Finding and enrolling in courses

0:00 Finding and enrolling in courses

Imagine walking into a huge library where every book is free, and you can take a certificate home when you finish one. Exciting, but also a little overwhelming. Where do you even start? In this lecture you'll learn to find the right course in seconds, use learning paths to plan a route, read a course page so you know exactly what you're signing up for, and enrol with one click, even if you don't have an account yet.

0:34 Why it matters

Why does this matter? Because your time is the real cost. The courses are free, but choosing the wrong one, or starting five at once, wastes hours. A good choice has three parts: the right subject, the right level, and the right length for the time you actually have. The Academy gives you tools for all three. You just need to know where they are.

1:02 A streaming app for skills

Here's the mental model. Think of the Academy like a streaming app for skills. The hub page is the home screen, with search, subject tiles and what's new. The catalogue is the browse screen, with filters. Learning paths are like a series: episodes in the right order. And a course page is the show's detail page, where you read the description, the episode list and the ratings before pressing play. Enrolling is pressing play. It's free, and it saves your place.

1:37 Example 1: Jake's one-hour filter

Let's start simple. Jake, a sales rep in Chicago, has one hour on Friday afternoons. He opens the Academy and scrolls to All courses. He taps the Sales subject chip. He sets Level to Beginner and Duration to up to one hour. He sorts by shortest first. Two courses appear. Here's a neat detail: his filters are stored in the page address. So he copies it and sends it to his manager, who opens exactly the same view.

2:11 Example 2: Fatima plans a path (illustrative)

Now a realistic scenario, with illustrative details. Fatima runs social media for a boutique hotel in Muscat. She wants to use AI in her marketing within the next three months. Instead of guessing, she opens All learning paths and picks the AI-Powered Marketer path. The path page lists its courses in order and shows the badges she can collect. She opens the first course and reads it properly. What you'll be able to do. The syllabus, module by module. The Updated month, which matters in a subject that changes fast. And the final assessment card: the number of questions, the time limit, the pass mark and the attempts per twenty-four hours. Now she knows the commitment before she starts.

3:03 Watch me: enrolling while signed out

Watch me do it. I'm on a course page and I'm signed out. At the top I see three buttons: Enrol for free, start learning. I have an account. And Preview lesson one. I click Preview lesson one first. The whole lesson is readable, and I can try the knowledge check, but nothing is saved. Back on the course page, I click Enrol for free. I'm taken to create an account. After I verify my email and sign in, I'm brought straight back to this course, enrolled automatically, and lesson one opens in my portal. If I'd already been signed in, the button would have enrolled me instantly and opened the first unfinished lesson.

3:53 My learning

Once you're enrolled, your home base is My learning, under Learning in the portal. At the top, four stats: courses in progress, courses completed, certificates and time learned. Then a card called continue where you left off, with a Resume button. When you finish every lesson, that button changes to Take the assessment. Below that: in progress, certificates, your learning paths, recommended courses and completed courses. One detail: enrolment is for learner accounts. If you're signed in as staff, the course page tells you that you can read everything but not enrol.

4:33 Zoom in: the course page

Let's zoom in on the course page, because two minutes there saves hours later. Scroll past the top and you'll find about this course, and what you'll be able to do. Read the outcomes like a checklist: would you be happy if you could do these things in a month? Then tools you'll use and skills. Then the syllabus, where you can expand each module and see every lesson, its length, and whether it has a video lecture. In the side column, your certificate shows the badge you'll earn and the criteria to earn it. And recommended first lists prerequisites. If there are any, start there.

5:19 Quick check: which course first?

Quick check. Nadia in Dubai finds two courses on the same topic. Course A was updated last month and is intermediate. Course B was updated much earlier and is beginner. She's never studied the topic before. Which should she pick? Pause. It depends on the subject, but the level usually comes first: a beginner should start at beginner level, then check the updated date. On fast-moving subjects like AI tools, a recently reviewed course matters more. If both matter, look for a learning path, which puts the beginner and intermediate courses in order for her.

6:00 Measure it

How do you measure success with the Academy? Not by how many courses you enrol in. By how many you finish. Here's a simple target, and it's illustrative: one course completed per month, with the certificate earned. Watch the courses completed and certificates numbers on My learning. If courses in progress keeps growing while completed stays flat, pause new enrolments and finish what you started. And use the time learned stat as a gentle signal of whether your weekly learning habit is actually happening.

6:37 Inside the portal

A quick word on the portal catalogue. Inside your portal, Browse all courses opens the same catalogue with the same filters, but every course card also shows your progress if you're enrolled. And on your portal home page, a small learning panel shows your continue card and a few recommended courses. So you never have to go back to the public site to find your place. Everything is one click from your portal navigation.

7:09 Common mistakes

Common mistakes. Enrolling in ten courses at once and finishing none. Skipping the recommended first box, when prerequisites exist because later lessons build on them. Reading as a guest and expecting your progress to be saved. And ignoring the updated month on fast-moving subjects like AI. Pick one course or one path, check it's current, and finish it.

7:34 Recap and try this now

Recap. The Academy hub gives you search, subjects, paths and the full catalogue. Filters live in the page address, so views are shareable. Paths put courses in the right order. A course page tells you outcomes, syllabus, updated month and exam rules before you commit. Enrolling is free and brings you straight into lesson one. Try this now: open the catalogue, set a subject, level and length that fit your week, and enrol in one course. Next, we'll look inside a lesson: the lecture player, transcripts and knowledge checks.