Microcredentials: My online study experience

As a Content Officer at the University of London, I get to interview our students, both in person at graduations and throughout the year. I listened to them talk about the importance of time management and self-discipline required to achieve what they did, and always found it inspiring, wondering if I could find it in me, the commitment to sit down in the evening and study instead of lazing around with a movie on.

When the University’s Learning and Development team reached out informing us about the new Microcredentials platform that was available to the University graduates and staff for a discounted price, I thought: ‘Well, here’s your chance to see what it’s like.’

I chose the Managing Technology Projects for Business Success course because it seemed like the most closely related to where I am in my career. As part of Creative Services, I have worked on numerous small-scale projects in the past, but have rarely had to officially manage one from start to finish. There was potential to learn something about corporate Project Management that I couldn’t get by practice – something that should hopefully make me better at my job and give my team the reassurance that they could trust me with a bigger project.

Managing Technology Projects for Business Success

This course is targeted at IT specialists in particular and would definitely benefit them more than aspiring project managers from other areas. I used to work in Quality Assurance and alongside developers, so that knowledge did help me understand the needs for thorough documentation, transparency and frequent checking in with the team and stakeholders. This was the focus of Week 2 of the course – the various methodologies used by software developers, what is more appropriate for different types of projects and even industries and what it looks like in practice.

Before this course I thought that Agile was a project management tool, something like Jira or Monday.com platforms. Oh, how wrong I was... but now I know better. So, if you are someone who works in IT and want to progress to a project manager position, I definitely recommend having a look at this Microcredential.

Course breakdown

The course was meant to be completed within four weeks, and the topics divided accordingly. Week 1 was more of an introduction to project management in general and why the majority of projects are viewed as failures, and what constitutes a failure in the first place.

Week 2, as mentioned, is very much software specialist-focused as it discusses Waterfall, Agile and Scrum in detail.  I found the study material easy to follow and interesting to think about, and it put it into perspective how differently other teams work and why communication is key to success when working together.

Week 3 focused on Governance and governance framework, as well as some additional topics that were IT-industry specific. Once again, I felt that the things that were covered could be applied to aspiring managers outside the technology sector, as we learned the importance of communication plans and what proper closing of the project looked like (and how to avoid wasting money).

As for Week 4, that was a case study – so applying everything I’d learned on the course and analysing a real-life project. I made the error of picking a project that I, while aware and playing a small role in, didn’t know much about from the inside. So most of my answers were guesses and what I’d managed to pick up on from the little I knew. This might be the trickiest part of the course as you are invited to analyse the successes and failures of a project that you might not have managed and don’t have enough information about.

Study materials

Each week consisted of between 10 and 20 activities,  varying from short videos to online articles to ‘active learning’ via creating presentations and writing down summaries.

Certificate

Upon completion, you are prompted to fill out a survey and then taken to the page where you can download your workbook (or study journal), which contains all of your answers and notes taken throughout the course, and a Certificate. The Certificate is can be uploaded to LinkedIn to demonstrate your newly acquired knowledge and microcredential.

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Final thoughts

Studying part-time wasn’t easy, especially on the days when I worked in the office. The last thing I wanted after an hour of commute and dinner was to go back into ‘work mode’ and learn new terminology, and in reality those were the days I barely touched my course. On the other hand, once I did force myself to sit down and pay attention, it was great to walk away from the PC with a sense of accomplishment and productivity.

I spent a month and a half instead of four weeks on this course, but that included a week away on a holiday – when I did manage to squeeze in one short study session. I can imagine the time it takes you to complete a microcredential would depend on how demanding your day job is, your prior knowledge and experience level, and how much free time you have outside of family commitments. I am a single young woman with no family, so I had plenty of spare time to jump on the platform and keep working, while a lot of our students don’t have this luxury.

That said, it is doable and would definitely be beneficial if you find a course that matches your needs. Going forward, I will keep an eye out for opportunities like this, especially a course geared towards creative industry professionals like myself. 

Find out more and browse our selection of Microcredential courses.