lynda.com Training Scores Big at MIT:
Gets Personal with lyndaCampus

Robyn Fizz

A little over a year ago, Information Services and Technology (IS&T) launched an initiative to make lynda.com’s popular catalog of online training courses freely available to MIT faculty, staff, and students. This initiative met with stunning success – in the first six months, members of the MIT community went to the lynda.com site more than 24,000 times to view courses. By year end that figure topped 52,000.

What accounts for lynda.com’s popularity? Its training library of over 1,300 courses focuses on up-to-date computing skills, with new courses added each week. Topics include, but aren’t limited to: 

• Windows and Macintosh operating systems
• Microsoft Office suites
• Design software, including Adobe Creative Suite
• Web + Interactive applications
• Social Media
• iPhone and iPad 

While many of the courses are useful for the everyday user, lynda.com also has advanced offerings for designers, photographers, programmers, and Web developers.

The format of the training videos also appeals to viewers. Courses are taught by industry experts who convey concepts clearly, and each course consists of multiple short videos that can be watched and replayed at any time.

To access lynda.com at no charge, connect through the MIT-specific URL: lynda.mit.edu. As an MIT community member, you will be authenticated automatically through Touchstone and can then take lynda.com courses whether you are on campus or off. 

New Year, More Features: Welcome lyndaCampus

On January 5, IS&T introduced lyndaCampus to MIT, an enhancement that provides each student, faculty, and staff member with his or her own profile on lynda.com.
Now when you log on at lynda.mit.edu, you are greeted by name. From the new my training menu, you can:

• View your lynda.com history (for courses taken on or after January 5, 2012)
• Create bookmarks for courses and modules of interest
• Receive a printable, mailable Certificate of Completion for any course you've viewed in its entirety

More Information

lynda.com is about keeping things simple, so feel free to dive right in. You can also learn about lynda.com and lyndaCampus by visiting IS&T's lynda.com eLearning for MIT page or watching the IS&T video about lyndaCampus.

If you have questions or comments about your experience with lynda.com, send e-mail to IS&T's Training Manager, Mark Wiklund, or call him directly at 617.253.0686.

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