The global Coronavirus pandemic is fundamentally changing the way in which we work and learn. With a vast number of individuals now working from home and remaining essential workers still on site under increasing pressure, we are all having to adapt to our new working environments and find new ways to support our own development.
For the BRCGS Academy our focus is ensuring that we’re able to continue to support our professionals and delivery partners in developing the skills required to do their job to the best of their ability and protect their brands and customers.
No matter where you are in your career; you might be wondering how you can complete outstanding courses, how to accrue CPD Points to retain your recognition or more generally how you can continue to develop skills and interests.
What is certain is, that despite all the challenges that Covid-19 and social distancing have presented, now is a great time to learn. Here are a few tips on how you can manage both your professional and personal development during Covid-19 while traditional classroom courses are being put on hold.
Maintain social connections – in recent weeks we’ve probably all had a call with friends or family via Zoom, Google Hangouts or some of you may have even been on Houseparty. As we get better acquainted with videoconferencing technology by keeping in touch with our loved ones it is equally important to ensure we bring this back to the workplace. Instead of the usual catch up email, why not make it a video call and take the time to check in with each other. We are all learning together during this time and taking 10 minutes to video chat is a great way of finding out what is working for other people and how we might be able to help each other.
Managing your day – The implications of Covid-19 have meant that many of us are now focusing much more on our short-term activities as the world we live in changes day by day. For those of us working from home, the disappearance of the daily commute might now mean that we have an extra couple of hours in the day. On the other hand, essential workers might find it increasingly difficult to find any time in which to do anything other than work. What is clear is that, whatever situation you find yourself in, managing your work and personal time is as important as ever. Finding those hours in the week to focus on your development, either professional, personal or for your own mental health, is a key factor in ensuring you remain both mentally healthy and able to deal with the challenges ahead. For those of you with time, you might want to use your hours to learn a new skill or develop an existing one. For those of you with limited time you might simply want to focus on planning your day out to ensure that you have adequate time to unwind and take care of yourself.
Embrace digital - Digital learning is nothing new, both live and offline digital learning have been around for some time now but Covid-19 has really brought existing tools and resources into the limelight. Irrespective of which of the above two categories you might fall into, digital learning has something to offer everyone but there is a lot of confusion surrounding what’s currently on offer. Here are a few tips on what’s available:
- eLearning – eLearning or electronic learning is done online or on any digital device and is usually comprised of animations or video-based tutorials. It is self-paced, meaning that you do it in your own time without the live instruction of a trainer.
- Webinars - A webinar is an online seminar, delivered by a presenter to an audience which may consist of many hundreds of people. Webinars are generally led by a presenter and consist of a presentation followed by Q&A. Webinars are usually focused around the presenter, as opposed to an online classroom event which is focused around the learner.
- Podcasts - A podcast is an internet hosted audio show, usually consisting of multiple episodes. Podcasts can be downloaded from the web and listened to either on a computer or smartphone. A lot of companies now have their own podcasts so you can follow your favourites and you can generally find them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or Google Podcasts.
- Video based learning – refers to any skills or training taught via video. Video based learning is typically quite short in duration and designed to be engaging, often making it preferable to reading documents, emails or online articles. This has meant that video-based learning is quickly becoming one of the most popular personal development tools. A great example of Video Based Learning are TED Talks.
- MOOC’s -MOOC stands for ‘massive open online course’. A MOOC is a free of charge, easily accessible, completely online course often developed by leading global universities. MOOCs don’t always provide formal qualifications but are a great way of learning new skills across a variety of areas. There are rarely any entry requirements so absolutely anyone can join and because they are online courses, you can be learning with thousands of like-minded individuals. Great examples of MOOC providers are Coursera, EdX and FutureLearn.
- Virtual Training – Virtual, or Live Online training differs to webinars and other digital learning as it is led by a facilitator in real time over the internet. Virtual classrooms are highly interactive, perhaps more so than traditional classroom courses and are designed to promote collaboration between learners under the guidance of a facilitator or trainer. It is essentially focused on the learner, not the instructor.
With a wealth of options in the public domain for little to no cost, now is a great time to make the most of digital learning even for those that don’t have a great deal of time.
How are BRCGS supporting our Professionals during the crisis?
BRCGS Virtual Training – Over the past few months, BRCGS have been working closely with the experts at the Learning and Performance Institute to help us convert our traditional classroom-based content into a format suitable for Virtual Training. For the foreseeable future all scheduled BRCGS Academy classroom courses will delivered in a Virtual format where possible meaning all our Professionals will still be able to access the same quality learning. We are also accepting applications from our existing Approved Training Partner network to become Approved Virtual Trainers. This means that regardless of where you are in the world, you will have access to BRCGS Professional training. You can register your interest to receive updates from us.
BRCGS Webinars – We have a number of webinars available for our learners covering all of our standards – these are free to view by visiting - www.brcgs.com/resources/webinars
BRCGS Podcast - Confidently Compliant: A Food Safety Podcast is a hub for knowledge sharing in the Food Safety Community. This is not a technical talk- this is a chance for both brand owners and suppliers to understand "why" different trends exist in Food Safety and how to make the most of them while ensuring compliance. From developing business connections to work-life tips and tricks, we help connect the dots between consumer trends, brand motivations and supplier specifications.
You can find all our episodes on http://confidentlycompliant.libsyn.com/ or via our website and we’re also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts – just search BRCGS Confidently Compliant
We are constantly reviewing our portfolio and looking to add even more engaging, valuable and informative material in a verity of formats to support our professionals and delivery partners. If there is anything you think we should consider please tell us at training@brcgs.com.