University of Washington Human Resources

LinkedIn Learning, POD Picks & Yoodli

LinkedIn Learning — free for UW employees

See POD Picks for recommended LinkedIn Learning below.

• On-demand training: Access thousands of courses on business skills, leadership, project management, productivity, software/IT and other areas.
• Certifications: Earn professional certificates in Adobe, Microsoft and other applications, or access practice exams for project management and other areas.
• My Career Journey: Based on your current role and stated goals, LinkedIn Learning will create a custom learning plan for you.
• AI-powered coaching: Practice and prepare for challenging conversations via an AI assistant that provides feedback.

LinkedIn Learning NetID sign-in

Connecting your free LinkedIn Learning account with your LinkedIn profile enables the platform to suggest learning for you and makes it easy to add completed courses to your profile.

POD Picks

POD has scoured the LinkedIn Learning catalog for engaging and impactful content. Check out the selections below and check back regularly for more hand-picked recommendations.

AI-Enhanced Productivity

• AI Agents for Everyday Professionals: This course is presented for someone who has a base knowledge of AI tools already but is looking to automate repetitive tasks with AI agent workflows without needing to code. In 36 minutes, learners are shown how to take AI to the next level for automating regular work tasks and/or analyzing data from templates or from scratch.
• Amplify Your Critical Thinking with Generative AI: Are you currently using generative AI or want to dive in but worry about potential biases or accuracy? This one-hour course helps learners identify biases in generative AI and their own thinking, along with applicable tools to question AI, improve prompts, use generative AI to check its own biases in outputs, and other strategies to overcome generative AI’s inability to think critically while still utilizing its vast knowledge.
  • Pro tip: This course merits 2 continuing professional education credits and 1 professional development unit. Whether taking for credit or not, be sure to have a note-taking device handy to write down some of the prompts and suggestions to utilize the next time you use Copilot, ChatGPT or a similar generative AI tool.
• CoPilot in PowerPoint: From Prompt to Presentation: This 51 minute course is beginner friendly, walking viewers through CoPilot’s features and usability to create, adapt, and upgrade PowerPoint presentations.
  • Pro tip: Follow along and pause for practical application, and build a presentation in the duration of the course.
• Microsoft Copilot: The Art of Prompt Writing: In about 45 minutes, this straightforward video-based course walks learners through improving prompt-writing skills to enhance productivity across Microsoft applications.
  • Pro tip: Select “Contents” towards the top left of the screen in LinkedIn Learning to access an outline of the course content. To save time:
    • • Skip the short “Understand the Copilot subscriptions” video in the Introduction section. (UW provides Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection.)
      • In the section on Prompt Examples, jump to a specific Microsoft application of interest, such as Teams, Word or PowerPoint.
  • Related resources: Learn more about accessing and using Microsoft Copilot at the UW.

Communications & Interpersonal Skills

• Communicating with Confidence: Want to feel more confident speaking up in a Zoom meeting, giving a presentation or leading a discussion? This dynamic 1.25-hour course delivers a wealth of useful strategies and techniques with wit and impact. Learn how to manage your message, master your voice and body language, and handle nervousness as you become a more impactful, influential and confident communicator.
  • Pro tip: Although this course is brief, taking it over a few days or even weeks will give you a chance to practice and incorporate the techniques presented.
• Digital Body Language: As more and more communication happens digitally, the importance of building trust and adding empathy into digital communication is ever-important. In 43 minutes, this course is designed to help improve effectiveness in messaging to colleagues, bosses, clients, family and more, in the digital world.
  • Pro tip: Before and/or after the course, you may ask a colleague for feedback on your communication in the virtual world. Ask about what you do well and what may be a focus area of improvement. Having fresh feedback while going through this course may inspire specific modules to focus in on, or help with making goals upon completion of the course.
• The Four Tendencies: How to Build Better Habits and Relationships at Work: After taking a short (and free) personality test, this 51 minute course is especially helpful for learners to become familiar with their own and others’ tendencies, as well as their impact on individuals’ approach to work. Providing applicable tips for motivating ones self and others, this course is helpful to leaders and individual contributors alike.
  • Pro tip: Take the free personality test, linked in the course notes, before starting the course to get the most from your viewing time.
• Giving and Receiving Feedback: Don’t wait for your performance evaluation to get more comfortable with asking for, giving, and receiving feedback. In just 11 minutes, this course gives tools, phrases and strategies that can be implemented immediately.

