fbpx
Home Blog Page 1246

Inspire the next generation with Curtin’s Master of Teaching

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Inspire the next generation with Curtin’s Master of Teaching

Teaching is a vital profession, promising a career that is challenging, rewarding and different with every new day. With a Master of Teaching from Curtin University, you’ll gain expertise in either Primary or Secondary school teaching – putting you in a position to inspire, and positively influence the lives of the next generation.

Are you teacher material?

If you love learning, and count empathy as one of your greatest strengths, teaching could be the career for you.

Ask yourself:

  • Do you enjoy talking to and meeting new people?
  • Have you ever enjoyed coaching a sports team, drama, dance or music group?
  • Do others naturally gravitate toward you for help? Do you have the patience to make sure they fully understand?
  • Do you enjoy sharing what you know, and get excited when you see someone have an ‘aha’ moment?

As a teacher, you get to be a part of your students’ growth and success. The enjoyment of seeing someone else gain knowledge and be successful is at the heart of being a great teacher.

Other typical traits include being organised, being able to manage your time well, and to be able to follow specific instructions, such as curriculum guidelines. A passion for education, life-long learning and resilience will also help you succeed.

When you start out as a brand new teacher-in-training, don’t worry– you don’t need to have all these skills and attributes on your first morning. You’ll develop them as you progress through your degree, and become profession-ready by graduation.

About Curtin’s Master of Teaching courses

Through Curtin, you can study primary (years one to six) or secondary (years seven to 12) education.

If you choose to specialise in Primary School education you will study all curriculum areas. If you choose Secondary School studies, you’ll be required to choose at least one major teaching area, including:

  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Humanities and social science
  • Arts

Additional areas of learning include created technologies, which looks at important technical skills such as programming, and how teaching professionals can use the latest technology to enhance their teaching.

The Masters has a strong commitment to diversity. You’ll discover how best to cater to the wide range of student populations here in Australia, and embed the right curriculum to meet their needs.

What’s exciting about the Masters is you have four opportunities to work in a school during the degree. During these practicums, you’ll develop the practical classroom skills that accompany the theoretical knowledge studied throughout your university degree. Practicums run for 10 day, 15 or 25 days at a time, giving you a strong connection between theory and practice. By studying this course through OUA and Curtin, you will have more professional experience days than required for accreditation – a fact we’re proud of.

What it’s like to study online

Apart from a few fixed requirements, like starting dates, assessment due dates or exams– you’re free to study on your own terms. You’ll decide when and where you attend your online lectures or seminars, when you’ll collaborate online and how your study time fits around your lifestyle.

Curtin University aren’t new to online study – they’ve been in the game for years. They take great care in ensuring that the quality of your study experience online is equal to that on campus. Take for example Curtin’s Collaborate sessions, which are online virtual classrooms. You can watch tutorials and chat to students and tutors in real-time, or catch up on the action at a later date. If you ever get stuck, your tutors will only be a phone call or email away.

 

Find out more about the Master of Teaching (Secondary Education) and the Master of Teaching (Primary Education) on the OUA website, or submit the form below to hear from a friendly student advisor.

New year, new role

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
New year, new role

It’s the beginning of a new year – an invigorating time that is often accompanied by a higher level of drive, ambition and goal-setting. It’s the perfect time for job hunters to get out there and impress.

In Australia, February through to April is considered one of the most opportune periods of the year for employability thanks to new hiring budgets, and companies requiring fresh talent as part of their KPIs. Whilst January can be slow when it comes to landing interviews, it’s the perfect opportunity to get your ducks in a row before hitting the ‘apply’ button in February. Psychologist and career expert, Suzie Plush, outlines the three key phases to spruce up your personal brand, and ultimately land a great new job in 2019.

1. Review and craft your personal brand

January is traditionally a quiet time in the Australian job market so Plush’s advice is to take advantage of this lull by reviewing your online presence, ensuring your personal brand is in top shape before embarking on the application process.

