Librarian professional development with Lynda.com online courses

Many universities and libraries offer access to Lynda.com for online training on technical topics. It’s useful for learning how to use specific software, such as Dreamweaver, Adobe Illustrator, or Excel.

I had access to Lynda.com for several years while I was working at MIT and I used it for those types of courses.  But recently I was searching for training on iBooks Author and I also found many other interesting courses that are worth looking at. So I thought I would make a list of some of the most interesting and varied courses that you might not be aware of in Lynda.com.

What is Lynda.com?

If you’re not familiar with Lynda.com, here’s a quick summary. It’s a site devoted to professional video-based training that helps you learn software, design, or business skills. They offer it as a subscription service with reasonable pricing for individuals, corporations, or educational institutions. A membership gets you access to all of their courses and for a slightly higher fee you also can also download supplemental materials for those courses that offer them. See their site for details on individual and group pricing. You can pay by the month and cancel at any time, so it’s possible to subscribe for just one month as an individual for $25 and complete what you can, then cancel. They also have free trials.

You can use it on your desktop or laptop computer, or with their mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, or Android.

Interesting courses that you might not know are in Lynda.com

This list doesn’t include courses they have on web design, user experience, design skills, and the like, since that’s what most people expect to find in Lynda.com. Instead I’ll focus on some other topics that could be of interest to librarians and others — topics that you might not know are there.

iBooks Author

iBooks Author is free software for the Mac that enables the creation of interactive books for the iPad. For a quick introduction to it, see my presentation slides: iBooks Author: Creating Multi-Touch Books for iPad.

Some libraries are using this tool to make interactive books from their special collections. For some good examples, see this series from the New York Public Library: NYPL Point.

Up and Running with iBooks Author
1 hour 34 min 

iBooks Author Essential Training
6 hours 3 min
Here’s the intro video for this course:

iBooks Author for Teachers
2 hours 37 min

… more courses on iBooks Author.

WordPress

More than just a blogging platform, WordPress can be used as a content management system for library websites. Many libraries are now using it. For a useful information about this, see the ALA Techsource publication, The Comparative Guide to WordPress in Libraries.

WordPress Essential Training
5 hours 9 min

WordPress Plugins: Backing Up Your Site
1 hour 17 min

… more courses on WordPress.

iPads

If you have iPads in your library for use by staff or public, you know there is always more to learn. It can be overwhelming to keep up with all the apps available and to know which ones are the best for educational use. These courses are good for quick background. To learn more about the best apps to use in libraries, see my online courses and books.

iPad for Business
2 hours 15 min

iPad Classroom: Creating a Research Project
something

iOS 7: iPhone and iPad Essential Training
8 hours 21 min

Google Docs and Sheets on iOS First Look
25 min 23 secs

… more courses on iPads.

Presentations

We could all use advice on better presentations, whether it’s using specific tools, like Prezi or Keynote, or how to conduct a webinar.

Keynote 6 Essential Training
4 hours 10 min

Webinar Fundamentals
1 hour 47 min

Up and Running with Prezi
2 hours 19 min

… more courses on presentations.

Specific tools and apps

These are just a few of the specific tools and apps that have bite-sized training in Lynda.com. Jump in and watch a few segments – it’s easy to skip around and watch just the segments that are of use to you.

Up and Running with Google Glass
27 min 55 secs

Moodle 2.6 Essential Training
1 hour 40 min

Up and Running with IFTTT
1 hour 25 min

Up and Running with Dropbox
1 hour 7 min

Up and Running with Evernote for Mac
2 hours 18 min

Screencasting Fundamentals
3 hours 39 min

Up and Running with WebEx Meetings
2 hours 17 min

Google Apps for Students
1 hour 13 min

Creating Accessible PDFs
4 hours 5 min

Photography

Photography is expanding beyond its traditional boundaries with the widespread use of smartphones with photo apps. People are using photography for educational purposes in many varied ways. Libraries are using Flickr and Instagram to engage their communities. There are many photography-related courses in Lynda.com.

Shooting with the iPhone 5s
2 hours 46 min

Flickr Essential Training
3 hours 23 min

iPhoto for iOS Essential Training
2 hours 3 min

Travel Photography: Geologging and Journaling on the Road
1 hour 40 min

… more courses on photography.

Community, Creativity, Productivity, and More

Do you want to use more creative tools in your organization and do you struggle with how to influence decision-makers, funders, and others? Here are some useful courses.

Building an Online Community
25 min 53 secs

Getting Things Done (with David Allen)
47 min 9 secs

Building Creative Organizations
41 min 16 sec

Creativity Training: Generate Ideas in Greater Quantity and Quality
1 hour 2 min

Influencing Others
1 hour 21 min

Flipping the Classroom
41 min 48 secs

Distributing and Marketing Ebooks
3 hours 16 min

Getting Inspired

Lynda.com also includes a series called “The Creative Spark,” short videos interviewing people in creative fields. These are very well done and serve as inspiration that you could watch during your lunch hour.

The Creative Spark: Stacey Williams-Ng, Interactive Book Designer
28 min 31 sec

Creative Spark: Grammar Girl, Changing Writing One Word at a Time
10 min 8 sec

The Thinkable Presentation
17 min 37 sec

The Creative Spark: Krista Donaldson, Social Innovation Designer
24 min 22 sec

Creative Insights: Ayah Bdeir and littleBits
26 min 59 sec

… more videos from “The Creative Spark.”

Playlists of courses on specific topics

Lynda.com also offers curated playlists to bring together courses on specific topics. Here one on project management: Explore Digital Project Management.

See more in their playlist center.

You can also create your own playlists of courses on different topics to watch later — useful!

Lynda.com — it’s worth subscribing.

I’m enjoying using Lynda.com for my own training needs. Recently I learned some useful things from watching Google Docs and Sheets on iOS First Look.

Pros and possible cons
With the large number of courses included, some are bound to be less interesting or inspiring. But that is offset by the subscription model — everything is included for one price and if a particular course doesn’t meet your needs, you can usually find another one on the same topic that is better.

Overall, the quality is high, there are a wide variety of courses, and it’s segmented into small bits, which is useful for learning a few things in spare bits of time. In addition to using it on your computer, you can access it with their mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, or Android, making it easy to learn on-the-go.

p.s. If you liked this post, you might enjoy my newsletter: Mobile Apps News. It’s an easy way to stay current with the world of mobile apps for education.