Stories

Upskill with a part time course…like Marie Ryan.

Marie Ryan was working in the travel industry for 35 years when the pandemic hit. Marie, like many others affected by the lockdown, found herself working part-time from home. With the extra time on her hands, Marie decided it was time to up-skill and enrolled in an ECDL course with e-college.

Computers were something Marie used in work every day, but she wanted to refresh herself on some of the basics and gain a greater understanding of some of the more advanced features.

At the time that Marie’s hours were reduced, SOLAS were running free online courses for people whose jobs had been affected by the pandemic. The ECDL course that Marie chose covered everything from the basics of using a computer, right through to word process, excel and cloud computing.

Marie tells us: “It’s a fantastic facility … I would say to anybody thinking to do an online course at home with eCollege - I just find it absolutely fantastic, the flexibility of being able to work on your own and have the backup of the e-tutors there all the time.”

The online classes give an opportunity to those working part-time a chance to balance the online learning with their jobs throughout the day. Marie confirmed that if the classes were held in-person, it would not have been possible for her to attend, due to her work demands.

She said: “I was just delighted to get the opportunity. I mean, if it had been the case where I needed to go into a classroom, I couldn’t have done that because I was working part time so I couldn’t take the day and go into a college.”

Marie found the courses easy to understand and found monitoring her progress throughout the course something that was accessible and benefited her learning.

“…the thing I found the most beneficial was being able to do the revision exercises and the quizzes because that gives you an idea of what you have learnt.”

If you’ve lost your job as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are options for you. Through FET, you can up-skill and re-skill as well as benefit from ‘earn-while-you-learn’ programmes.