OERs for Career Development and Career Development Professionals

A particularly flexible and valuable form of ongoing CPD is to undertake learning via Open Educational Resources, or OERs. These are free or 'open' online learning resources. Popular OER sites include: 
FutureLearn
OpenLearn
edx
Coursera 
OERu

 I provide a list of relevant OERs to students on the UWS MSc Career Guidance and Development programme but it makes sense to present an expanded and contextualised list publicly. In this blog post, you will find a list of currently available resources, and a brief description of why each is useful and relevant to our field. If you have completed any of these OERs or others as part of your flexible work related learning, please post your feedback in the comments section of this post. If there are other OERs you recommend, please contact me and I will add them to the Resources page on this website.

 OpenLearn: Thinking about how I work with other professionals
Note that while this course focuses on early years practitioners, the underpinning principles of inter-professional working it covers apply to the work of a careers professional. After studying this course, you should be able to:
  • examine practices in relation to working with other professionals in order to make the underpinning knowledge, values and beliefs explicit
  • use a variety of ‘tools’ to examine the knowledge, values and beliefs underpinning a practice
  • identify contradictions between an underpinning knowledge, values and beliefs and a practice
  • identify any requirements for development of a practice and reconsider the underpinning values and beliefs in relation to any work with other professionals
  • identify constraints within a setting that impact on the ways of working with other professionals

 OpenLearn: Developing career resilience
(A course you might wish to recommend to clients - if you do, it's wise to complete it yourself first, to see what it covers)
After studying this course, you should be able to: 
  • identify the strengths of resilient people and recognise which of these strengths you have already
  • recognise how the need for resilience varies in different occupational sectors
  • understand changing trends in the world of work
  • identify tactics for goal setting and overcoming setbacks
  • work with a model for career resilience and develop personal resources.
OpenLearn: Succeed in the workplace
(A course you might wish to recommend to clients - if you do, it's wise to complete it yourself first, to see what it covers)
After completing this course you will be able to:
  • reflect on your interests and values and how these are relevant to your career choice
  • understand the value of your networks in career planning
  • develop the skills to write strong job applications and CVs
  • recognise different interview situations and questions, and know how to approach these
  • produce a realistic personal action plan

 OpenLearn: Careers education and guidance
Note that this England-focused course refers directly to the now (mainly) defunct Connexions services, however the broader principles still stand. After studying this course, you should be able to:
  • understand the rationale for careers education and guidance (CEG) and young people's need for it
  • understand your school's statutory responsibilities for CEG and its links with Connexions
  • understand the basic knowledge and skills needed to help students access careers information and guidance;
  • understand the school's CEG programme and the confidence to carry out your role in it

 OpenLearn/Education Scotland: An introduction to inclusive education
This module has been developed by Education Scotland to provide educational practitioners and local authorities with free professional learning resources which focus on an introduction to Inclusion and equality within Scottish education. The module content is very relevant for all educational practitioners and also supports teachers to meet the required general Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) standards for Professional Learning, annual reviews and Professional Update.

OpenLearn: Understanding Autism
Learn about autism, a complex and challenging long-term condition for many individuals and their families worldwide, and an aspect of human diversity to others. This free course, Understanding autism, introduces the autism spectrum, how it is experienced by different individuals and families, and why it is a global concern. The course explains how ideas about autism have evolved and explores diagnosis, causes, intervention and life-span development. Widely varying perspectives on autism are illustrated and key societal and cross-cultural issues highlighted.

FutureLearn: Understanding Autism (University of Kent)
Understand more about autism, including diagnosis, the autistic spectrum and life with autism, with this online course.

 FutureLearn: How to Succeed at Writing Applications
(A course you might wish to recommend to clients - if you do, it's wise to complete it yourself first, to see what it covers)
A free three week course from the University of Sheffield, to help participants produce a perfect CV, application and online profile when applying for a job or course.

FutureLearn: How to Succeed at Interviews
(A course you might wish to recommend to clients - if you do, it's wise to complete it yourself first, to see what it covers)

FutureLearn: Understanding the GDPR
While you will be required to undertake training in the GDPR in relation to your employment, you might also find this MOOC helpful. By developing good knowledge of the GDPR and understanding how it will affect you, you will learn about the first steps for making your organisation compliant and can immediately start taking them. You will explore data subjects’ rights, data controllers’ and processors’ obligations, and enforcement and compliance notions in the context of the Regulation.

 FutureLearn: Caring for Vulnerable Children (University of Strathclyde)
In times of austerity and shrinking public services, the task of identifying and caring for vulnerable children has never been more challenging. In this free online course, we’ll help you explore some of the issues involved in undertaking this task.

EmployID: The changing world of work
While this MOOC has completed, the resources are still available as public and Open educational Resources (OERs).

 ACAS: Learning Online
Learning OnLine offers a range of online courses and resources for individuals and different sizes of employers. I recommend the following courses:
  • Disability Discrimination and Reasonable Adjustments
  • Equality & Diversity
  • Flexible Working
  • Handling Redundancy
  • Mental Health Awareness for Employers
  • Shared Parental Leave
  • Work Options When Preparing for Retirement

 Online learning modules from the National Guidance Research Forum on Labour Market Information
Three Online Learning modules developed to support the continuing professional development of those working in careers education, information, advice and guidance in their understanding and use of labour market information and intelligence.

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