The UK Government have announced a new campaign to help furloughed workers improve their digital, and numeracy skills.
Through the new Skills Toolkit website, you can find free, high quality, online courses for digital and numeracy skills.
Why improve your digital skills?
- 82% of all job vacancies require digital skills [1 Data]
- Roles requiring digital skills pay 29% more than those that don’t [2 Data]
- In recent years, the number of digital jobs grew almost three times as quickly as other occupations [3 Data]
Image Credit: Google
What courses are available?
On The Skills Toolkits you can find courses from the Open University, FutureLearn, Good Things Foundation, Lloyds Bank, Google Digital Garage, Cisco Networking Academy, Accenture, University of Leeds and Institute of Coding.
The courses are split into 3 levels; introductory, intermediate and advanced.
Introductory Courses
Learn My Way
Description:
Resources to help you get started online. Find topics from getting to grips with your computer, tablet or mobile phone to how to use office programs like Excel, Word and PowerPoint. You can also learn to manage your money, use public services or find jobs and careers advice online.
Level:
Introductory
Provider:
Good Things Foundation
Approximate study time:
Bite-sized resources from a few minutes to a few hours
Make It Click
Description:
Tools and resources to help you build skills for using social media, email or make working from home easier. Learn to use applications like Word, PowerPoint and Excel and know how to stay safe online. Improve your digital skills for things like creating a CV, running a webinar or using online services.
Level:
Introductory
Provider:
Good Things Foundation
Approximate study time:
Bite-sized resources from a few minutes to a few hours
Learn for Everyday Life
Description:
Build your own course with a selection of lessons on a variety of digital skills from how to master video calling, dealing with online fraud, presenting yourself online, improving your CV and working with others safely online.
Level:
Introductory
Provider:
Lloyds Bank
Approximate study time:
Bite-sized resources from a few minutes to a few hours
Everyday Maths
Description:
Refresh your maths skills to help with everyday life or get on in your job. From using a calculator, learning to convert fractions to decimals and understanding percentages, to measuring objects, distances and weights. Understand how to use tables, diagrams and charts. You’ll get lots of practice using the maths you need in daily life.
Level:
Introductory
Provider:
Open Learn
Approximate study time:
48 hours
Intermediate Courses
Create a Professional Online Presence
Description:
Explore how to present yourself professionally online. Find out more about different social media platforms and how the way that you conduct yourself online can impact your professional reputation. Learn about safety and privacy and the ways that your online activity might be viewed by different audiences.
Level:
Intermediate
Provider:
FutureLearn
Approximate study time:
4 hours in total over 2 weeks
Thriving in the Digital Workplace
Description:
Boost your confidence and build the skills you need to use digital technology in the workplace. Explore jobs that need digital skills through real life case studies. Get to know what digital skills you’re most likely to need in the future to stay one step ahead and develop techniques to enhance wellbeing and resilience at work.
Level:
Intermediate
Provider:
FutureLearn
Approximate study time:
12 hours in total over 6 weeks
How to Create Great Online Content
Description:
Find out about different types of online content and what makes them effective in different situations. Discover the importance of tone, style and format in your communications, and develop best practice for communicating effectively online.
Level:
Intermediate
Provider:
FutureLearn
Approximate study time:
4 hours in total over 2 weeks
Presenting Your Work with Impact
Description:
Learn to create and present engaging content clearly and confidently in a range of situations, like in interviews and business meetings. Explore different types of presentation software and learn techniques to convey your ideas with confidence.
Level:
Intermediate
Provider:
FutureLearn
Approximate study time:
4 hours in total over 2 weeks
Digital Skills: Social Media (for business)
Description:
A course for those wanting to use social media effectively to develop their entrepreneurial skills, to enter the workplace or to change career. Learn how to use social media to establish and improve your brand, set campaign objectives and identify your target audience. Create engaging content and discover the best places to pitch it.
Level:
Intermediate
Provider:
FutureLearn
Approximate study time:
2 hours in total over 2 weeks
Advanced Courses
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
Description:
Learn how to market goods or services online through a series of short video tutorials and knowledge quizzes. The course covers topics like creating a website and getting it known, marketing your business locally and internationally and advertising using social media. There are modules covering how to sell online as well as how to analyse the success of your marketing plan.
Level:
Advanced
Provider:
Google Digital Garage
Approximate study time:
40 hours
Learn to Code for Data Analysis
Description:
Learn how to write your own computer programs, one line of code at a time. Find out how to access open data, clean and analyse it, and produce visualisations, and how to present your analyses, privately or publicly. You’ll be coding in Python, a widely used programming language across all disciplines.
Level:
Advanced
Provider:
OpenLearn
Approximate study time:
24 hours
Programming Essentials in Python
Description:
Learn how to code in Python: an object-oriented programming language used by small companies to tech giants. Gain skills to write your own computer programmes, or to design a web or desktop application. You don’t need to have any previous programming experience or knowledge to do this course.
Level:
Advanced
Provider:
Cisco Networking Academy
Approximate study time:
70 hours
Introduction to Cyber Security: Stay Safe Online
Description:
Learn how to stay safe online at home and at work. The course will help you to recognise cyber threats and the steps to take to reduce your risks online. Find out about malware, viruses, trojans, network security, cryptography, identity theft and risk management.
Level:
Advanced
Provider:
OpenLearn
Approximate study time:
24 hours
Find out more details about courses and career advice from the National Careers Service.
See more resources and updates on phil-isherwood.co.uk
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