THE DIARY OF A LEARNING ADVISOR

It's becoming clearer to me to the reasons why celebrities and social media influencers are called what they are called "influencers"

An issue that people ordinarily gloss over could be elevated to a serious point of discussion online when they weigh in into such.

Such was the case when Reno Omokri challenged his followers on social media to make positive use of their phones and computers to make money and learn in-demand skills rather than just for internet gossips and paparazzi.

I was surprised at the way people reacted and were willing to have someone lead them through the "know-how" of some of the skills he mentioned as money-spinners.

As someone who could relate well with his opinion, having taken many courses online with not a few certifications and still counting, I made a few comments on these posts on Facebook and questions were coming in torrents.

How do I start? How can I learn online? Who can put me through the knowledge? Can I get industry-recognised certificates through online courses? How does it work? Are they difficult to learn?and so on.

Those who sent me messages based on my comments on his post to enlighten them about how to get enrolled in different skills certifications courses wondered why I haven't been sharing my knowledge of how online education works with people when they saw how seamless and efficient the system had become.

But they were clearly wrong! I've been an advocate of using online education to fill the skills gaps and have had to call on people to key into the project and find something more useful to do with phones and computers.

In fact, I'd conducted two trainings on how to learn just any modern skills online for free and even get certificates from top universities, big tech companies, regional and global organisations.

I'd offered people very cheap and credible paths to learning skills like Programming, Data Analytics, Website Development, Machine Learning, Digital Marketing, Soft skills, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Online Teaching Delivery, Course Creation, Human Resources, Financial Analysis, Project Management, Software Development, Graphics Design, Language Proficiency certifications, UI/UX Designs, etc, all done online at individual's pace.

But I guessed the knowledge I shared about these subjects didn't go far because I wasn't a "CELEBRITY" (just Kidding)

Attention is now being shifted to our calls because an influencer who wanted something good for his followers elevated the discussion to prominence on social media. I wished others would emulate him in sharing valuable knowledge rather than just the flaunting of wealth on their platforms of influence.

Suffice to mention that today, what technology has done is to liberalize the process of acquiring knowledge about just anything right from the comfort of our homes. Institutions abroad as well as global organisations and tech giants had invested and are still investing so much into making learning different skills so easy and affordable and there is no better time to appreciate this better than during the still-ravaging Covid-19 pandemic.

Afterall, even elementary schools in Nigeria switched to online learning during the lockdown to stay competitive, and many higher institutions still deliver lessons that way till date.

Institutions, tech companies and organisations like Harvard, Stanford, USIP, Oxford, MRU, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett Packard, Hubspot, LinkedIn, World Bank, WHO, ADBi, UNICEF, and a host of others are worthy of mention in this regard for their great contributions to online education and skills certifications.

Many of these institutions, including several learning platforms like Coursera, Udemy, Edx, Futurelearn, Opentech, Udacity, OpenWho, Agora, Trailhead, Semrush, etc, have made these courses available either for free or at greatly reduced costs so intending learners could benefit from their expertise without going broke to do so.

Even where some of them demand some dollars for the certificates, you can still get them for free through their financial aid and special coupons. Learners only need to be guided on how to go about it.

Whether you want to learn about Information and Digital technology, Marketing, Professional development, Administrative skills, Management, Health care, Language, Finance and Accounting, Customer service, etc, the classrooms to learn all are there in-built into our phones and computers.

Now that social media influencers are lending their voices to better use of phones for skills acquisition, I feel obliged to also contribute my knowledge of how it works to the discussion so as to guide intending learners into understanding how seamless and "ridiculously" cheap it is to learn and acquire skills certifications online.

You can imagine what a young school leaver awaiting University admission, a serving corps member, an employee with enough time to spare, a professional seeking improvement in skillset validation would gain with just a smartphone when deployed the right way.

I've therefore, taken up the challenge to write regularly about this. I guessed I won't have to wait to become a "celebrity" to do that.