“It’s becoming increasingly common practice for companies to check the social media profiles of job applicants during the recruitment process, and many would be shocked to discover the number of qualified candidates missing out on positions simply due to how they present online,” says Plush. “These days, the first step needs to be taking a good hard look at how you’re branding yourself across Facebook, LinkedIn and anywhere else you might appear online – everything a prospective employer can view on social media must reflect well on you”.

Plush says that beyond the obvious editing (such as removing any incriminating pics), it’s also about considering the little things that we often overlook when it comes to how we present ourselves. “Review every personal communication channel that could influence how you’re perceived to companies – is your email address simple and clear? And how do you currently sound on voicemail? It’s important to appraise all of these things.”

Suzie Plush

Suzie Plush – Psychologist and Career Expert

2. Develop a strategic plan

“When it comes to job hunting, there can be a number of advantages to taking a less is more approach” says Plush. “Focusing your energy on places that you believe are going to be the right cultural fit, whilst also providing career progression opportunities, will ultimately lead to higher job satisfaction.”

Plush says that January is a great time to research where you want to work, who you need to connect with and how your resume needs to look to capture their attention. “When it comes to your resume, it’s best to assume that you have 60 seconds max to sell yourself, so it’s very important to make sure that it starts with a very clear career profile followed by your key skills – your work history can flow from there”.

3. Take action

With the groundwork complete, it’s time to take action. From around the beginning of February job posts start to spike, and before you know it, you’ll be going for interviews.

“If there’s one piece of advice I would give to anyone going for an interview, it’s to do your research,” says Plush. “Explore the companies’ websites in detail to determine things like their key values, mission statement, areas of focus and, most importantly, how you can add value to the business”.

“Also, if possible, don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions before the interview to help get yourself prepared, for example who will the interview be with and what is their title? Then do your research on them too!”

Lastly, Plush says that a follow up email never hurts – and could in fact be something that sets you apart. “Dropping a note to say thank you for the interview opportunity and to express your interest in the role shows that you’re keen – and there’s nothing wrong with that!”.

 

If you’ve got a break over summer, it’s the perfect time to start reviewing and tweaking all the aspects of your personal brand – little bit of effort can go a long way. If some further study could help boost your resume, be sure to explore our catalogue of degrees and single subjects.

There’s no year like 2019 to kick some major career goals.

OUA Explained: Take study for a test-drive

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
OUA Explained: Take study for a test-drive

Uni is a big decision, especially when you’re not sure about the study area, or about online study at all. To help you ensure you’ve made the right choice, we’ve got a few ways you can essentially ‘test-drive’ study through Open Universities Australia (OUA).

Ease in with single subjects

Not sure you’re ready for a full degree? The best way to find out is to have a go, without worrying about the time and financial commitment that a degree requires. Start with a single subject and see how you go – you can enrol right away in most single undergraduate subjects. If you’re looking at postgraduate subjects, be sure to check the entry requirements. Starting small can help you feel more capable, and help you decide whether the field of study is a good fit.

Try a ‘Pathway’

It can be hard to choose a degree without taking it for a spin – so why not do so through OUA Pathways? Pathways are a set of subjects that teach the basics of a study area – think of them like the typical ‘core subjects’ of a degree. These subjects appear in the structure of a number of different degree programs, which means that if you pass them, you’ll become academically eligible to enter these degree programs, should you decide to apply for one. The Pathway subjects will then be credited towards your degree, so there’s no need to repeat what you’ve learned already.

Try a pathway button

Your safety net, should you need it

If you’re not enjoying what you’ve enrolled in, you’ve got time to withdraw without paying fees, if you do so before (or on) the census date. This date occurs a few weeks into each study term – allowing you some time to experience the course, and ensure you’ve made the right decision.

Find out more

To learn more about the online study experience, watch our ‘OUA explained’ video series. We’ll take you through aspects like the time-span of your studies, study loans, and the online study environment, to name a few.

