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'Have a Go' Month- What would you like to learn more about?

Tori_Scope

The Festival of Learning is the biggest celebration of lifelong learning in England.

Their aim is to celebrate the benefits of lifelong learning, and inspire more people to continue learning new things throughout their lives.

Have a Go Month is when the Festival of Learning encourages organisations and learning providers to offer free learning activities for adults, such as taster sessions, online learning, talks or lectures, open days and more. They also welcome organisations running free learning events at other times of the year.

Here are some free learning opportunities you can take advantage of over the coming months:

Webinars and Interactive Workshops with Union Learn

Mental Wealth Festival with City Lit

Courses on loads of topics with Future Learn

Free ‘Explore’ programme for 18-25 year olds with The Prince’s Trust

Learn something with BBC Bitesize, including core life skills for those aged over 16

Online activities for both adults and children with Wandsworth Lifelong Learning

The Skills Toolkit with the National Careers Service

Live Webinars with USDAW

Have you ever done an online learning course?

Do you know of any free online courses that are currently available to enrol on?

What’s one thing that you’d really like to learn more about?

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Comments

66Mustang

I would like to learn about engineering and mechanics and how to fix things, especially cars, as I love driving but I only have a basic understanding of how an engine works. It would also be nice to be able to know what to do when something basic goes wrong with a car.

janer1967

Thanks for sharing some great links provided there

As you know I am currently doing online learning it isnt free but very reasonable price. I have completed 1 diploma in Criminology and stated Criminal Phycology

I have an interest in law but afraid I dont think I could do it now, but will look forward to seeing some ideas as to what to do next

Tori_Scope

That sounds really interesting @66Mustang! I couldn't find a specific course on those topics that was free, but I did find these YouTube videos (and there are others too), which you might find interesting. I'd also recommend that you sign up to FutureLearn if you haven't already, so that they can email you when new courses get released that you might like to enrol on

Tori_Scope

Have you had a look through FutureLearn @janer1967? The courses on there vary in length, and they're free, so you could do a little taster course in something you think you might be interested in, without too much of a commitment. I've done some on quite random topics that I've wanted to learn more about!

janer1967

@Tori_Scope not looked yet but certainly will

66Mustang

@Tori_Scope thanks for sharing that playlist of videos, they look really interesting. I’m always looking for new videos to watch in the evening before I go to sleep as it’s my time to unwind so will be sure to watch some then!

I haven’t heard of FutureLearn before, I will take a look, thanks

To answer one of the other questions in your first post, I have done some online learning myself and had a mixed experience. I did A level philosophy which I found really interesting and it has definitely changed how I view arguments and I think made me a more neutral person. I then went on to do A level maths which I found too hard to understand, I felt like I needed a teacher to be in the room with me as I couldn’t understand some of the concepts even after reading them dozens of times. I swapped the maths for economics and am currently doing that and really enjoying it.

So based on my experience, I’d say online learning can be really good, dependant on the subject!

Tori_Scope

I'm glad you think they look interesting @66Mustang! I find there are YouTube tutorials for almost anything now. It's a great resource.

That sounds really interesting. I was always useless at maths, even with a teacher in the room! What service do you do the A Levels through?

66Mustang

I’m using the National Extension College (NEC). I think they are the college branch of the Open University. Sadly the courses are not free though, but I think education is something worth investing into

Tori_Scope

Oh cool, I've never heard of that @66Mustang. It makes sense that it'd be an extension of the OU.

Definitely! I am in... a lot of debt from my degree, but I wouldn't go back and change it. Have you perhaps looked into doing an NVQ or BTEC in mechanical engineering, or something similar?

Ross_Alumni

I've done some free courses before through LinkedIn Learning and Udemy, neither of which are free but offer a free trial which I took advantage of. The courses on those platforms are normally by experts in the field and I found a lot of what I watched on there very useful. It certainly passed some time over lockdown.

I'd love to learn braille. I've been on a waiting list for a year to learn it in person but I should probably start looking for online resources at this point.

Thanks for sharing this Tori, what a fantastic event!

66Mustang

Tori_Scope said:

Oh cool, I've never heard of that @66Mustang. It makes sense that it'd be an extension of the OU.

Definitely! I am in... a lot of debt from my degree, but I wouldn't go back and change it. Have you perhaps looked into doing an NVQ or BTEC in mechanical engineering, or something similar?

I haven’t looked into that actually as I assumed you needed to do something like that at a physical college rather than online, as it is very hands-on, something I am not up to right now, but may do in the future when I am more able to get out

Tori_Scope

Hmm, I honestly don't know @66Mustang! I suppose it is probably more hands-on. I hope you feel a bit more up to it in the future

Watch every video on engineering and mechanics there is on YouTube first and you'd fly through the course

Tori_Scope

Ah yes, I forgot to add LinkedIn learning, thank you @Ross_Scope

I've never heard of Udemy, so thanks for that too.

That would be so cool! Hopefully you'll find one.