www.avinteractive.com: At a time when many people in the industry have more time on their hands than before, as events and project are cancelled, industry companies have turned to online learning to offer opportunities to develop and refine skills during the downtime. A selection of these online training opportunities are listed alphabetically.
10 comments:
I'm definitely bookmarking this for later. I'm a bit of a certification collector and I generally like learning and knowing random things just in case I ever need them. I've noticed a lot of training and learning experiences popping up online since most people have more free time than usual thanks to COVID. Websites like Masterclass show up constantly in my Youtube Ads showing Neil DeGrasse Tyson teaching analytical thinking, Natalie Portman teaching acting, Neil Gaiman teaching writing, Gordan Ramsey teaching culinary arts, and so many more. I have to say I really want a subscription to Masterclass now. The 360 training website is also currently offering deals on OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 hour trainings. I think the prices are slashed by half or more. As the school year winds down and we are still in fairly strict isolation, right now is a good time for self-improvement and reflection.
Learning during this quarantine has been a struggle on almost all fronts. Many students have been left without proper resources to access their classes, thus making this a very difficult end to the semester. I really like how this article has not only provided an extensive and comprehensive list of many services available to people, but it is also organized. One thing I don’t particularly like about this article is that none of these sites are given a description. This is a fantastic source if you happen to know exactly the site you want to use but you previously had not used the site but now with free tutorials and webinars you can. Also upon further reading of this article and seeing the site it was posted to, I now recognize that this is an AV specific site and article. This clears up a lot of confusion I had about the article and why so many now available webinars were not included.
This page is super helpful for me as a person who is currently learning skills to join these industries, but I think that this is also something that current participants in the entertainment industry should be looking at as well. This is a great time for people who are jumping from project to project to take a step back, evaluate themselves, and take some time to go back to freshen up the hard skills they use frequently. I know that right now I personally am taking this extra time I have to look back at the project I have done this year and try to understand what I'm doing right and wrong and working on the hard skills that will allow me to be a better artist once we return to normal classes. This is a great time for self analysis, and though I understand why some people may need to relax and decompress instead of continuing their creative work, I hope people are seeing this for the opportunity it is to grow in ways we don't normally have the time for.
Might as well do something with the time we have after classes are over, right? I am glad that companies that offer webinars and online training are lowering the entry barrier to such classes or certifications, because they easily could have raised the bar and forced people to pay more to have things to productively fill their time with during quarantine. But then again, there is such a push from many sides for everyone to fill their time productively, to “write the next King Lear” or to write the new Great American Novel someone’s been sitting on because they never had the time. I am very glad that these resources exist and that websites and blogs are compiling the information for their target audiences, but as potential consumers of such free content we must also remember that it’s ok if you don’t get your ETCP certification while you’re under quarantine.
There is a lot out there that is being offered right now, especially in the arts industry. I am grateful for all of these opportunities, and quite frankly it is almost overwhelming how much is out there. However, I think we need to take a hard look at these training and ask ourselves what we hope to get out of them. Don't get me wrong, I've worked though several hours of online training already, but it just doesn't hit the same way as our in person discussions. It is really hard to practice programming without a console and physical instruments to test, or motors to actuate! There were a lot of discussions about OSHA 30 in our PTM dept, and while I'm grateful the school got the graduating students an online class, I was really baffled that so many more would rather take it online instead of the alternative of having Sean teach us in person next year. At that point, it is more of a checkbox to put on a resume rather than a valuable educational experience. Again, not to dis online learning and the wealth of knowledge there is out there, but I think we all, students and professors, need to step back and evaluate what is worth doing online, but also what we need to do in person.
I’ve never considered myself someone who is super good with technology or software—up to this point I have always preferred to do things by hand (because I’ve been afraid to tackle learning software by myself in the past). BUT, it’s actually been really inspiring to see all of these companies, especially so many in the entertainment industry, releasing more tutorials and making learning from afar more accessible. And perhaps they were always available, but now they’re being more obviously advertised. I’ve decided that this 4-month summer of being unemployed is the perfect time to learn new softwares so that I become more comfortable with digital creation and am able to expand my horizons. I’m very grateful that companies are recognizing the value of these resources for creatives who now have plenty of time on their hands. And it’s nice to have these things available without pressure from a class or something, for those who don’t feel particularly inclined to create in a confusing, unknown time. What’s important is that it’s there when you need it.
We all have so much free time on our hands now that we are stuck at home all the time. When I'm not doing school work, I've been spending my time doing puzzles, playing board games, and watching movies with my family. However, there's only so much family time that I can handle before everyone simply wants to be left alone for a moment or two or eight. I think that this is a perfect time to look online and start to learn new skills. I've started knitting and taking online dance classes again. I've never considered myself a particularly "tech-savvy" person, but seeing the long list of different online learning opportunities, I don't see it as too far fetched to try and get into it. I do wish that the small blurps under each listing were a bit more descriptive for those who are completely new to this kind of software. Reading these myself, I had a hard time understanding exactly what the learning program would be teaching me.
While I am finding it difficult to commit to learning at full capacity right now, I do really enjoy the structure it gives my life. I have been making a list of things I can do after classes end that could provide a similar learning schedule and that will keep my neural connections from withering away into nothingness (although, to be honest, that is what they feel like right now). I think that there is a big push right now - especially for creatives - to raise the bar on their creativity which I do not think is the most necessary thing - or the thing that anyone necessarily has the capacity for at the moment - but the increasing availability of these webinar type classes is definitely encouraging. I have found tons and tons of YouTube and IGTV videos for free coming from professionals who would usually do these things to make money and they have been life-savers in quarantine.
I think this list is a really useful and complete resource for people who are trying to stay productive and gain new skills during this unfortunate ‘time off’, including college students who may have had their regular educations interrupted, or students next year who may be taking gap years out of necessity without opportunities like internships being available to be productive during that time. I do question how effective some of these opportunities may actually be, as there are so many things, especially in our industry, that can only be learned effectively through hands-on practice and practical experience, but I also think that working through the theory and concepts of topics now, and supplementing that with practical experience later, could end up being an effective use of time while we’re all stuck at home. This site could also be a resource for people looking to learn totally new skills that they in general would have very little opportunity to learn, as so many companies are putting educational material online right now for free or for reduced prices.
In times of lockdown, I think there has been an overwhelming pressure for people to use this time to find a new trick, learn a new skill, and come out of this process with a brand new set of employable skills or work that should make them a better person. While I don’t think it’s bad motivation for certain people, I don’t think that it is a societal pressure we should be putting on everyone right now. With that being said, I think I am going to pin this list of information for after this week when classes are over because with all the free time on my hands that I will actually have then. I think that trying to do something beneficial with my time that I feel is productive to not only my current self but my future self, will help me feel some sense of normalcy as I go into a summer staying in Georgia.
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