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IT Manager, Mat Ridley from the Theological Federation talks about how he has benefitted from using online courses for a particular subject


Do you value online learning courses?
Yes, absolutely. It's not always possible to attend scheduled training sessions (or afford them!), so being able to dip into a course as and when you have a spare moment to fit in a bit of learning is extremely useful.

How do you think you have benefited from using Lynda.com/online courses?
I learned how to use Adobe InDesign from scratch, to the point that I could typeset and self-publish a (real, made of paper) book.

Did the courses take a long time to complete your online course?

Not particularly. 2-3 days of on-and-off study.

Were you able to fit in the time for the course in your normal working hours?
Yes, easily. Because the courses are all broken down into bite-sized chunks, it was quite easy to just squeeze one or two of them in as and when there was time. You can, of course, also "binge watch" a course if you've got a bit more time!

Do you think online learning is a useful tool for everyone?
I think it depends on what you are trying to learn, and what kind of learner you are. It's a useful halfway house between instructor-led learning, and just reading up on things on websites. Being able to replay a particular part of the course as many times as you like is nice... but the only downside is that you can't ask someone to explain something again, in a slightly different way, if you don't understand a particular segment.

Would you recommend people to take up free online courses?
Yes, definitely!