Searching for ways to stay sharp and fight boredom while you are stuck at home?
The Livingston Public Library provides Library cardholders access to the digital learning tool Gale Courses which you can use to upgrade your professional skills or learn a new hobby, at your own pace, by accessing online lessons anywhere, anytime.
Gale Courses offers over a wide range of over 300 f highly interactive, instructor led courses that run for six weeks. New courses begin each month, and lessons are assigned twice a week, enhanced with images, videos, and games to support varied learning styles.
The classes offered support business professionals (communication, marketing, etc,) the computer and technology fields (skill levels from beginning to advanced). There are a number of health and wellness offerings, and a wide array of personal enrichment topics such as parenting, hobbies, language and more.
A new set of these professional development, technical skills, and personal growth courses begins on April 15th, so use the opportunity of your time at home to check out Gale Courses, set up an account and enroll in a course of your choice.
Some sample personal enrichment offerings are listed below:
If you want to learn touch-typing or improve your existing typing skills, this is the perfect course for you! In these lessons, you’ll use the Keyboarding Pro 5 program, a typing tutorial designed for personal computers, to learn how to touch-type—that is, to type text you read from a printed page or a computer screen without looking at your keyboard.
Keys to Effective Communication
If you often find yourself at a loss for words or lack confidence in your communication abilities, you will appreciate this course. Each lesson works through the step by step process needed to become a great conversationalist. You will learn to use communication to build rapport and create environments of trust, warmth, and respect.
This course will teach you the very basics of how to get control of your finances rather than letting them control you. It is the help you need before learning about investing, debt elimination, retirement or college planning.
Drawing for the absolute beginner
If you’ve always been interested in drawing but don’t really know how to get started, then this is the course for you. Gain a solid foundation and understanding of the basics of drawing and become the artist you’ve always dreamed you could be!
Photographing nature with our digital camera
In this course, you’ll learn about the many aspects of outdoor photography as well as how to master your digital camera’s controls and features. With the knowledge you gain in this course, you’ll be taking exceptional nature photos in no time.
With easy-to-understand examples combined with real-world applications, this course provides you with the skills and knowledge you need to start analyzing data. You will learn how to use, collect, and then apply data to real-life problems with charts, numbers, and graphs.
If you’re interested in learning how to come up with jokes or witticisms on the fly, punch up dull material for an audience, or make a living as a comedy writer, this course will get you going.
Happy learning!
-Archana, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian