Learning at work week 2021

Learning at work week 2021 is here, and this year's theme is ‘made for learning’, which focuses on our capacity to learn and become lifelong learners.

As an education provider, this is something we are extremely passionate about and we've currently got a number of our own team members studying OSC distance learning courses!

The team were really excited about the opportunity to study and the reasons behind why everyone chose the courses they did were vast and varied. Not only have we given them the chance study something they're interested in, but it also allows them to learn more about how our learners experience studying with us, which we're sure you'll agree, is a great thing for both our team and our learners.

Here we find out which members of the OSC family are studying courses and why they chose the courses they did…

Development team

Starting with Simon, our Tech Lead. Simon chose to study Project Management Level 3 and says “I don’t have any formal or official project management training, just what I have learnt on the job, so thought it would be good to take a course that teaches me fundamentals that I may have overlooked or not been exposed to.”

Marketing team

Sharnie, Natalie and Sadie all work in OSC’s marketing team and all have a passion for interiors, choosing to study Interior Design Level 3. However aside from their love for all things home related, their reasons why are all quite different… You could say Sharnie is a home learning expert! Having had an intense 18 months studying for her CIM qualification, she wanted to study a non-career related course purely for enjoyment. Natalie and her partner are into home renovation so she enrolled on an interior design course to learn some theory in addition to the Instagram and Pinterest inspiration she currently relies on, and Sadie wanted to experience the same distance learning journey that our students go on.

Another member of the marketing team, Callum, enrolled on Child Psychology, choosing the same course as Alex in our student adviser team. The reasons behind this choice were similar - to gain a deeper understanding of child development and to also help with their own children.

Student adviser team

There was an incredible mix of subjects from the other members of our student adviser team too!

Hannah explains her choice of Forensic Psychology, “I've always found forensic psychology fascinating and love listening to podcasts on true crime in my spare time, plus the course has a lot of units covered which I've previously studied so essentially it is more of a refresher for me”.

Both James and Liz chose Counselling Level 3 as they want a better understanding of our relationships, thoughts, feelings and behaviours, to help with not only their own mental health but those closest to them too. Liz says “When speaking with students who want to do the same course it makes them feel confident about enrolling when I mention I'm doing the course as well.”.

Learner Services team

On the topic of counselling, Rebecca who heads up our learner services team enrolled on Stress Counselling Level 3. Becky says “As a result of the pandemic, a lot of people around me seem to be struggling with different things, whether that's the loss of a loved one, too much going on, too much work, or just generally feeling low. Counselling and psychology are two areas that have always fascinated me and I love being that person that people can open up to, so I hope this course will aid that! I don't think it'll be my last distance learning course!”

Whilst Sarah our UK and International Commercial Manager chose an NLP course to help her change her own thought patterns and behaviour’s and others around her that may need support too.

Finance team

Over to our finance team, where Gemma enrolled on Social Media Marketing as she loves being creative, making and selling children’s hair bows and clips in her spare time, and wants to learn how to use social media to help her sell more accessories. At the other end of the subject scale we have Kerrijane who chose a Paleontology course because, “Well who doesn’t love dinosaurs!”

The wide range of subjects chosen by our team and the variety of reasons why show you that it really is never too late to study via distance learning, whether for a hobby, to support your career development, or something else. Take this year’s learning at work week as an opportunity to enrol on that course you’ve been dreaming about!

We’ll be keeping up to date with the progress of our team’s studies and we’ll be sharing more updates on their distance learning journey over the coming weeks and months.