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I have recently started looking at online courses I could do, more specifically in graphic design and webdesign so I can add it to my CV and for extra experience (so I hopefully have a better chance at a job in that field).

 

I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with online courses and how they work? Or different places I could check? I have only really been checking out reed.co.uk to see what is on offer there. They had a course that offered a combination of Photoshop, Flash and Dreamweaver, but it's for something like £300. And it makes me wonder if it is basic stuff or more advanced and if it is even useful or not. =P

 

I found one course that sounds a bit ridiculous though, as it offers all of the following:

 

All these courses are included in this offer:

 

After Effects CS6 Essentials : Duration 8 Hours

After Effects CS5 Essentials : Duration 8 Hours

Design Workflow CS6 : Duration 6 Hours

Design Workflow CS5 : Duration 7 Hours

Dreamweaver CS6 : Duration 6 Hours

Dreamweaver CS5 : Duration 7.8 Hours

Adobe Fireworks CS6 : Duration 5 Hours

Adobe Fireworks CS5 : Duration 5.2 Hours

Flash Pro CS6 : Duration 6 Hours

Flash Pro CS5 : Duration 6 Hours

Illustrator Essentials CS6 : Duration 6 Hours

Illustrator Essentials CS5 : Duration 7 Hours

InDesign Essentials CS6 : Duration 6 Hours

InDesign Essentials CS5 : Duration 6 Hours

Photoshop CS6 Essentials : Duration 6 Hours

Photoshop CS5 Essentials : Duration 6.2 Hours

Flash Action Script 2.0 - Duration : 11 Hours

Ajax Training - Duration: 20 Hours

CGI Perl Training - Duration: 11 Hours

CIW Foundations IDO-510 - Duration: 11.23 Hours

CIW Security IDO-470 - Duration: 39 Hours

Dreamweaver CS4 - Duration: 18 Hours

Dynamic HTML - Duration: 18 Hours

Flash CS4 - Duration: 21 Hours

GUI Basics of Graphics and Design - Duration: 10 Hours

How to Run an Online Business - Duration: 55 Hours

Internet Marketing (E-Commerce & SEO) - Duration: 6 Hours

JavaScript (How to add interactivity to websites) - Duration: 14 Hours

Java Web Based Services - Duration: 15 Hours

Java SE 6 Programmer - Duration: 21 Hours

Photoshop CS4 for Graphic and Web Design - Duration: 14 Hours

PHP and MySQL (E-Commerce Dynamic) - Duration: 41 Hours

Web Design and Graphics (Concepts) - Duration: 17 Hours

Web publishing and Design with HTML 4.01 & XHTML - Duration: 15 Hours

WebSphere 7.0 Rational Application Developer - Duration: 20 Hours

XML - Duration: 15 Hours

HTML5 - Duration: 14 Hours

 

 

I don't even know what half of it is! But they are currently offering it for £99 and I wonder if it is worth it? It sounds like a bit too much for me, and I don't think they offer any of the programs, you have to get them yourself somehow... No clue about how the test is done either. =P

 

 

But yeah, does anyone have any experiences with online courses? I want to do this at home in my free time, after work. And do this all at my own pace as I have not much free time really. Any good sites you can recommend? =)

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Who is that long list with? Think I saw that on Group On at some point and looked into it and apparently it was rubbish. Plus, that list covers far too much to actually be of use.

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It is with e-Careers. I just got on online chat with them and basically none of the programs are included, but they say "As our courses are based on interactive simulations, it feels like you are actually using the software you are being trained about."

 

 

Yeahhh, not sure about that, especially not with stuff like website building. I do feel like the package is offering a lot of stuff that I don't need. The only reason I was tempted was because of the discount. =(

 

 

I have just found another course that offers more what I am looking for (mostly graphic design stuff with some web design mixed in), but it is £898 or £25 per week for 42 weeks (so £1050). That is a lot of money. =(

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So...you'd be watching other people doing it rather than doing it yourself? Sounds shit.

 

Quickly looking into it I found this: http://www.londonartcollege.co.uk/ not sure if it's what you want though.

 

Have you considered a weekend course, rather than an online one?

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I don't think I have the time for a weekend course. I work on certain Saturdays so it isn't much of an option for me. With distance learning I can do it at my own pace. =)

 

The site you listed seems interesting, but the graphic design course seems to offer a lot of what I already did on my Bachelor course (stuff like the history of graphic design) or stuff I already know (perspective drawing, colour mixing etc). Not sure how much it can offer me, and I am not sure I can currently handle courses with actual deadlines (which I think this one has?).