People, Project and Program Management

• Essentials of Team Collaboration: Whether you’re managing a new team or hoping to reinvigorate an existing one, collaboration is key for leveraging expertise, enhancing problem-solving, improving morale and producing better outcomes. In just half an hour, this self-paced course identifies simple techniques and activities you can use with your team to enhance relationships and improve collaboration.
  • Pro tip: This course merits 1.2 continuing professional education credits and 0.5 professional development units.
• Project Leadership: In just over 2.5 hours, this video-based course delves into tactical and interpersonal aspects of leading a project, including establishing a high-level project vision, motivating and developing your team, and applying emotional intelligence and other behaviors to help your team achieve peak performance.
  • Pro tip: If you don’t have the time or interest in completing the entire course, skip to the sections most pertinent to you: Sections 1 and 2 focus on tactical aspects of getting a project off the ground, section 3 covers self-awareness and emotional intelligence, and sections 4 and 5 revolve around motivating team members, situational leadership and high-performing teams.

Productivity & Technical Expertise

• Excel Essential Training (Microsoft 365): Get up to speed with Microsoft Excel, from understanding options in Excel’s menu, the basics of entering and organizing data, creating and formatting charts, and building PivotTables. An end-of-course exam tests your knowledge.
  • Pro tip: Download the exercise files for hands-on practice.
• Presenting Data Effectively to Inform and Inspire: Are you regularly presenting data-heavy information, or maybe preparing for a one-time presentation where you need your data to tell a story but do not know where to start? Whatever your situation is, presenting data can create great impact when done well, or fall flat and slow your progress down when ineffective. This 1 hour 37 minute course explores how to choose what data you present, who to present it to, and how to present it, forming emotional connections with your audience while bringing humanity to your data. With the goal of helping your audience see and remember your data more accurately, this course will also help you prevent a boring presentation.
  • Pro tip: If you do not have time for the full course, this is separated well by topic and presented in a way where you can pick and choose what you need from the course while skipping over your current areas of expertise.

Self-Development

• Building Resilience: In this 43-minute course, learners get quick tips and tools to help make adjustments that are simple — if not necessarily easy! — to bounce forward through tough moments and setbacks. From reframing self-speak to building internal and external support systems, Clinical Psychologist Emily Anhalt focuses on emotional agility skills to help meet current and future challenges.
  • Pro tip: This course merits 1.6 continuing professional education credits and .5 professional development units.
    
• Nano Tips to Foster a Growth Mindset and Mental Agility: Language and self-talk can drastically shift our performance at work and in life. As part of the Nano Tips series, this course provides tips, reminders and techniques for shifting focus of inner dialogue to growth language, overcoming obstacles, receiving compliments or feedback, and more — all in just 8 minutes. If you’re looking for a jumpstart to developing your growth mindset, this course is an easy starting point.
  • Pro tip: Because this course is so short, make some personal goals of what you want to put into practice and then revisit the course in a month. Focus on one or two small changes and set a calendar invite for self-evaluation a month after you initially complete the course.
• Tips to Boost your Focus at Work: This brief 25-minute course reviews the neurobiology of how to work smarter, not harder. It includes practical tips, is easy to follow, and helpful for learners who are having trouble focusing on tasks or getting distracted through the day.
  • Pro tip: Take notes on actionable tools provided throughout the course, then select one at a time to try for a couple weeks. See what works best for you!

Yoodli AI coach

Free for UW employees, this AI-based communication tool can help you prepare for everything from presentations to difficult conversations and job interviews. Through Yoodli you can receive private feedback and practice custom roleplay scenarios.