I ended my last post by saying I was taking some time away from online learning and blogging. My husband and I had a lovely road trip to north Queensland during which we spent many hours in the car, took hundreds of photos, and soaked up the tropical winter temperatures. I took a break from online courses and writing, which meant that when we returned home, I had no post ready for last week.
Oh, crumbs.
Rather than churn out a hurried post, I decided to take an extra week to collect my thoughts.
Which meant that now I had one week to think of a topic, research it, and write about my findings. While, of course, dealing with all the catch-up tasks that inevitably accumulated while we were away. Not to mention a brain that wanted to stay in relaxed holiday mode.
What to do? I had recently taken a few free very short courses and discovered some others, so here is an overview of three courses.
Sustainable Diet
Produced by the United Nations, Sustainable Diet takes about two hours to complete. Learn how to make better food choices that consider both human and planetary well-being.
Divided into eight modules taking about 15 minutes each, it covers such topics as Buying Food Locally, Reading the Labels, Food Waste and Packaging, and Changing Eating Habits.
Each module includes an introduction (what you will learn), a video, a fact sheet, and an activity such as match the pairs of statements. It addresses healthy and sustainable eating by recommending more plant-based food and less meat or no meat. Guidelines and some recipes are provided, plus links to helpful websites. Learners are taught to think about where their food is produced and choose local, in season foods where possible. No foods are banned, although limiting intake of sugar, salt, and fat is recommended. How to reduce waste (of both food and packaging) is discussed. The final module leads us through setting our own plan with specific actions we can take to reduce our individual impact on the earth and eat in a more sustainable and healthy way.
The free certificate listed topics covered, learning objectives, and duration. If you work in a relevant field, you could ask your governing body if you can use the course for Professional Development/Continuing Education hours.
Plenty of relevant information was packed into this compact course!
Write for Rights – a Short Guide
Amnesty International has a range of courses on human rights topics in various languages. Some courses were about 15 hours duration, but I opted for a 20-minute course titled Write for Rights – a Short Guide. If you believe someone has been wrongly imprisoned, you can write to the relevant authorities to encourage their release. The video and three factsheets featured the plights of three people unfairly imprisoned in different countries who were eventually released after hundreds of thousands of letters from all around the world persuaded authorities to re-examine their cases. You can learn what to put in a letter for greater impact. You can even learn how to run a workshop to raise awareness and encourage others to add their voices. The course ends with a 5-question quiz, but no certificate. Again, a surprising amount of information in a short course.
Patient Blood Management Essentials
I had no trouble understanding this one-hour course designed for health professionals. Part of a series of blood and transfusion-related courses, Patient Blood Management Essentials was produced by BloodSafe eLearning Australia. BloodSafe eLearning Australia receives joint national funding provided by the National Blood Authority, on behalf of all Australian Governments, to enable free access by all users, not just in Australia. The short videos featured a range of health professionals discussing the value of managing patients’ blood using techniques such as pre-operative screening and recommended blood tests, reducing transfusion rates and possibly using the patients’ own blood for transfusions after elective procedures to reduce complications and length of hospital stays. Some videos discussed how to adapt current policies and procedures and the value of communication between different staff members and departments.
A five-question quiz was the final step in the course. The pass rate is 80%, with two attempts (if needed) per question. The free certificate listed the major topics covered. If you are a doctor or nurse and a member of certain Australian/ New Zealand medical bodies, the site shows you how many Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points each course is worth.
A Final Thought
Free short courses on many topics are available from a range of worldwide and local organizations.
By Pat Bowden, published August 20, 2019.
