We’ve all learned a lot over the past few months – discovering and developing new skills that we never imagined we’d ever even need. And, while many of our newfound abilities were born out of necessity, we’ve taken the opportunity to make ourselves better, more well-rounded people.
And now, thanks to a partnership between the College of Charleston and LinkedIn Learning, CofC faculty and staff have more opportunities for professional development and self-improvement than ever.
Employees now have free access to thousands of expert-led videos on hundreds of topics through the LinkedIn Learning online educational platform – and they may access them whenever, wherever.
“As many of us continue to work remotely, employees and managers can have access to a large number of professional development courses on topics ranging from communications, leadership, computer technology skills and customer service, to facilitation skills, teamwork and performance management,” says Ed Pope, vice president of human resources and interim executive vice president of business affairs at the College, noting that the Division of Information Technology (IT) and Office of Human Resources (HR) “had been working to implement LinkedIn Learning as an employee development resource long before COVID-19 rocked our world. Fortunately, the timing of its rollout now is critical for us during this challenging time.”
HR and IT have created a curriculum of topics that will help raise technical, communication and leadership competencies across campus, and will continue to add recommended courses to the curriculum. Courses include everything from Becoming a Good Mentor to Becoming a Good Product Manager, from Ergonomics 101 to Reading Electrical Schematics, from Working Remotely to Serving Internal Customers, from Building Trust to Body Language for Leaders.
To access LinkedIn Learning, faculty and staff may log into Cougar Ed (Absorb) using their College credentials. From the Dashboard, they may see courses they may have been enrolled in by navigating to the My Courses tile or their recommended courses by navigating to the Catalog tile (see detailed instructions). Courses are available 24/7, both on and off campus.
Employees will have the option of adding their completed courses and related skills to their professional LinkedIn profile. Coming this summer, LinkedIn Learning will also be available through an integration with OAKS, allowing faculty to recommend supplementary tutorials and modules to students in their courses.
“We will continue to build the functionalities and and the scope of this resource,” says Pope. “We are very appreciative to the team in HR and IT that has been working really hard to make this happen at a time when it is very much needed!”
Specific questions about available LinkedIn Learning courses within Cougar ED may be directed to cougared@cofc.edu. Contact the IT Service Desk with other questions by phone at 843.953.3375, email at itservicedesk@cofc.edu or chat at help.cofc.edu.
