Written by Andy Holgate, Library Digital Skills Developer

In this blog post I’ll be talking you through some aspects of LinkedIn Learning that you may not know, and if you did know them, you get a bonus point for each (no prize unfortunately) but before that let me explain what LinkedIn Learning is.

LinkedIn Learning provides access to over 18,000 online learning courses, taught by industry experts. It is video based, and courses range from a couple of minutes to several hours. It is available to staff and students at Lancaster Bailrigg, Ghana and Leipzig campuses.  LinkedIn courses support skills and personal development across a broad range of topics, particularly in the areas of technology, business, and creative skills.

You can access the ASK LinkedIn Learning Guidance or go directly to the Lancaster LinkedIn Learning Sign in page.

1. You do NOT need a LinkedIn Account to access LinkedIn Learning.

Just because they share the same name, does not mean they are the same platform. Ask yourself does a Red Panda look the same as Giant Panda? They are however both called Pandas. LinkedIn is the social media platform; LinkedIn Learning is a learning platform – they both do very different things and provide different services.
You can of course connect your LinkedIn social media profile with your learning profile if you wish or you can take courses without posting to the world about it.

2. There is a quality control process for content.

One of the questions I’ve faced when I’ve been speaking to staff about LinkedIn Learning is “How do we know the quality is good before we take or recommend a course?”, and it’s a very valid one. First of all those who are teaching courses have to apply, they then go through an interview process and if successful are assigned a producer and script editor (remember it’s video learning).
They are then flown to the company studios in Geneva or Chicago and recorded, they receive payment and royalties based on how many people watch their courses so it is in their own interest to make it engaging.

Have a look at some courses, check out the teachers background, ultimately you have the choice (like you do with reading an academic textbook) of deciding if it meets your high standards.

3. You can learn a wealth of new skills.

Now you probably guessed that you could visit LinkedIn Learning for your professional development and learn how to create pivot tables in Excel, create amazing presentations, or start coding with Python but did you know that you can also learn how to play acoustic guitar , use your phone to take creative photos of your pets,  learn how to paint or learn to speak Spanish and much more.

4. Keeping up to date with the latest trends.

Let’s face it, in the summer of 2023 there is probably nothing more terrifying than being in a work team meeting and hearing “Right what are we doing about AI?”. If you are anything like me (and old like me) your palms will start to sweat as you nervously look at your feet and instantly think of a Terminator movie.
LinkedIn Learning updates and adds over 50 courses each week and it has loads of easy to understand and digest content on AI. Have a look at the course AI Trends which was updated on the 24^th August and stop looking nervously at your feet.

5. Supplementing curricular teaching.

You can enhance your students experience by letting LinkedIn Learning work for you.
LinkedIn Learning is a great all-in-one solution for enhancing all types of education. From soft skills to software, there’s a course to add (not replace) value to any academic program.
It can be used to teach technical and presentation skills outside of the classroom, flipping the classroom and supporting hybrid learning. Maybe think about using it with pre-arrival students? Courses and videos can be linked to from Moodle.

6. Save the department some money?

If you are a line manager, it may come up in a staff member’s PDR that they would like some development, rather than send them on an external course, why not first have a look to see what is available in LinkedIn Learning – the department would save on course fees, travel etc.

7. Enhance your career prospects.

So I had better whisper this one, if you want to take a step up the ladder or indeed go in a completely different direction have a look at LinkedIn Learning. There are courses on writing your CV, writing a cover letter and mastering common interview questions.

If you decide that you have had enough of being a librarian and you want to be a Social Media Manager then you can follow the Role guide which will give you a variety of courses to start you on your journey and suggest learning groups that you can join on LinkedIn, so that you can interact with peers in that industry. So what are you waiting for, enhance your skills and develop your career BUT please stay, we like you.

8. Become a Curator.

Becoming a LinkedIn Learning curator lets you drive learner engagement and take LinkedIn Learning to the next level for you, colleagues, and students. Curator roles are available to colleagues in all schools and services and it is an ideal opportunity for those with a focus on learning, teaching or leading the development of others.

Becoming a curator means you can easily create, share, and understand the impact of your learning programmes. Benefits of being a LinkedIn Learning curator:

• Upload your own content to the LinkedIn Learning platform.
• Curate collections (playlists) of videos and courses specific to your students/module.
• Create a learning path, combining your own content with LinkedIn Learning content.
• Easily share content and learning paths with colleagues and students.
• See insights of learning resources that have been shared with a group or individual learner.

If you would like to learn more about being a curator you can watch the following:
The Curator Role in LinkedIn Learning
or contact the Lancaster University LinkedIn Learning Support Team

9. Well-being

As well as creative, business and technology courses, LinkedIn Learning offers a wide range of content focussed on wellbeing and mental health. There are thousands of courses available in the Well-Being and Self-Care Collection.

10. Come and have a discussion about LinkedIn Learning

You can join the growing community of LinkedIn Learning users at Lancaster by joining the LinkedIn Learning Users teams channel.

This Teams site is a shared space for members of Lancaster University’s LinkedIn Learning user community. Feel free to use it to ask questions, share experiences and ideas, and for other discussion related to LinkedIn Learning

There you go, you made it through the ten things, I hope you at least learnt something and are not too sore about not winning a prize. The opinions in this blog are essentially my own and I would love to have a chat with any member of staff that would like to explore LinkedIn Learning further. Thanks for reading!

Andy Holgate
Library Digital Skills Developer