Back to School

It’s back-to-school time, join your kids in learning—pick up new skills or brush up on old ones

Be inspired by the kids and make August back-to-school month for yourself to take your career to the next level.  Take the opportunity and brush up on those Excel skills you haven’t used in a few years. Wanted to learn Photoshop, French, or coding for a while? Need to catch up on labor laws or HIPAA regulations? Now is the time.

There are plenty of free and reasonably priced resources available to further your skills. If you are employed, check with your employer first. Most larger organizations will offer in-house training. Don’t pass on those opportunities! You can often take them during work hours, and they directly relate to your job.

If your employer doesn’t offer this kind of professional development, there are other options you can explore.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

Take a look at Coursera, Udacity, or edEx. They offer college classes from some of the best universities around the world in a variety of fields and disciplines. You can either just follow along, which is usually free, or complete the assignments and receive a certificate for the class (you will have to pay a fee for that). Udacity even offers nanodegrees in a number of technology fields, such as iOS or Android development. The degrees can often be completed in 6-8 months and involve classes and assignments (and a fee).

Continuing Education classes at your local college

College continuing education departments offer a wide variety of options, in person as well as online. You can learn a skilled trade, learn a specific software, or improve your web design or public speaking skills. They also offer classes to prepare for professional certifications, such as SHRM Certified Professional for human resources staff or PMP Certification for project managers.

Options in the Baton Rouge area include:

Your local public library

Last but not least, your public library offers a myriad of resources and access to classes free of charge. The East Baton Rouge Parish Library offers a large number of in-person computer classes covering widely-used programs, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, etc., at all its branches each month . In addition, library card holders have access to online classes and tutorials through the Digital Library. Through Gale Courses, users can access six-week online classes in a variety of fields that finish with a certificate. Atomic Training, Treehouse, and Lynda help you learn tech skills. Mango offers online language classes and training. Browse the Digital Library to find a resource that inspires you to keep learning.

Take your professional development to the next level with these resources. Be a life-long learner. Now is the time!

Written by Anne Nowak