FutureLearn digital and workplace skills courses added to The Skills Toolkit
UK government-backed national skills platform expands offering to upskill adults in numeracy, digital and employability
Today, the UK Prime Minister has announced the expansion of the Department for Education’s online platform, The Skills Toolkit, to include an additional 62 free digital, numeracy and employability or work-readiness online courses, 21 of which have been developed by leading social learning platform, FutureLearn, and partners.
The news comes as part of the Prime Minister’s wider plans to transform the training and skills system, making it fit for the 21st century economy, and helping the country build back better from coronavirus.
Launched in April 2020, The Skills Toolkit included seven FutureLearn courses out of the initial 15. Following the expansion, there are now a total of 27 FutureLearn courses available, including:
Accenture:
- Digital Skills: Social Media
- Digital Skills: Artificial Intelligence
- Digital Skills: Digital Skills for Work and Life
- Digital Skills: Digital Marketing
- Digital Skills: Mobile
- Digital Skills: Web Analytics
Institute of Coding and UAL Creative Computing Institute:
- Introduction to Creative AI
- Introduction to UX and Accessible Design
- Introduction to Conversational Interfaces
- Introduction to Indie Games
Institute of Coding and Lancaster University:
Institute of Coding and the University of Leeds:
- Create a Professional Online Presence
- Thriving in the Digital Workplace (three course collection)
- How to Create Great Online Content
- Presenting Your Work with Impact
- Computer Programming for Everyone
- Creating a Great User Experience for Mobile Apps
- Learn to Code for the Web
- Collaborative Working in a Remote Team
- Communication and Interpersonal Skills at Work
- Essential Skills for Your Career Development
- Get Creative with People to Solve Problems
- Wellbeing and Resilience at Work
King’s College London:
Kathryn Skelton, Chief Transformation Officer at FutureLearn said: “Our mission at FutureLearn is to transform access to education and we’re delighted to continue supporting the UK government as it looks to boost the national workforce and economy during such challenging times. Digital, numeracy and workplace skills are more vital than ever before, and this selection of expert-led courses, built in partnership with our world class partners, will play a part in helping millions across the country upskill themselves for the future.”
Rachid Hourizi, Director of the Institute of Coding said: “We are delighted to have a wide variety of IoC-supported digital skills courses added to The Skills Toolkit. Our short online courses are proving highly popular with a large, diverse group of learners. Developed with input from industry, the Institute of Coding courses in The Skills Toolkit enable people at all ages and stages of employment to access flexible learning, gain the skills employers are looking for, and learn useful information during this challenging period.”
Camilla Drejer, UKI Director of Corporate Citizenship at Accenture said: “We are delighted to have a number of our Accenture Digital Skills courses included in The Skills Toolkit. With the growing demand for digital skills, we hope these courses will inspire learners to prepare themselves for the changing nature of work so that they can successfully find employment or reskill for new opportunities. Developed with our digital experts, these online, interactive courses aim to support learners of all ages to build their confidence and understanding of basic digital skills, and their applicability to a range of industries and jobs.”
The Skills Toolkit is open to everyone, whether they are out of work or thinking about changing jobs, have just graduated or left full time education and are starting their career, or if they’re just keen to keep their mind healthy and busy.
The Government was supported by some of the country’s leading educational experts and employers, including FutureLearn, to make up this collection of high quality resources to suit a range of interests and skill levels. All courses are flexible and online, ranging from a few weeks to a few hours, so learners can top up their skills at a time and place that suits them.
About FutureLearn
Here at FutureLearn, our purpose is to transform access to education. We do that by partnering with over a quarter of the world’s top universities to support millions of learners across the globe to develop skills and achieve their personal and professional goals. We’re a leading social learning platform founded in December 2012 by The Open University and are now jointly owned by The Open University in the UK and The SEEK Group. We use design, technology and partnerships to create enjoyable, credible and flexible short online courses and microcredentials, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. In addition to top universities, we also partner with leading organisations such as Accenture, the British Council, CIPD, Raspberry Pi and Health Education England (HEE), as well as being involved in government-backed initiatives to address skills gaps such as The Institute of Coding and the National Centre for Computing Education.
