Guide for short-course learners
Sign up on the institution's website, choose your password from the emailed link, enrol on a short course, pay if it is priced, work through its content and download your certificate.
Who this guide is for
You are taking a short course: a course the institution offers to anyone, with no application and no entry requirements. A short course is not part of a degree and gives no marks or grade point average.
If you already have an account at the institution, as a student or member of staff, you do not need a new one: sign in with it and open Short courses in the menu.
Before you start
On the institution's website, open Short courses and select About this course on the course you want.
Under Sign up to take this course, enter your First name, Surname and Email address, then select Sign up.
Open the email you are sent and follow its link. Enter a New Password and Confirm Password, then select Set Password. The link works for 72 hours.
If nothing arrives, check your spam folder. If you already had an account, the email tells you to sign in with it instead.
Enrol on a course
Sign in. You land on My short courses, which lists the courses you are on and how far through each you are.
Open Course catalogue to see every course that is open, and select View course on the one you want.
Select Enrol for free, or Enrol with the price on a priced course.
A course with dates opens its content on its start date and takes no new enrolments after its end date. A self-paced course never closes.
Pay for a priced course
After you enrol, the course shows Pay for this course. Choose how to pay under Pay with, then select Pay with the amount.
Select Continue to the payment page and pay there, or, for a bank transfer, transfer the amount shown using the reference given.
Your place is confirmed when the payment is. The course page updates by itself, and Payments lists what you have paid.
The content opens as soon as the payment is confirmed.
Work through the course
Open the course from My short courses and select Continue. The course is laid out in modules and units.
Watch, read, download or open each item. When you have finished it, select Mark as complete, then select Next to go on.
Items marked Optional do not count towards finishing. When every required item is complete, the course shows You have completed this course.
Get your certificate
When every required item is complete, the institution issues your certificate straight away; you are also sent an email saying it is ready.
Open the course from My short courses.
Under Your certificate, note the Certificate number, then select Download certificate (PDF).
Print it or send the file to whoever asks for it. It carries the institution's letterhead, your name, the course, the date you completed it and its number.
Anybody you show it to can check it is genuine: on the institution's website, open Short courses, select Check a certificate, enter the number and select Check. The address printed at the foot of the certificate opens the same check with the number filled in.
If the institution withdraws a certificate, the course page says it has been revoked and it can no longer be downloaded; anybody who checks its number is told it was revoked. Contact the institution if you think this is a mistake.
Tips and common questions
A course I am on has vanished from the catalogue. The institution has stopped taking new enrolments on it. You keep your place: open it from My short courses.
My payment shows Paid short. Less than the course price arrived. Contact the institution.
My payment shows Paid twice. You were charged twice for the same course; the institution will refund the second payment.
Try it yourself in the live demo.