#universalclass

Grades finalized and course completed. Thinking maybe "Customer Relationship Management" for the next? What do you think? @pirateking42

Time to pick a new one. 🙂

With Summer 2020 in mind, and the prospect of more “staycation” time, or even just “staygarden” time, anyone who wants to improve their garden on a budget could do worse than take this class. Like the other Universal Class courses that I have undertaken, there is a certificate course with exams or video only option. While the course is based in the US, and measurements are in yards and gallons, and some terms are different, the content is easily translatable, and it doesn’t affect the overall content.  

Whether you are a student thinking about landscape design as a career, a new homeowner with a garden to design or someone with a small budget who wants to add a little “oomph” to your garden for increased enjoyment, there is something for you in this course. It has sparked ideas and given me much food for thought. I have already sketched some plans and feel quite excited about how my garden might look in a year or two.

Budgeting, learning about breaking down costs into subsections, pricing plants, materials, topsoil, equipment, labour, tool hire and hiring a contractor, are all covered in this course. It is full of great tips such that planting flowers according to the light that a garden for quality of light and tone in a garden. It stresses that planning is key, and I am definitely not the only one who has gone on a plant buying spree and come home with no idea of where or how to plant what I bought. I never really thought about maintenance either. Looking at the new trend for garden rooms has me sighing and wishing for a longer summer season here in Ireland, but with a fresh eye and some thought for design, I do now think it is possible to stretch our outdoors time a little bit. However, the section on sprinklers may not be relevant to our misty, mild Irish summers, but you never know, we do have the odd scorcher!

by Tina McAree

While working from home, I decided to try a course from Universal Class, which is the free online learning platform for Cork City Libraries. This really is a fantastic resource, with all kinds of courses, from computer courses, web design, alternative health, pet and animal care to crafts and hobbies. There is something to suit all tastes, and you certainly won’t be bored.

I can find my way around a computer but felt I had not really kept up to date lately. With Windows 10 on my new laptop, and still yearning for Windows NT, it was time to bite the bullet and get properly up to speed. The best way forward was to go back to basics and start Computer Literacy Level 1, which has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. Nice and easy I thought, perfect to dip my toe in. It is possible to just read the course or to take the exams, so for the purposes of reviewing the course, I decided to take all the exams and aim for the certificate.

There are 15 Lessons in this course, each with a multiple-choice exam and a final exam covering all the lessons.

To be honest, I found the first few modules technical enough and had to concentrate hard. I began to doubt if I could continue it. There was more learning than I thought but it was worth persevering.  Understanding how computers work with the technical/individual parts that make them up is quite fascinating though. The accompanying videos increase accessibility, and the descriptive teaching style is easy to follow. While it is not necessary to use the extra resources available, I decided to study them for my own knowledge and for the purposes of the review and found most were helpful and gave extra detail.

For me, the highlights were the lessons explaining how to protect personal data on the web, how to shop safely, how to recognise scams, how to choose good passwords, and why. The why is especially important and understanding social engineering, phishing, viruses and trojans, etc., does mean that you can be confident about good online security habits. Refreshing my knowledge on Windows, learning about the Control Panel, Files and Folders, setting up Internet, learning about malware, best security software, new ways to back data and email security and so on has been highly informative. I found myself a bit shocked at the sophistication of internet scams, and about how careless we can be with our personal information and our financial details. I certainly feel a lot wiser and more prepared.

This knowledge is vital for protecting yourself on the internet and this course is an excellent introduction to the basics. Whether you are a student starting out with your first computer, using windows 7 or windows 10,  trying to start up a small business network or trying to brush up on your knowledge, like me, you will find this helpful. It took me a lot longer than seven hours duration to complete the course, especially because I studied the extra resources, but also because it has been a long time since I undertook such training. I think today’s students would have no problem completing it quickly. To receive a certificate, you must achieve marks of 70% or higher and I am proud to say that I have finished the course and received my certificate. I am looking forward to browsing Universal to find my next class.

To find Universal Class, go the corkcitylibraries.ie.

·         Click on the Learn Online tab ·         Click on Universal Class in red font ·         Click on Universal Class, underlined in red