If you’ve got an idea of what you’d like to study, let us help you with the logistics. Fill out the form on this page to hear from a friendly student advisor – they’ll talk you through your options, and help you put your plan into action.

Experiences of Timorese language teachers in a blended MOOC for CPD

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Experiences of Timorese language teachers in a blended MOOC for CPD

Monty King, Partnership Manager at FutureLearn has had a paper published detailing the experiences of a group of Timorese English language teachers from Lorosa’e English Language Institute (LELI) in Dili, Timor-Leste, who participated in a professional development MOOC entitled Teaching for Success: Lessons and Teaching between March and April 2017.

Drawing on the pedagogical principles of blended learning; participants engaged with online course content, and once a week met as a study group to view some video content together and discuss issues arising from it. The authors draw on participant observation, individual and focus group interviews and post-course author reflections to outline the benefits and challenges of doing blended MOOCs in Dili, and propose that they can provide local English language teachers opportunities for subject area knowledge building, language literacy development and more general lifelong learning.

The full paper can be viewed here.

Category
Research insights

Implications of the ONS accounting change and looking ahead to the Post-18 review

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Implications of the ONS accounting change and looking ahead to the Post-18 review

Author: Lucy Stanfield, Strategy and External Affairs Lead at FutureLearn

2018 was a turbulent year in UK higher education policy and 2019 looks set to be the same. As we await the much anticipated Post-18 Review, leaks of which have implied that a reduction in student fees may be coming, every day seems to bring fresh Brexit woes for universities, from declining EU student numbers and grave concerns over research collaboration and funding. Whilst much remains unknown, this article explores a technical change from the Office for National Statistics which could have ramifications bigger than it may seem at first glance.

The Office for National Statistics has long promised a review of how student tuition fees and maintenance loans are treated on the national accounts. This review finally arrived as an early Christmas present for HEIs and policy-wonks across the country on the 17th of December.

As Wonkhe put it “nothing has changed but everything is different”; now, the portion of student loans which is not expected to be repaid will be reclassified as Government spending, rather than Government lending. In real terms, this was essentially happening before the ONS ruling. But this is more than just a technical change – instead of the proportion of loans that are never repaid simply being wiped off the accounts, they are now very much alive and kicking on the Governments books. It means that students loans are viewed as a public spend and contribute to the deficit – the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) makes an estimate of around £12 billion in fact. Though it is important to note here that the OBR has not used the ONS’ methodology (which is still to be determined) so this figure is very much provisional. The change applies across the UK, but most of this will be accounted for by lending to students in England. This has an impact on how students (and their loans) are viewed by the ‘public’ and provides a huge political incentive to reduce tuition fees; less money loaned equals less contribution to the deficit.

 

So what? Universities:

Funding. In a sentence: this adds more fuel to the fire for the argument that tuition fees should be reduced.

Universities will be worried about funding as the Post-18 Review of Higher Education (due soon) will most likely take this ruling into account in its recommendations (even though the Department for Education will say that a technical change shouldn’t implicate policy). It now seems reasonably likely that tuition fees will be reduced – though in this current political environment its a dangerous game to make predictions. Under the current system most  university funding comes from tuition fees; the concern is that by reducing fees there is either less funding per head or fewer student places. Naturally, universities will argue that both of these things are bad. The usual commentators from Universities UK, MillionPlus, University Alliance, NUS and UCU have urged for the Government to make sure the Post-18 review takes into account all factors when considering tuition fees – not just the size of the deficit.

 

So what? Students:

At first glance this seems both good and bad for students. Good, because of the political impetus to reduce tuition fees. Bad, because they are now seen as a public spend (though, as before, that has in practice always been the case). But the reality is likely to be more negative than positive. Nick Hillman, Director of think tank HEPI, puts it best:

“students are likely to get hit because they suddenly look much more costly to current taxpayers, while the extra income tax they will pay as graduates in the future continues to be ignored. Unless we are careful, we are at risk of sleepwalking into a triple whammy of fewer university places, less funding per student and tougher student loan repayment terms”

There have been calls for grant funding to return. The previous system made large loans look more attractive – because there was a chance they would be repaid and they weren’t on the spending books anyway. With this no longer the case, there is an opportunity for the Government to reinstate grants, in which there is never any repayment assumed. Essentially, if the Government is never going to recoup a loan anyway, why not make it a grant? This would help the Government look good (social mobility, widening participation etc.) and would genuinely be good. Win, win.

