There is a wealth of resources online that can help you develop or improve your digital skills. But sometimes there may seem so many that it is difficult to decide which is best for you.
Some courses are free, while others charge. As a business you may be able to claim back some or all of the cost of attending as an allowable expense – as long as you are not starting a new business or expanding into new areas. These courses could be important in getting a digitalisation strategy off the ground, and could also offer CPD for your staff.
This article details some of the options that are available – although bear in mind that mention of a course should not be taken as a recommendation or endorsement.
What skills do you need?
First: how do you identify what skills you or your staff need to improve? The introductory article in this series reported that 26% of UK SMEs see a lack of basic data input and processing skills, with figures of 28% for database management and 30% for website development.
If this is the case for your organisation, then it makes sense to pick courses where those skills will be addressed first. Not only will this improve day-to-day data input and processing work, saving you both time and money, but the skills will also provide a foundation for more advanced learning.
You may want to ensure you and your staff are confident with the ubiquitous tools such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint before looking further afield. Ensuring you are comfortable with the basics will help you learn some of the common tasks and terminology that you will come across, and will also make you more efficient when you branch out into more complex functions.
Excel in particular can be an incredibly powerful tool once a user is familiar with its advanced features. For many businesses, this program will be all you need to begin improving data processing or monitoring business production or services.
Options for beginners
The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) is a UK charity dedicated to providing opportunities to as many people as possible. It offers a wide array of courses for people new to computers, such as 'Step into digital' and 'Introduction to digital skills'. More targeted learning in Excel, Word or PowerPoint is available for beginners as well as intermediate and advanced users.
There are also courses such as 'Create a business Facebook business page' and 'Build your own website', which will walk you through creating a free WordPress site. Both of these courses could be useful if you decide you would rather develop these features by yourself rather than hiring a contractor.
The Irish National Adult Literacy Agency provides free courses on a variety of topics, including digital skills as well as literacy and numeracy. Attendees can work through a variety of National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) level 1,2 and 3 short courses on topics such as data handling, computer skills and computer literacy.
Alternatively, a learner may wish to start or move up to a major award, such as the NFQ level 3 certificate in information and communications technologies, which covers six key topics. Completing the course results in an NFQ level 3–European Qualifications Framework level 2 certificate, which is the equivalent of the Regulated Qualifications Framework 1 in the UK, or the Scottish Intermediate 1.
A variety of free courses from providers such as the Open University, Microsoft, Google and FutureLearn have been brought together as part of the UK government's Skills Toolkit. The courses run the gamut from basics such as getting the best out of Outlook to social media skills for business, as well as a variety of digital marketing courses. There is also a series of coding courses ranging from one-hour introductions to 70-hour, in-depth provision that will teach students how to design a website or app in Python.
The Skills Toolkit is a great place to start because all these courses are provided free of charge by some of the largest education and technology organisations in the world. Moreover, if you like the providers you may decide to sign up for a longer course with the Open University or FutureLearn.
Formal qualifications
If you or your staff decide that you would like a more significant award at the end of the course, you may wish to consider undertaking a European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), which is a globally recognised certification at level 3 on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). Such courses can be useful for anyone who finds themselves working with word processing, spreadsheets or presentations on a regular basis.
Because it is internationally recognised, a wide variety of organisations provide certification in the ECDL, including the City Lit. Others are available either on a distance learning basis through ECDLcourse or from providers in your area.
If you are already fairly confident in your skills or simply want a further qualification to build on an existing ECDL or CPD, you may wish to take the ECDL advanced course at EQF level 4, equivalent to a UK A level.
The success of the ECDL prompted the EU to launch the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) in 2019, targeted at countries outside the union. However, apart from the name there is no difference in the information covered in the courses. The ICDL is offered in the UK by the British Computer Society.
As the ECDL and ICDL are internationally recognised, they also offer an opportunity to identify potential staff members who have undertaken high-quality training.
Courses for businesses
All these courses are designed for individuals, but what if you want to upskill a whole business as part of a digitalisation strategy?
FutureLearn offers support to businesses in designing dedicated courses to suit their employees' needs, which includes a learning manager tool to monitor progress and provide specialised support.
This can be a useful in identifying and closing skills gaps, and it can also be introduced and run alongside a digitalisation strategy. FutureLearn offers both free and paid membership, with the latter including a range of benefits such as access to course tests, if there are any, and certificates of achievement when completed.
Other business options include LinkedIn Learning and Udemy, both of which offer tens of thousands of online lectures on topics relating to every field of business. LinkedIn Learning has the advantage of connecting to your existing profile as a way of monitoring use and helping employees find courses by skills tagged in their own profiles.
Both sites offer lectures rather than tests so are more self-driven, and there is no recognised certification when completed. They may therefore be of more use as an introduction to a broad range of topics, rather than in-depth training in a specific skill or digital tool. Udemy and FutureLearn also offer free 14-day trials, which can be useful for getting to grips with their respective systems and deciding whether they are of interest to you before paying for content.
Meanwhile NILC – originally known as Newport Integrated Learning Centre because it was founded in the South Wales town – provides in-person and online courses on more than 500 different topics, for both individuals and businesses as a group. In addition to those already mentioned, such as ECDL and social media, it offers support with IT security, project management, Sage bookkeeping and first aid, among others. NILC can also arrange a skills analysis of your company and develop a dedicated training plan.
A range of options
This article should have given you a sense of the type of training that is available, ranging from informal or ad hoc courses for individuals to bespoke programmes for your staff. As stated, this is not an exhaustive list and many other providers are available.
Future articles in this series will cover topics including building a new website or optimising an existing one, data handling and cyber security, search engine optimisation to increase your web presence, and the benefits that British Computer Society chartered IT status can offer businesses even if they are not digital specialists.