Lynda.com offers convenient professional development

By Paula Van Brocklin
March 23, 2017

Professional development doesn't have to be time consuming or expensive, and it's possible to receive comprehensive training without ever leaving your desk.

Iowa State faculty, staff and students have unlimited access to Lynda.com, a training website that offers thousands of instructional videos and tutorials developed by experts in various industries. Iowa State pays for the website's annual fees, allowing the campus community to access the site at no personal cost. To log on, users must access Lynda.com through the Iowa State website (under Sign-Ons) using their Iowa State Net-ID and password.

Expect the unexpected

Topics run the gamut. Of course, there are scores of technology tutorials that teach the basics of Microsoft Word, Excel and the like. There also are thousands of videos that can help employees learn about management principles, meeting facilitation, web development, blogging, digital marketing, team building and more.

"Lynda.com allows all of us to invest in learning without spending time away from the office," said Carol McDonald, director of university information systems in IT services.

By the numbers

Lynda.com usage across the university has steadily increased over the past few years. Here's a look at some numbers:

  • From January 2015 to January 2017, the number of active users increased nearly 75 percent
  • From 2015 to 2016, the university's cost per video decreased by 19 percent due to high campus usage
  • The number of hours faculty, staff and students spent watching tutorials from 2015 to 2016 rose by 23 percent

The most popular Lynda.com courses for Iowa Staters include:

  • Microsoft Project 2016
  • Installing and Administering Atlassian JIRA
  • HTML Essential Training
  • Learning JIRA Software
  • Civil 3D Essential Training
  • Premiere Pro CC Essential Training (2015)

Limited time? No worries

The time commitment for each tutorial varies from a few minutes to multiple hours. Don't have time to finish a session? No problem. The next time you log in you can pick up where you left off.

"There is tremendous value in having just-in-time training," McDonald said. "Having a resource that's going to provide you with the correct information at your desktop when you need it is a pretty valuable resource to have."

 

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