This all said, the real implication of this change isn’t the change itself – it’s how other policies end up reacting to it. The Post-18 Review is the big one – and it’s still unknown.

 

Further reading:

Wonkhe and Wonkhe

BBC

ONS Press release

 

Category
Research insights

Educator spotlight: Challenging borders of entrepreneurship and collaboration

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Educator spotlight: Challenging borders of entrepreneurship and collaboration

From the start of the Demystifying Entrepreneurship course — part of an appropriately innovative degree venture — the cross-national team of educators from Deakin and Coventry Universities challenge learners, encouraging them to reconsider their assumptions about entrepreneurship and what it means to be an entrepreneur. With the city of Coventry in the background of the opening sequence, the first video in the course sees Dr Joan Lockyer call upon learners to ‘think about how you might be entrepreneurial or behave in an entrepreneurial way, even if it doesn’t involve you starting a business’. Elsewhere, thoughtful discussion prompts encourage learners to reflect on themselves and the field, and to ask more questions.

As well as expanding definitions and interpretations of entrepreneurship for learners, Joan and her fellow educators — Coventry University colleague Professor Gideon Maas and Dr Matt Mount and Steve Jaynes from Deakin — have also expanded their ways of working across continents. While the course might not be the first dual-partner collaboration on FutureLearn, the Entrepreneurism degree of which it is part, certainly is. Of the collaboration, Joan says “Academics are used to working collaboratively on research papers, but working on course design cross-institutionally presents a different set of challenges, not least the differences in time zones – meaning early starts for some and late finishes for others!” However, working together in this way has unearthed many benefits, she says. “Having two institutional and four academic perspectives means that the team has a wealth of knowledge and resources to draw upon and individuals’ specialisms, perspectives and examples add to the richness of the programme. The process has challenged us to be innovative in our approach and so we are practicing what we preach.”

 

  • Joan is an Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship at Coventry University
  • Gideon is the Director of the International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship at Coventry University
  • Matt is Assistant Professor of Strategy and Innovation at Deakin Business School
  • Steve is a Lecturer in the Department of Management in Deakin Business School

 

Category
Research insights

Course Spotlights: examples of best practice

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Course Spotlights: examples of best practice

January spotlight – Queensland University of Technology – Teaching Students Who Have Suffered Complex Trauma

This course aimed at teaching staff and social workers debuted last spring and has already ran three times, with another three runs scheduled for 2019. It managed to tap into an unmet need, as there are no other online short courses available on this exact topic.

Although our data shows that in general 4-6 week long courses are the most successful, as they enable acquiring enough depth in a certain topic, this course’s short length (2 weeks) was a strong appeal with this particular audience. In qualitative research and surveys, teachers often tell us about their hectic lives revolving around the schedule of the academic calendar. As one teacher shared with us some positive remarks about including just the right amount of information: “no waffle, as I don’t have time for that”. Despite its length, it managed to deliver comprehensive knowledge beyond an introduction, as it had new information even for seasoned professionals. The start dates also fell outside the particularly busy periods for teachers, the start and end of the school year.

The course’s quality was also often praised by learners, unsurprisingly, as the material had  already been delivered and tested in a face to face setting: ”Excellent variety of resources; videos with transcripts provided; diagrams; simple information about the complex brain”

January spotlight – Cambridge Assessment English – Teaching English Online

The creation of this course was preceded by some thorough market research about learner needs by Cambridge Assessment English. They found that more and more teachers would like to teach flexibly online, but they might lack the knowledge on how to deliver classes effectively and use the right online tools. This course hit a sweet spot with our learner base, as a quarter of our learners work in education & teaching, the majority of them teaching English. Also, courses addressing digital skill gaps in particular tend to fare well, due to an ever-increasing demand to keep up with our changing world and put new skills into practice with the help of hands-on online courses.  

