Upskilling Options
Each student will select upskilling options within various categories that total close to 100 hours of learning. Your courses can be all within one category or distributed among multiple categories. We talked to some of our employers to get ideas and we have listed below samples of courses that might be good starting points.
Technical Skills
AutoCAD (LI)
Technical Writing (LI)
Design Thinking (IBM)
Six Sigma (LI)
Additive Manufacturing (LI) | Data Analysis
Visualization- Data Mapping (IBM)
Tableau (LI)
Python or R (LI or IBM)
Google Analytics (LI)</td |
Career Development
Emotional Intelligence (LI)
Writing the Perfect Elevator Speech (LI)
Technical Interviews (LI)
Personal Branding (LI) | Business Skills and Software
Microsoft Excel, Project, SharePoint (LI)
Creating a Business Plan (LI)
Entrepreneurship (LI)
Economic Indicators (LI) |
You can choose your courses from any of the following sites. There may also be certifications that you’re interested in outside of these offerings. You’ll be able to request those trainings as well. You will want to indicate those interests on your PDP Proposal form.
LinkedIn Learning (formerly called Lynda.com)
Free for anyone with a Louisville Free Public Library card by going to www.lfpl.org/lynda. You can sign up online for a temporary library card if needed.
Course offerings include:
- Professional and career development;
- Leadership, supervision, and leading effective teams;
- Software and computer training, including videos on how to use Microsoft Office Suite;
- Art, graphic design, and music classes, teaching everything from 3D animation to engineering sound to the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, and more);
- Computer programming, IT management (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X), and web design;
Coursera
Hundreds of free courses that include access to on-demand video lectures, homework exercises, and community discussion forums. Every course on Coursera is taught by top instructors from world-class universities and companies, so you can learn something new anytime, anywhere. Paid courses provide additional quizzes and projects as well as a shareable Course Certificate upon completion.
Technology Training
Center for Digital Transformation
The goal with Digital Transformation is to create a variety of ways in which we enable technology knowledge throughout UofL and our community. To assist in this endeavor, click here for technology training offered online. Most of the courses listed are offered as FREE result in free badges / certificates / credentials in some cases. Be sure to search or look for “no cost” and “free” in the listing. We recommend never paying with a credit card unless you are wanting to cover the cost for a certification exam. As a general rule, most badges are free but formal exam certifications might cost to take the test following the course. After passing any badge or certification level, you are awarded a digital credential emblem or symbol to use on your resume, LinkedIn account or professional document.
- IBM SKILLS GATEWAY has many courses available for earning new technology micro-credentials. You can search their learning site for “no cost” and “free” labels in each of the course listings, badges or certifications. These courses range from new business skills to web development to the basics of Watson super-computing.
- MICROSOFT LEARN offers many badges and certifications as well as free tutorial learning modules and helpful guides. Use the convenient Filter menu to determine areas for browsing different learning modules. Microsoft has certification paths – each of these certifications consists of passing a series of exams to earn the certification. The certification exams from Microsoft are a direct cost to you (ranging in price but generally are under $150) but Microsoft Badges are free.
- GOOGLE ANALYTICS ACADEMY helps you learn about Google’s analytical measurement tools as well as data collection and marketing. Online business analytics are key to any business role whether you are just starting out or an experienced executive. These offerings are FREE too!
- COGNITIVE CLASS provides FREE courses in emerging technologies, including data science, AI, big data, cloud computing and blockchain. Badges for various skill levels are available. You can sign-in with various social networking account addresses or through your IBM Academic Initiative
- LOUISVILLE FUTURE OF WORK INITIATIVE is a partnership between Microsoft, Louisville Metro Government, and the University of Louisville focused on increasing economic opportunity and equity by enabling Louisville to become a regional hub and center for excellence in Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (ioT) and Data Science. The Future of Work Initiative (FWI) is focused on 3 main areas: Workforce Transformation, Industry Development, and AI for Good.
- Workforce transformation: Training and preparing Louisville’s workforce for the next tech revolution with a focus on inclusion.
- Industry development: Strengthening Louisville’s healthcare and manufacturing clusters by driving innovation and supporting the application of AI, Data Science, and the Internet of Things education and implementation in companies.
- AI For Good: Demonstrating the power of data and AI to solve social issues as a way to increase awareness and adoption across the community.