As the saying goes “Learning never stops” professional development is important for anyone to remain relevant to the current job environment. Whether you are looking for a refresher course, totally new career path training or simply to update your knowledge and skills from what you have already acquired, LinkedIn Training is a good place to start with. There are thousands of related online learning flat forms like www.edx.org , www.coursera.com and LinkedIn Learning is one of them.
LinkedIn.com initially started as a professional people’s networking site, with the aim of connecting people professionally just like the Facebook’s business model. LinkedIn business model was connecting people professionally and then at the same time, for Human Resource and other industry related companies to advertise their products and services to the users of the platform.
LinkedIn Learning, came about when it bought off www.lynda.com . Lynda.com started as an online training provider which paid skilled professionals in any field to create training content and lessons and then it sells them online to people who needed them. With the internet developing much stronger, more and more people signed with Lynda.com and started learning for their professional skills upgrading as well as novice learners who needed to learn new things. Universities and companies also became interested in joining for their staff, students, and employees training. LinkedIn purchased it and expanded it and now, it is one of the world’s leading training content providers with a huge list of courses which the user can just pick and learn.
With the current increase in the use of mobile internet technologies, people can learn any skills they need to for their professional development through the LinkedIn Learning website.
Here are the steps to do it from Papua New Guinea .
No# 1: Open a Visa Account With BSP
Apply for a DEBIT Visa Card with BSP, Westpac or Kina bank. It’s good to apply with the Bank you have your account with because Debit Visa Card is tied to your account. Whenever you use your Card to pay for something, whether locally or online money will be debited from your account.
I recommend, to create a second account and nominate that as the one tied to VISA card . In that way, you transfer money to that account and use it only when you want to purchase sometime online with the visa card. Normal times, you can just keep a low balance less than K100.00 or something. This is good too to avoid any losses such as losing your Visa Card or online frauds.
No# 2: Create a LinkedIn Account.
LinkedIn is a professional networking site, just like Facebook so, sign up and create your account using their website link below.
Website is www.LinkedIn.com
Once you created your account, you can log in and build up your professional network and see the latest trends in the job market and etc. Linked also suggests you friends colleagues that you know off and it’s good to catch up and find out what they are doing or where they working. Make sure you write your user name and password because you will need that to sign up with Linked In Learning.
Now you are ready to join LinkedIn Learning
No#3: LinkedIn Learning
Go to www.linkedin.com/learning and from there, sign in using your linked in login user name and password.
Then you are able to browse through the specific courses/training you require and you can pay for it using your Debit VISA Card. There are two options for payment which is good in a sense.
- You can pay for a monthly/annual subscription plan. This option will let you choose so many different courses. With this option, you can pick and choose the courses that are relevant to your professional development.
- Buy This Course-This is one off payment for that particular course.
Although the prices are bit expensive, it is worth it. Considering the fact that some of these specialized courses, are not offered in some of the institutions in the Papua New Guinea and also, the videos are of high quality.
NO# 4 Internet Connectivity Required
Once you have paid the for the course or signed up to subscription, you need internet connection to do it. If your work place provides internet access to its employees, then it’s good to you can use it. Otherwise, it’s good to invest in a portable Telikom Wireless Router and see the different data plans and subscribe to it. Then use that to access internet from your home or some other space that is convenient for your learning. You can factor the internet data costs to complete the course and the actual cost of the course as you do your your pre-course planning and budgeting. Otherwise, you might be tempted to use the telikom data for other purposes. If you use it only for LinkedIn training course, it will help reduce your cost of learning.
More information on internet access devices offered by telecommunication companies in the Papua New Guinea, you can check their websites via the links below for more information