 

 

The one I am looking at right now is the following one:

http://www.icieducation.co.uk/graphic-design-desktop-publishing-course/index.htm

 

It offers some stuff I feel I need to know (printing processes, web design, marketing), but again it is hard to guess how advanced it all is heh. I just know I need more experience with stuff like that if I ever want to find a job in the field. =(

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What is it exactly you're after? Looking at that course the web design stuff is very basic (so basic even I could teach you it :p) so if that is what you're looking to focus on, I'd advise against. I assume you want more the creative side of web design, rather than the structure of it (forget the actual term for it). If so, I'm not 100% sure what to recommend. It used to be Flash, but as that is phasing out (on the web, still a nifty animation suite) I'm unsure what people would now suggest. I guess HTML5 and CSS3 stuff.

 

I'd suggest trying to find some people you know who do that kind of stuff (either knowing who they are or finding sites/companies that you like) and look at their background on LinkedIn.

 

While I think distance learning can be wonderful, for creative pursuits it can be trickier. A lot of it comes down to networking at the end of the day. Are you engaged with 'the scene' in Bournemouth in any regards?

 

Online courses without a certificate (but still something you can mention on your CV) with sites like Lydia.com can be a good way of building up your skills and knowledge, and then spending your time networking and building up relationships.

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To be honest, I have no idea what exactly I want or need. It just seems like the few jobs I have seen in graphic design all seem to ask that you know print, stuff like flash and html and whatnot, have x years experience etc. All I know is how to make pretty pictures and how to use the basics in Photoshop and Illustrator heh.

 

So I am a bit at a loss for what exactly I need. I have no connections anywhere and no clue about what is needed/expected, all I can base this on is job applications I find, and there is only a few of those going around.

 

 

Ideally I would like to make my living just drawing pictures, but I know that is pretty much impossible if I am being realistic here. =P

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I'm personally always extremely suspicious of a place when a Google search brings up one random website review page (with reviews that don't actually explain much and sound like PR talk), and people asking if the place is real.

 

Online courses seem to have reputations for poor education, not giving out any qualifications that anyone would recognise and being unable to talk to an actual human about any aspect of the course.

 

Of course, some may be fully legitimate and for some people the information that even the worst of these places give out (rather than the experience of the course) is enough to help someone know what to do.

 

Essentially: online courses are more for self-learning and may be useful if you intend to go freelance. They don't seem like anything that would aid you in getting a job.

 

There is one place that is worth looking into: http://www.open.ac.uk/

 

I don't know much about the Open University, but they are a proper, legitimate academic (the .ac shows that) place.

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Yeah I looked at Open University, but they don't seem to offer anything I need sadly.

 

 

Basically, I have a Masters degree in Illustration, but I seem to be lacking some essential skills like knowing how to use Flash, HTML, printing processes etc. All I know is how to use the basics in Photoshop and Illustrator. I made my own website using Dreamweaver, but it was a chore and a pain to do (and it is a crap website). I don't think any company will want to take me on with my limited skills. =P

 

 

The one advertised and done by Reed is the following one: http://www.reed.co.uk/courses/adobe-package-flash-cs5-photoshop-cs5-dreamweaver-cs5/21825#/courses/adobe

But again, I don't know if it covers more than just the basics.

 

 

Do you think it would be better to just learn everything on my own through free tutorials? If so, does anyone know where to start? Ashley mentioned Lynda.com, are there any other similar sites? =)

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For HTML5/CSS3, you could have a look at http://www.w3schools.com/

 

Flash will get less and less important (it's a dated, dying software), but if they say you need it for a job, then they'll expect you to know it (even though there isn't much reason to know it now). I'd say learn a bit of it, but focus more on HTML5.

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For HTML5/CSS3, you could have a look at http://www.w3schools.com/

 

Flash will get less and less important (it's a dated, dying software), but if they say you need it for a job, then they'll expect you to know it (even though there isn't much reason to know it now). I'd say learn a bit of it, but focus more on HTML5.

 

Ahem it's still alive thanks, just moving back to it's original purpose :p

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Could you not buy some books to learn from and build yourself a portfolio that demonstrates your capabilities in these technologies?

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Ahem it's still alive thanks, just moving back to it's original purpose :p

 

Silly flash games and making South Park?

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Silly flash games and making South Park?

 

South Park is actually made in Maya, a 3D animation piece of software.

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