The IT Nerd

Alison is one of the world’s largest free online learning platforms for workplace skills. Widely recognised as the world’s first MOOC, Alison is a for-profit social enterprise with a goal to drive the cost of all education and skills training to zero.

The Alison course Diploma in Information Technology Management is a free online course that explains why managers must understand how Information Technology plays a fundamental role in both the structure and control of the modern business. A successful manager must have an excellent grasp of the functionality, capabilities and effects of the technology that he or she must implement and manage.

The course is ideal for those who would like to learn about the central role of Information Technology in today’s workplace and for management professionals who wish to gain an in-depth understanding of the management of Information Technology in the modern corporation.

This free online course presents an array of the core concepts of Information Technology management: corporate frameworks, software, databases, information systems, communications and management of personnel in relation to technology from the point of view of the business manager.

Alison has announced the launch of a series of courses introducing learners to the principles of data science. Students can take Introduction to Data Science, Working With Data, and Visualizing Data and Exploring Models.

Aimed at learners who have some knowledge of algebra and R or Python programming, these courses combine to give learners a comprehensive introduction to the principles of data science, including converting or mapping data, handling errors and outliers in your project, scaling, exploratory data analysis and data visualization, and applying visualizations to display your data.

Alison has launched a new mobile-friendly, personalised platform design, enhancing user experience and strengthening learner engagement. Founded 10 years ago today, Irish-based Alison is one of the world’s largest free education and skills training platforms, recently registering its ten millionth learner. It boasts over one million graduates of its courses with learners and graduates in every country.

The launch also marks the adoption of a brand re-fresh. Feerick explained “We are excited to be combining the new website launch with a refresh of our brand. Free access to education and skills training through Alison has enabled our Learners and Graduates to make positive change in their lives. “Empower Yourself” is our invitation to our members – who of course can sign up and study with Alison for free. By striving daily to give everyone the freedom to learn and the tools to succeed, our mission to improve the world through the power of education can be achieved”.

Around 14% of Alison graduates state that free learning with Alison has led to new employment, promotion and college opportunities, while 88% said graduating with Alison improved their personal confidence and 90% said it encouraged them to learn further. Alison provides more than 800 free courses on a broad range of subjects including project management, IT skills, learning languages and business management skills.

Alison has announced that it has passed the 10-million registered learner milestone.

Alison pioneered free online education ten years ago when it launched the world’s first massive open online course (MOOC) provider. The site serves more than two million users each in the United States and the United Kingdom, and one million users in India. The site has two million users across Africa, making it the largest single provider of free online education on the continent.

Based in the West of Ireland, Alison was founded by serial entrepreneur Mike Feerick. The site offers learners free access to more than 800 courses, spanning subject areas including languages, IT and digital skills, project management, personal development and many others. Recently launched subjects include a course on how to Build Your Own Drone and Software Testing.

The organization will launch a new website on 10 April designed to improve user experience with a more interactive platform that is mobile-friendly.

Alison, one of the world’s largest providers of free online courses, announced today that it crossed the 250,000-learner milestone in Canada. According to data released by Alison today, the most popular courses for Canadians revolve around workplace skills including project management, human resources, food safety and mental health.

The site has grown a significant following throughout Canada, but is most popular in Ontario where 46% of the site’s Canadian users are based, followed by Alberta and British Columbia. Around 52.9% of learners are female, reflecting a trend seen in many countries where women are adopting e-learning at a higher rate than their male counterparts. Alison hosts more than 750 courses online at no charge to the user, and adds new courses each week.

Top 10 most popular courses in Canada

1. Diploma in Project Management
2. Diploma in Human Resources
3. Diploma in Food Safety
4. Diploma in Nursing and Patient Care
5. Diploma in Mental Health Studeis
6. Diploma in Psychology
7. Diploma in Customer Service
8. Diploma in Social Work Studies
9. Diploma in Workplace Safety and Health
10. Diploma in Operations Management

Alison is one of the world’s largest free online learning platforms for workplace skills, providing free education and skills training to 10 million learners worldwide with over one million graduates. Alison is a for-profit social enterprise with a goal to drive the cost of all education and skills training to zero. Find out more at https://alison.com.

Alison, a free e-learning platform with more than nine million registered learners worldwide, today announced the launch of a course in Python programming. Programming is a highly sought after employer skill, with Python engineers taking home more than $100,000 per year on average.

The course introduces core programming concepts through Python, including string variables, making decisions with code, repeating events, and functions. Learners then complete two online assessments, and those who achieve a grade of 80% or higher qualify for an Alison diploma certificate.

Key facts:

• Alison announces free online course on Python
• Python coders in the US get paid more than $100,000 on average
• Java, C# and Python most in-demand coding languages of 2016

Alison, one of the world’s largest free e-learning platforms, has launched two new courses on popular programming language R. Although R is sometimes seen as a simpler programming language than others, there is a steep learning curve to begin with as it uses a different syntax model to most common languages.

In the US, the average salary for an R programmer is paid between $76,000-100,000, and in the 2014 Dice Tech Salary Survey of over 17,000 technology professionals, the highest-paid IT skill was R programming.

The first course, Introduction to R for Data Science, is aimed at people who have a basic knowledge of data science that they want to expand on. It explains how R is used, and teaches the data structures and types found in R. The second course, R for Data Analysis, moves on to more sophisticated forms of data manipulation, with a strong focus on identifying underlying patterns and predicting trends in data-sets. Check it out today.