Thank You to....someone?

Shanma Well, we have at least three dark, cold, wet months ahead of us, so it could be good for you to do these courses over the winter.

It's a pity that we can't sell things on here, your wares sound lovely.

I think it was my thread that I put on, about being on my own since said son left for uni, and someone said about me doing a course on Future Learn. It would be good, I admit, but at the moment I am trying to get the house in order, get everything in its place and get little jobs sorted out, like a toilet downstairs etc. So, for me, it is too much to take on just yet. But I do hope that you get joy out of doing it, let us know how you get on.

Good idea Shan and you will sell loads more with good marketing.Good luck with it all.?

Good luck shanma I'm glad you found something which will help you and you can enjoy. DH is just doing a course re Parliament and enjoying that.

Thank You all.
It only started on Monday. I didn't hop in until Wednesday because of commitments but I am really enjoying it so far. It is making me think .

I don't see this as a 2 Fun" course to do, but still enjoyable to get my teeth into, and hopefully help me promote things.

In January though a writing one starts, that sounds very interesting . Often writing courses are geared towards creative writing, but this one is how to develop your Characters. I really look forward to starting that one.

By the way Bluebell. I meant to ask on the other thread...How is your tooth now? have they sorted it out for you hyet? I do hope so.

Oh silly me, Bluebell isnt on this one. How can I do a course when I am so daft???

I have done five courses on FutureLearn so far and they are brilliant. Loads to chose from, you can study at a time of day to suit you, there are no tests and its all totally free. They are not a big time commitment, just something interesting to do, especially in the winter months. It doesnt matter if you drop behind because the courses stay up for a long while. I think the best one I did was Strategies for Successful Ageing from Trinity College Dublin. The interaction with other learners is like GransNet you just type out messages. Quite a few people reply and its really interesting to see what other people think. You can have a look to see what is on offer by just typing FutureLearn into Google.

Future learn is a gem - enjoy!

I too wish we could sell our wares on here! I spend all my spare time making fabric items; knitting bags, purses, Harris tweed phone pouches, wristlets, etc and have lately taken up leatherwork which I love. It keeps me occupied and as I have run out of family members to give my things to ( my poor daughter has more zipped pouches than she knows what to do with), I now sell on a website. If anyone is looking for gift ideas then please message me and I will give details (plus a discount for gransnetters).

Coursera are good too, and frequently have things I want to learn. And Etsy has a fab book on how to photograph and market your crafts.

Hello Shanma. I'm a great fan of Futurelearn too. I like the history courses and can recommend the one on Hadrians Wall - also Richard 111. I also did one on heart health which was excellent and tried a Shakespeare course by Warwick University. Next it's Italian for beginners and an archeaological course on Portus. I'm going to Italy next year to Pompeii and Herculaneum. It's been a few months since I dipped in. You've inspired me to dip again.
I had a few years of grinding stress which I'm now out the other side of, and those courses gave me great relief of the mind and something else to focus on.
Good luck to all with the digital marketing. If I had a creative bone I'd be having a look too. Sadly I haven't found it yet, but love to see and use what others make.

Shanma Can I have a link to your Amazon page for e-books? If against TOS you can PM me.

I'm learning Spanish. It's a surprisingly tough language as it has many more pronouns and congugated verbs than English, so it certainly challenges the grey matter.

I've done five courses with Future Learn and it's great! No pressure, livens up one's mind, can do when you want and lots of interesting subjects!

Just had a look at future learn. Very taken with it. Thanks to those who mentioned it.

I'm going to look this up it sounds wonderful

Just wanted to say that I completely agree with all the positive comments about Future Learn. I got into it earlier this year after reading a post on GN. I started with the Strategies for Successful Ageing course and thought it was great. It helped me pull together lots of thoughts that I was having about retiring and starting a new phase of life. Good luck with your course and all your plans Shanna.

Sounds good - I had looked at doing a "return to study" type course with OU but because I have an HND (29 years ago) I have to pay & at the moment I have more pressing matters I need to spend money on.

I would love to do some studying & Future Learn sounds brilliant, Thanks

Agree with other posters, Future Learn courses are great. Am doing one about the Southern states of America at the moment, have done lots of others from Shakespeare to Understanding how your liver works. If you register they send e mails every week of new courses that maybe of interest. There are also lots of international universities that do free online courses - once you start it becomes addictive.

I have always done what my other half calls "collecting qualifications" and found Future Learn recently. So far I've done Antiquities Trafficking & Art Theft (fascinating) and Archaeology from dig to lab (Time Team and then some.) I'm about to start one with an Israeli university on Maths problems to be followed by genealogy, developments in the fashion industry, cyber security, and investing - with a few more waiting in the wings.
It's all free, you work at your own pace and the range of topics is growing all the time. Just down my alley!
If you haven't discovered it yet, do have a look. The only thing I would warn against is taking the time allowance per week as gospel, it's too easy to spend much longer than the few hours they suggest it will take.

Can I ask, do you all use your own names when interacting with other participants? It put me off a bit when I registered and my full name was all I could use.

(on the message boards)

For the Gransnetters who make and sell their own goods, have you tried selling on Etsy?

Ana - as the other participants are from all over the world, it doesn't bother me to use my name. You don't have to give your real name if you don't want to - how would they know if it is or if it's your full name, no-one is going to check up on you. The only problem with using a different name would be if you want a certificate to show you'd done the coure.