I remember vividly the day I discovered Coursera. I remember thinking, “Finally! I am going to learn all the things that I have always wanted to learn but didn’t have money or time for” I signed up for courses, and started eagerly, promising how I’ll make time for my lessons each week, turn in my assignments on time and learn cool things from the world’s best universities. And so it began. Slowly, what I had sworn to myself would never happen, started happening. Like a ball of yarn unraveling outside my power to stop, I started lagging behind on my lessons. For some reason, I just wasn’t excited about watching 2 hours’ worth of videos per week, and inevitably, something more interesting always came up, and before I knew it, the course was over. While my “course-mates” were receiving their statements of accomplishments, I was tconsoling myself, “Next time I will finish”, but there was no next time.
Luckily for me, I discovered the AMI courses at just about the time I had given up. The African Management Initiative have found a way to make a MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) I can complete. If statistics are to be believed, I am not the only one having challenges completing a course online. According to a study done by The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education only 4 percent of people who register for MOOCs actually finish them. It was the same approach to learning as Coursera; online lectured from Africa’s best universities but with a twist. You watch the videos together with your course-mates, in the same room, with a facilitator to guide you through the difficult places. I am happy to say I got my Statement of Accomplishment for the Personal Self-Management Course and I am well on my way to one for the Money Management one.
On Monday, June 30th 2014, AMI will hold another one of their classes at the iHub on Money Management. When I attended the first Money Management learning lab, I was pleasantly surprised. First off, the videos were excellent, making the content easy to understand. I remember thinking, maybe if I was taught accounting this way before I might have had a grand future as an accountant. It all started making sense. Somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain, a light bulb went on. The facilitators encouraged us to use the financial statements from our own organizations/businesses so that the training would be more meaningful for us and not abstract. This training is open to anyone, especially start-ups.
If my experience is anything to go by and you’re an avid learner interested in learning how to manage money in your business, but just can’t seem to find time for education, this is the training for you. For just Kshs 4250.00 you will gain new skills to gain the respect of your employers and colleagues and also get certificates from Africa’s top business schools (including SBS). Sign up here. All you need is a laptop or a tablet
This post was written by Mercy Deche.