loose track of things you need to accomplish. This can obviously be a useful thing to know as you are suddenly faced with the ever more challenging College or professional environment.
Life Skills
So it’s not just learning about particular techniques for using software tools, it’s also life skills and ways of working together productively that are covered in this set of outstanding courses. The Linkedin Learning courses are also set up for easy searching, and are usually organized into short 3-5 minute segments. So it’s easy to find what your looking for, and get answers quickly. I often recommend that folks use some of the longer more comprehensive courses, such as the Adobe Suite Essentials courses, as reference works. Few people are going to sit through 5+ hours of online training in one fell swoop, but if you treat it as a reference, as you work with a product, it’s very useful to be able to look up the things you need to know, as you need them, and get productive again quickly.
Build your resume!
And of course, once Linkedin bought Lynda.com to create Linkedin Learning, they also paired the products, so that it’s now easy to build your online resume with your training certificates earned through your participation in Linkedin Learning courses.
If the content you need isn’t here in Linkedin Learning, please let us know! There are a few other resources we have access to for the College community that are outside and beyond what you can find here. One such example is using ArcGIS. For that, the online training available from ESRI, the makers of ArcGIS and ArcGIS Online, goes far beyond what you can get from Linkedin Learning. (And it’s also free to the Swarthmore community!)