Gale Courses, by Cengage Learning, offers various courses to users free-of-charge through EVPL. Simply by entering your library card number, you can sign up to participate in a variety of courses. This blog post spotlights some of the new and frequently used courses from the Gale catalog and information on preparing for an online learning experience.
Each course has a certified instructor who follows a structured format. The format allows flexibility in accessing classes in a classroom-like, web-based environment. When you complete a course on Gale, you will receive a statement of completion that may help in earning professional development credits for work, library education units for professional librarians, and professional growth points for K-12 educators.
You can enroll in courses at no charge to you with your library card. New courses begin every month.
View Gale Course’s catalog to see the extensive list of business, technology-related, healthcare, and personal development classes available to you.
Certificate in Wellness and the Environment
Gale Description: Humans interact with the environment constantly. Building your knowledge can help you take action to improve your health, well-being, and the environment around you. This course focuses on the various ways the environment impacts human health. You will first learn about air and water safety, the global impacts of overpopulation and climate changes, and common health hazards found in the home. You will then learn steps for preventing or controlling disease, injury, and disability related to the interactions between people and their environment.
Poor environmental quality has the greatest impact on people whose health status is already at risk. But with environmental health education, you can help address the societal and environmental factors that increase the likelihood of exposure and disease.
Course Duration: 9 hours/6 weeks
Gale Description: Discover Sign Language teaches you how to sign basic phrases and expand to complete sentences and see how to put it all together, so you can introduce yourself and start a conversation. Along the way you will learn signs for colors, numbers, where you live, family, and the activities you like to do and even the ones you don’t.
Throughout the course you will learn by watching videos that demonstrate how to make the signs and how to incorporate facial expressions to communicate in this beautiful language. This course is taught using the best practices of the industry with a minimum of audio support. Throughout, you will be immersed in silence, so you will gain an understanding of the perspective of an individual who is deaf or hard-of-hearing.
You will also gain an introduction to the world of the Deaf culture and explore topics such as lipreading, baby signs, and the career of interpreting. By the end of the course, you will be ready to sign!
Course Duration: 24 hours/6 weeks
Keys to Successful Money Management
Gale Description: If you’re interested in discovering how most wealthy people amassed their fortunes, this is the course for you. All it takes is organization, discipline, and a firm knowledge of how to proceed. If you’re serious about accumulating a sizable nest egg and living the life of your dreams, you will have to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for success.
In this course, a certified financial planner will walk you through the steps you need to take in order to achieve true financial success. You’ll become comfortable with the broad array of investment choices available to you right now, and you’ll discover the best ways to acquire and accumulate both cash and real property. You’ll also learn about the tax implications of your investment decisions, along with steps you can take to protect any wealth you acquire.
Course Duration: 24 hours/6 weeks
Site Design and Course Management
Each course’s landing page features a detailed course description, copy of the syllabus, instructor information, prerequisite requirements (if any), and reviews of courses by other students in other public libraries.
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No computer to take your course at home?
If you do not have a home computer, you can use your library card to reserve time on a public services computer at any EVPL location. If you’re looking for help with computer basics before beginning a more advanced course using a computer, discover what EVPL Academy has to offer. There you can find an array of helpful tutorials on topics ranging from using Gale Courses, to internet basics and setting up an email account.
The Digital Classroom: Connecting to Instructors
Remember, EVPL is offering these through Gale Courses. All instruction and coursework is virtual. Some readings or requirements may involve outside research.
