WHAT IS A 4-WEEK COURSE AND HOW DOES IT WORK? Our 4-Week Courses are scheduled, instructor-led online courses for tourism industry professionals. Offering a flexible learning environment, the 4-Week Courses combine the convenience of online, on-demand learning with the benefits of interactive people-focused learning to optimize results for busy professionals. ... AND WHY DOES IT WORK? The 4-Week Course online training class format is designed to support the skills-building needs of busy tourism professionals, and it works because of these key ingredients: 1. Practical lessons by travel and tourism industry experts 2. Hands-on activities to help you apply what you've learned right away 3. Various opportunities for real-time interactions that will make your learning experience more engaging and effective. WHAT'S INCLUDED IN A 4-WEEK COURSE? Your learning experience during a 4-Week Course consists of: Weekly video lessons and readings that can be accessed at your convenience; Hands-on activities to apply your knowledge to your specific real-life, on-the-job practices; and Live and interactive components to enhance learning results through sharing ideas and collaborating with each other. Throughout the process, our Course Facilitator will guide you along the way, and you will receive email updates to help you keep track of your progress. WILL IT WORK FOR ME? Our 4-Week Courses are a dynamic and interactive way to learn from anywhere in the world, and are a good fit for you if: You like the convenience of learning at your own pace, setting your own schedule for watching video lessons and working on assignments. But you also like to have some structure and guidance to help you stay motivated and to make it easy to stay on track. And you want your online learning experience to be flexible, but at the same time as interactive and engaging as possible. WHAT OUR COURSE PARTICIPANTS SAY "I found TrainingAid to be an excellent online platform. Very straightforward and easy to use." - Kim Langmaid, Founder and Vice President, Sustainability Programs, Walking Mountains Science Center, USA "This is the best online course I have ever had. Honestly, I have been surprised to find a so excellent online training course and very pleased to have dedicated this month to study with TrainingAid." - Patrizia Massano, Itaway, Spain "I like the platform and the information included, It´s very useful to have so many examples related to different topics." - Andrea González, Sustainable Development Executive, Intercruises, Spain "I am enjoying the class a great deal! I wasn’t able to attend [some of the] live seminars, but having access to the recorded live sessions makes it like I was there! " - Catherine Campbell, USF Patel College of Global Sustainability, USA "The course platform was very intuitive, easy to use and I really enjoyed using it. It was simple and did not over complicate things." - Hayley Delf, Director, Black Mountain Montenegro Ltd, Serbia and Montenegro 4 WEEK COURSE FEATURES To help you get to know the workings of a 4-Week Course better, here are some highlights of what you can do on the course platform and what to expect during the 4-week course period. Fellow Learners In the "Course Members" section, you can see other members of your class. Connecting with your fellow learners is a key part of your 4-Week Course experience, so make sure you update your own profile information and to get to know your virtual classmates. Discussions Discussions are part of each unit and are a great way to get to know your fellow learners and to share experiences and to learn from each other. Live Events Live Events - such as webinar-style presentations, live chats and "Ask Me Anything" sessions - are scheduled at least once a week (sometimes more often). Recordings of these session will be available to all learners. Announcements Every now and then you will receive email announcements from the Course Facilitator. In case you miss or lose those emails, you can review all announcements on the course page any time. Knowledge Checks At the end of each week, you can take a short "knowledge check" quiz to review some key points covered during the week. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED Here is a step-by-step guide to navigating the 4-Week Course experience Starting the Course Once the course page access becomes available (usually 30-days before the course start date), you will receive an email notification and see the course on your dashboard (My Account > My Courses). Update Your Profile Update your profile (My Account > My Profile) so that other learners can find out more about you. Your profile can include, in addition to your name, title and organization, links to your social media accounts. Introduce Yourself Go ahead and introduce yourself to the group by posting in the discussion forum, where you will likely see that the Course Facilitator, Instructors and other learners have already said "hi". Track Your Progress You can mark each course unit complete by clicking on the little checkbox in the top right corner. You can move to the next unit without completing one, and come back later to complete the unit. This will be a useful way for you to remember which units you've completed, and which ones you didn't, or wanted to revisit because you weren't sure if you understood everything properly. Check Your Knowledge You will have the chance to check your knowledge as you progress through the course by taking the "Knowledge Check" quizzes. These are designed as exercises to help you re-visit key learning points, and not as tests. Knowledge check quizzes are therefore not scored, and you get an unlimited number of tries at each question and we give you feedback and hints on each go. Finishing the Course To complete the course, you need to have all units and knowledge checks marked complete. After the course close date at the end of the 4-week period, you will still have full access to all the course content for a few weeks, during which you can complete all unchecked units. Certificate of Completion For most 4-Week Courses, a Certificate of Completion will be available upon completion of the course. The availability of the certificate is indicated on the public course description page. Once you complete a course, you can download your copy of the certificate from the dashboard (My Account > My Courses). QUESTIONS? NEED HELP? If you have any question about 4-Week Courses or about TrainingAid in general, we're here to help! Feel free to contact us.