Even with the in-demand topic, the course could not have been successful without high quality content. The course scored 95% on the learner satisfaction survey due to it being a very well structured course with an incredible wealth of practical information that teachers can use immediately when starting out with their online teaching practise. As one learner put it: “Excellent contents, activities and additional information provided with link, articles, videos are amazing and the demo at the end of the week definitely superb. Also the people in the ‘classroom’ are very enriching with all their different experience and background and it is a very collaborative group“. On top of all the previous reasons, the educator team was also very much present, openly sharing their own perspectives.

 

December spotlight: Trinity College Dublin – Book of Kells

This month, the best performing course in terms of enrolments, satisfaction and even upgrades has been the Book of Kells from Trinity College Dublin. While this might seem surprising for a ‘niche’ topic, high quality and a targeted marketing campaign contributed to its success. 

What led to such high learner satisfaction? In brief: the incredible range of information the course provides; the way content was broken down into manageable chunks, with extra resources for those interested in learning more; and digital access to a rare manuscript held by the partner university and widely associated with Ireland.

As one learner put it: “The wealth of information and access to resources is outstanding, and the quality of production is very encouraging in a world where so much is shallow and dumbed-down.”  Learners often mentioned how much they appreciated the access to the high quality, beautiful HD images found in the book. They could also channel their inner artist during the course, trying their hand at illuminating a letter or creating calligraphy with hands-on exercises.

Trinity’s course team had a proactive marketing plan, and coordinated with both our Marketing and Comms teams on press releases and targeted emails. These efforts helped attract tens of thousands of learners to the course, including 39% from the US.  

December Spotlight: London College of Fashion – Fashion and Sustainability

London College of Fashion partnered with luxury fashion group Kering to co-create a very topical fashion course on the issues, agendas and contexts relating to fashion and sustainability. The course is aimed both at people working in fashion and those with an interest in sustainability in the fashion industry.

They launched the course as part of a major marketing event at London Fashion Week, getting hundreds of enrolments on the spot during the week. Its first run attracted 10,622 enrolments, most of whom were ‘Advancers’, learners aiming to stay up-to-date in their field.

Apart from the brilliant marketing, the course’s success is also driven by its incredibly relevant topic in today’s world. The content is very high quality, covers 6 weeks of valuable material, and was tried and tested beforehand through classroom delivery.

A remarkable 95% of learners gave positive sentiment throughout the weekly surveys, such as: “I have been working in sustainability for many years.  I like fashion and every time I go shopping, I see how fashion in my country is not concerned about sustainability. I hope this course can help me to work on that and make a change in the domestic industry.”

Category
Research insights

We need a change in attitude to achieve the national skills strategy

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
We need a change in attitude to achieve the national skills strategy

Author: Lucy Stanfield, Strategy and External Affairs Lead at FutureLearn

The fourth industrial revolution will drive significant change to the way we live and work, thus fundamentally impacting not only what we need to learn but the ways in which we learn. This requires a fundamental attitude shift in how we perceive the value of different forms of education and our approach to lifelong learning.

UUK’s latest report Solving Future Skills Challenges calls for better collaboration between educators and employers, to take a flexible and informed approach to skills provision in the changing employment landscape. Universities have never only taught subject-matter; the very experience of attending university teaches invaluable skills in terms of work ethic, collaboration, self-motivation alongside technical and subject based skills. But the accelerating rate at which new technologies and their related disciplines are emerging requires education to be more adaptable and nimbler than ever before. In fact, the World Economic Forum found that ‘nearly 50% of the subject knowledge acquired during the first year of a four-year technical degree will be outdated by the time students graduate’. As such, it is clear that the standard degree model is not always the best option; the prolific rise of online courses and modular learning arguably being the solution in these instances. Yet whilst alternative methods of education provision are widespread in terms of availability they are not yet being taken up in the numbers required to plug the skills gap.

