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This Is How Entrepreneurs, Students And Teachers Can Benefit From LinkedIn Learning

This article is more than 6 years old.

On April 9, 2015, Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, wrote a blog post titled: “Always Be Learning: LinkedIn to Acquire Lynda.com.” In the article, Weiner states, “For well over two decades, I've been interested in helping to reform the education system. It was actually one of the reasons I went into business, specifically with the belief that one day I could hopefully have enough influence and resources to make a positive difference.”

Also, according to TechCrunch, Weiner described how education had become one of their most important priorities. He noted that the World Economic Forum expects 5 million jobs to be displaced by 2020. Given the introduction of new technologies, 78% of CFO's surveyed believe that up to 25% of their workforces could be displaced as well.

In September 2016, LinkedIn launched a new site called LinkedIn Learning, an e-learning portal tailored for personalized learning that also supports businesses to train their employees, and support life long learning.

LinkedIn Learning was launched about a year and a half after LinkedIn acquired the online learning site Lynda.com for $1.5 billion.

Today, LinkedIn Learning blends the high-quality content of Lynda.com with compelling data and distribution of LinkedIn’s 500+ million members and enterprise customers globally.

LinkedIn Learning provides a personalized learning experience via high-quality, personally curated and easily digestible content. The platform has more than 10,000 courses across business, creative and tech categories and offers this content in English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese.

For Entrepreneurs

I spoke with Kenly Walker from the Corporate Communications department of LinkedIn to learn more about the most popular classes for entrepreneurs.

According to Walker, the following courses are the top 15 most viewed for those who have listed “entrepreneur” on their LinkedIn profiles:

  • Body Language for Leaders
  • Online Marketing Foundations
  • Design Thinking: Venture Design
  • Pitching to Investors
  • Managing Your Time
  • SEO Foundations
  • Project Management Foundations
  • Social Media Marketing for Small Business
  • Entrepreneurship Foundations
  • Mergers and Acquisitions Foundations
  • Entrepreneurship: Raising Startup capital
  • Business Analysis Foundations
  • Sramana Mitra on Bootstrapping
  • Guy Kawasaki on Entrepreneurship
  • Creating a Business Plan

Regarding the top entrepreneurs sharing lessons on LinkedIn Learning, Walker states the following list of leading authors have a substantial following among the entrepreneur and business audiences:

  • Whitney Johnson
  • Guy Kawasaki
  • Dave Crenshaw
  • Sramana Mitra
  • Mike Figliuolo

Learn more about their latest offerings here.

For Higher Education Students

Higher education students will also find various resources on LinkedIn. Beside LinkedIn Learning, students can stop by LinkedIn for Students for a plethora of resources including LinkedIn “how-to” videos, tip sheets, career guides, and handbooks. For those on their career paths for the jobs of tomorrow, LinkedIn also provides the opportunity for students to become campus editors for their institutions. Students who like to write, curate content, and represent their universities can find applications open now for the 2017-2018 school year.

For Teachers

If you’re a teacher, you can also apply to become an instructor at LinkedIn Learning. According to their application site, as a LinkedIn Learning instructor, teachers can:

• Help people reach professional and personal goals

• Learn valuable skills applicable to your professional life

• Benefit from the massive visibility our platforms provide

• Earn extra income

What’s New on the Platform?

Recent announcements for learners include the following:

  • Micro-learning is now available on LinkedIn Learning. They recently announced the launch of "Daily Bites" courses. These segments enable students to learn key takeaways and tools from each course in less than five minutes. Students can click through to watch the parts in full once they have time. This setup also provides learners with the ability to view courses on the go and during their in-between moments.
  • Arianna Huffington's Thrive Global courses are now available on LinkedIn Learning. They also recently announced a new library of Thrive Global courses focused on teaching science-based methods for helping professionals combat the chronic conditions of stress and burnout so prevalent in today's workforce.
  • Professionals across the globe can learn from Arianna Huffington, as well as guest trainers such as Kobe Bryant, Warby Parker, and CEO Dave Gilboa. These contributors assist with well-being strategies for business owners and the general workforce.

LinkedIn’s initiative on education and learning runs parallel with the company’s goals. LinkedIn is a place millions of people use to maintain their professional profiles publicly, network, meet with others in their field, and look for jobs. You can think of LinkedIn as a one-stop-shop for learning, networking, and building a place to enhance and maintain your professional skills.

Have you tried LinkedIn for Learning?

 

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