With events cancelled, parties banned and most social venues closed, now might just be the time to take advantage of the opportunities the internet offers to learn something new from the comfort of your home!
There are way too many courses and resources available to list, but below is just a small sample of some local offerings (plus a couple from the US) to whet your appetite.
- Soil CRC webinars – With the cancellation of the Soil CRC 2020 Participants Conference (due to COVID019), we have been given the opportunity to instead learn about their work through a series of FREE webinars. The recordings of the webinars are now available to view at any time
- Regenerative Agriculture videos – The Regenerative Agriculture Alliance offers a series of videos that aim to educate farmers on the practice’s potential to improve soil health, human health, landscape resilience and biodiversity. Videos include interviews with Charles Massy, Bruce Pascoe, Terry McCosker, Kerry Cochrane and Tammi Jonas
- ANU Sustainable Farms – Sustainable Farms has a program of podcasts featuring short, engaging chats about the research being conducted by the team
- BirdLife Australia – The “Birding at Home” series of videos provide interesting tips and interviews with staff members from BirdLife Australia. Topics covered include: Backyard birding for beginners, Parrots in your backyard, and Creating bird-friendly gardens
- WIRES wildlife training – If you are interested in becoming a wildlife carer with WIRES, you can do the first part of your training online. The ‘Rescue and Immediate Care’ course costs $125, and in addition to the online component you will need to complete a 1-day practical workshop. Alternatively, you can do the FREE ‘Introduction to Australian Wildlife’ course online
- Kiss the Ground – This site has some excellent FREE videos on soil and regenerative agriculture, with several interesting interviews with farmers (from the USA)
- Holistic Management – The Savory Institute (in the US) offer a series of five online holistic management courses. Each course costs USD$99 (approx. AUD $165). Alternatively there are a great range of FREE resources available from Holistic Management International
- Digital Storytelling – Learn how to find, make, edit and share short videos to tell your story. The ‘Stories for Impact’ online course costs $150, and shows you how to make and edit videos using free software (as well as using paid programs). You’ll also learn how and where to share your videos, to significantly expand your network and the impact of your work
- Simple Skills for Self-Sufficiency – Pip Magazine has launched a new FREE weekly video series to share simple skills for self-sufficiency and self-reliance at home. You can choose to subscribe to their Youtube Channel, if you would like to get notifications when new videos are released
- Business and digital skills – Connecting Up and TechSoup are offering a number of FREE online short courses to help non-profit organisations cope with the conditions under COVID-19. Courses cover team management, social media, marketing and software skills. Courses which are not offered free range in price from around $15 to $100
- TAFE NSW short courses – In response to COVID-19, TAFE NSW have opened up a number of online courses to be completed completely free. Courses range from a few weeks to six months, and cover digital skills, business management and administration
- RuralBiz Training – Various Nationally Accredited units are being offered which are fully subsidised by the NSW Government, under the NSW Smart and Skilled (part qualifications) funding program. Topics covered include: Soils, farm planning, livestock, crops, risk management, succession planning, workplace health and safety, farm record keeping, farm business management, and Chemical Card Plus
- Coursera – This website has hundreds of online courses available, most of which are free. Courses are offered by universities worldwide, and cover topics including agriculture, sustainability, health, education and business. Check out the free Agriculture, Economics and Nature course offered by the University of Western Australia; starting on 15 June, the course is completed online over 7 weeks, with a total of approx. 23 hours required to complete the course
