ECDL course

donnac2558

I have just completed my ECDL. My local college did not run free courses you still had to pay even if unemployed. But I was given information that local resource centres which have IT suites run them free. Not sure how it is in the rest of the UK but here in Northern Ireland community centres etc do courses for unemployed for free.
Or you could try Learn Direct which also do them free.

With EDCL you have up to 90 hours to complete each unit, not sure how the colleges do this as if you can take up to 90 hours and each class is usually 2 hours how you complete in a year?????

I did mine in less than a year. Really enjoyed it even the units I thought I would be rubbish at I really got into.

Oldernotwiser

donnac2558 wrote: »

I have just completed my ECDL. My local college did not run free courses you still had to pay even if unemployed. But I was given information that local resource centres which have IT suites run them free. Not sure how it is in the rest of the UK but here in Northern Ireland community centres etc do courses for unemployed for free.
Or you could try Learn Direct which also do them free.

With EDCL you have up to 90 hours to complete each unit, not sure how the colleges do this as if you can take up to 90 hours and each class is usually 2 hours how you complete in a year?????

I did mine in less than a year. Really enjoyed it even the units I thought I would be rubbish at I really got into.

It may be different in NI but in England the ECDL used to be free; a couple of years ago the funding for this was removed but became available for the C&G Literacy/Numeracy instead.

LittleVoice

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It may be different in NI but in England the ECDL used to be free; a couple of years ago the funding for this was removed but became available for the C&G Literacy/Numeracy instead.

Though it has been possible to undertake ECDL courses at no cost to the participant, they were of course available for paying customers too. I achieved mine using an Individual Learning Account (ILA) back in the 1990s - even then I had to pay 10% of the total cost (ITAs could cover 90% of an IT course).

JemmaLouise_3

I never qualified as a hairdresser so i havent got any level 2's as for GCSE's i had a D in english and i completely failed maths always been a bad point for me!!

I really want to work with in an office, admin, working on computers so i thought ECDL was the best place to start?

Thanks for the help on the ECDL course i will look on the learn direct website and go from there.

asbokid

Always aim for the best qualification available. You are very literate so you are on a very good footing!

I would choose the Open University any time. It has an excellent reputation. The quality of the OU's teaching material is generally much better than the course literature from the bricks-and-mortar universities.

The OU's course texts are very thorough. Well written and edited for clarity. Loads of worked examples, and plenty of side notes to pique further study.

All of the Open University courses are designed by teams of academics who bring a range of skills to the subject. I studied an engineering course with the OU some years ago. My tutor was extremely knowledgeable. Before he retired from industry, he was the chief engineer at a power station in Northern Ireland! The tutors are very dedicated. Many are retired and are willing to give far more attention than you would ever get in person at a university.

To enrol on an OU degree course, you don't need to have any prior qualifications at all. Even the Open University's 1st and 2nd year degree-level modules in applied mathematics are so well explained that many people without a good background in maths could still pass them.

All you really need is enthusiasm and determination! And you've got those qualifications already!

Go for it girl!

Oldernotwiser

LittleVoice wrote: »

Though it has been possible to undertake ECDL courses at no cost to the participant, they were of course available for paying customers too. I achieved mine using an Individual Training Account (ITA) back in the 1990s - even then I had to pay 10% of the total cost (ITAs could cover 90% of an IT course).

I think that you mean ILA (Individual Learning Account); now there was the daddy of all !!!! ups!

Oldernotwiser

JemmaLouise wrote: »

I never qualified as a hairdresser so i havent got any level 2's as for GCSE's i had a D in english and i completely failed maths always been a bad point for me!!

I really want to work with in an office, admin, working on computers so i thought ECDL was the best place to start?

Thanks for the help on the ECDL course i will look on the learn direct website and go from there.

As you haven't got a level 2 qualification, ask your college about something like Level 2 Business Admin, which should be free for you. If you could do it full time (around 3 days a week) you'll probably get the £30 Adult Learning Grant as well as having your fees paid.

Asbokid, I'm a great believer in the OU but it isn't really what the OP is looking for at present. Although you don't technically need entry qualifications it would be very daunting to start at this level coming from the OP's current position.

JemmaLouise_3

I am unable to do full time college or part time college as i would lose my benefits which is the only thing paying my bills right now and £30 a week wouldnt be anywhere near enough. Really needs to be something that is one day or week or distance learning.

oily_rag

JemmaLouise wrote: »

I am unable to do full time college or part time college as i would lose my benefits which is the only thing paying my bills right now and £30 a week wouldnt be anywhere near enough. Really needs to be something that is one day or week or distance learning.

Hi Jemma, I've just completed the ECDL and I did it completely through home study. I bought the recommended CIA training manuals and worked my way through each of the seven modules one at a time. Admittedly I wasn't completely computer illiterate to begin with and it took me just three weeks in total.

The total cost including course materials was around £350 but I paid over the odds for 'on-demand' exams at a private college so that could be reduced drastically.

Best of luck.

Oldernotwiser

JemmaLouise wrote: »

I am unable to do full time college or part time college as i would lose my benefits which is the only thing paying my bills right now and £30 a week wouldnt be anywhere near enough. Really needs to be something that is one day or week or distance learning.

In that case I'd see about the Literacy and Numeracy courses; you won't have much chance of office work with a D in English and nothing at all in Maths. There's nothing to stop you doing a Level 2 Business Studies as an evening course; this won't affect your benefits.