UUK goes on to argue that ‘the difference between academic and vocational qualifications…will become less relevant’ in a post- fourth industrial revolution world where the focus is on the set of skills demonstrated by an individual rather than the name of their qualification. However, there is still a premium placed on graduates of the traditional university system (a 3- or 4-year degree), with degree-holders earning an average of £10,000 more per year (DfE, 2018) and the top employers in the UK set to increase their graduate employment by 4% (Higher Fliers Research, 2018; UUK, 2018). Yet it is widely understood that having a degree does not always mean having all the necessary skills, especially in the new digital economy. If employers are to find employees with the skills they will need in the future, they must look beyond just graduates of the traditional system and see the value in alternative methods of provision. Those who can demonstrate relevant skills and an ability to continuously learn should have access to gainful employment, regardless of where or how they were educated.

In the ‘prove-it economy’ (The Atlantic, 2017), this requires an attitude shift across the sector; from what employers see as a valuable education, to where and how students consider undertaking their education, and in how the government promotes and funds education. We need to have parity of achievement. The apprenticeship levy was a good attempt at demonstrating support for alternative methods of education, but it has yet to prove successful. Rather, the shift in attitude needs to go right down to the school level; school-leavers should be shown the whole spectrum of education choices – the options are no longer limited to an academic or technical path or straight into a job. Stronger and more visible government support of these alternative pathways – including consideration of this in the post-18 review – would not only demonstrate to students that these are valuable pathways but encourage employers to look beyond the typical employee profile of a degree-holder.

Learning doesn’t end when one leaves formal education; that isn’t now and has never been true. We all learn continuously throughout life, yet it so often happens incidentally on the fringes of life or gets squeezed into evenings post-work. If we are to meet the unpredictable skills requirements of the future economy, we need a population who continuously adapts to and evolves with the changing skills requirements. Therefore, a further attitude shift is required in society’s approach to lifelong learning. It needs to be embedded as a normal part of life, with employers explicitly creating the space for their staff to learn new skills and individuals recognising the importance of taking a flexible and adaptable approach to their learning. The government’s continuous focus on the traditional education system will stifle society’s ability to approach lifelong learning creatively and embed it as a natural part of life and work. Education followed by employment no longer makes sense; work and learning should be one and the same. We must inspire a love of learning and a recognition that it is not a box-ticking exercise which ends at 18 or 21 but the foundation of success throughout life.

There are profound challenges we need to solve in order for the UK to succeed in the digital economy. It is not enough for skills to be explicitly called out in education; a cross-sector attitude shift is required to recognise the value of developing a whole-skills portfolio through alternative provision and embed lifelong learning as part of society. The government should consider this as part of its national skills strategy.

Category
Research insights

Coursera Welcomes Rich Jacquet as Chief People Officer

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Coursera Welcomes Rich Jacquet as Chief People Officer

The key to success for any company is its people. At Coursera, we’ve been fortunate to work with some of the brightest and most mission-driven talent in the industry, and over the past six years, this has translated into rapid growth across the entire business, including our employee base. While we are proud of the reach and impact of Coursera around the world, our teams are even more inspired by what lies ahead. As we pursue growth and take Coursera to the next level, we’ll continue to zero in on top talent and develop them in impactful ways. 

In this endeavor, I’m excited to announce that Rich Jacquet will be joining Coursera as our new Chief People Officer. As an experienced HR executive, Rich will work closely with all of us to connect the company’s broader strategy to our talent efforts and employee experiences

Rich comes with an impressive background of building people strategy and cultures, both at high-performing startups as well as large, global companies. Most recently, he was the Chief People Officer at Gigamon, a network security company with approximately $350 million in revenues that he helped take public and scale the team to 800+ people. He also held leadership positions at companies like Packeteer, Bay Networks, eBay and Yahoo!

While I’m really excited to welcome Rich for his experience and track record, I’m even more inspired by his shared belief that people are the key to a company’s growth and unique culture. I’m looking forward to working alongside him to grow our teams and further our mission of transforming lives through learning.  

 

Career stories from inside Coursera

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Career stories from inside Coursera

In 2019, we’re celebrating all the ways a person can find their #CourseToSuccess. There are many different paths you can take to launch a successful career, and we asked our team to share the journey that led them to Coursera. We hope their stories inspire you to take the next step toward a career you’ll love.

“My career advice to young professionals is: don’t worry too much about what your next job is going to be. You’re probably going to have many jobs over the span of your career, and one job won’t define you forever. There are many paths you can take! –– Jenny W., Product Manager”

Darryl P. Industry Partnerships Manager

I was a derivatives trader on Wall Street, and I found that I wanted to find a scalable way to empower people to better themselves. After trading for over 10 years, I recognized an inner thirst to use my skill set to build something more tangible than an investment return profile. I decided that as I moved forward in my career, I wanted to look back and see that I developed something impactful.

I decided to help address the skills gap issue. There are large swaths of the workforce that are un- or underemployed because their skills don’t meet the needs of our ever-evolving workplace.

“I took a Python course on Coursera and the power of the learning platform made perfect sense to me. At scale, Coursera enables learners to transition into new careers and meet demand for new skills.”

Coursera helps make top quality education accessible in a way that has never been seen before. Every day at Coursera, I am using my past experiences to help build out global programs to reach more learners around the world.

Cassidy D. Senior Manager, University Partnerships

I bounced from asset management to athletics to higher education before I came to Coursera. The work I did in higher education set me up well for a role on the University Partnerships team –– I feel like I really understand the inner workings and the needs of the universities I work with. I also did a part-time MBA program while working full-time, so I understand what degree learners are going through from personal experience.

I think that what Coursera is offering is even better than the experience that I had doing a part-time MBA. I had to physically go to the business school after work a few times a week, and spend many full weekends there; our online degrees allow learners to leverage breaks in their schedule and free time. Having to physically attend school in the evenings and on weekends is difficult for busy people. Coursera offers a whole new layer of flexibility for our learners (without sacrificing quality) and I think that’s really special.

Eileen T. Product Marketing Manager

I wanted to pursue jobs in marketing because I felt that it was a field that required a blend of creative and analytical skills. My first job in marketing wasn’t a good fit, so I embarked on a journey to conduct informational interviews with marketers at my previous company. That’s how I discovered product marketing.

I was excited to jump into the product marketing space, so I cold-emailed a bunch of product marketers until I found someone who was willing to let me shadow him. He eventually hired me as his backfill during his paternity leave, which helped me get hands-on experience. Using the product marketing experience I gained, I was able to land a full-time role in product marketing and I haven’t looked back since! I really love the work I’m doing at Coursera and I’m so grateful to be part of a company that’s using education and technology to transform the lives of people around the world.

Jade W. Learner Services, Manager

After graduating from college and grad school, I accepted an internship at a small startup called Clever Sense. We made a restaurant recommendation app called Alfred, and I answered every single support ticket that ever came in for the app. It was really fun being the voice of Alfred, but before I knew it, we were acquired by Google. I came to Coursera because I was looking to switch my career to be closer to education, which is a field I’ve been passionate about for a long time.

At Coursera, I was the first member of the Product Specialist team. I was responsible for conveying learners’ user experience and making sure that new product features are working for them. I also helped prepare our customer support teams to be aware of and ready for platform updates, as those tend to generate a lot of questions. Thanks to this first role at Coursera, I developed skills like clear communication, problem-solving, and making data-driven decisions. All of these apply to my current role leading the Learner Services team.

—

Take the first step toward your career goals by building new skills. Find your #CourseToSuccess today.

1

1...1,2451,2461,2471,248Page 1,246 of 1,248

Recent Posts