Skillport Online Professional Development

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The Office of Human Resources is pleased to announce the launch of skillport.nd.edu, an online professional development resource available to all benefit-eligible faculty and staff.

The Skillport library – powered by Skillsoft – contains thousands of courses, video programs, books and other materials that can be accessed from any web-connected computer at skillport.nd.edu.

Online courses, books, videos, and more

The Skillport platform is powered by Skillsoft’s huge library of online courseware, popular book titles, video programs, and other training resources.

Online Courses

Skillsoft’s library includes nearly 1000 online courses in such topics as

• communications
• process improvement (including Lean Six Sigma)
• marketing, finance and accounting
• project management, and hundreds more.

Sample courses include:

• Active Listening Skills for Professionals, 30 minutes (5 modules)
• Customer Service Fundamentals: Building Rapport in Customer Relationships, 56 minutes (3 modules)
• Sustaining Six Sigma Improvements, 2 hours 17 minutes (7 modules)
• Leadership Essentials: Communicating Vision, 58 minutes (3 modules)

Browse the Business Skills course topics online or review the course catalog (PDF).

Videos

Skillsoft’s library features over 4,500 video programs from top authors, business scholars, and executives on such topics as:

• Time management and productivity
• Influence and persuasion
• Change and innovation, and many more.

Sample video titles include:

• Develop Executive Presence to Achieve Next-Level Results, 4 minutes
• Managing for People Who Hate Managing, 2 minutes
• Networking for Introverts, 3 minutes
• A Call Center True Story, 5 minutes
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, 8 videos, 2-4 minutes each

Books

Skillsoft’s library offers instant online access to thousands of titles from the most reputable publishers and authors on such topics as leadership, well-being, project management, and more.

Sample book titles include:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Steven Covey, 1989, 368 pages)
• Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Boomers, Gen Xers, and Gen Yers in the Workplace (Ron Zemke, 2013, 321 pages)
• Project Management for Dummies (Stanley E. Portny, 2007, 386 pages)
• Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to Be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet (Kathy Freston, 2011, 306 pages)
• Strong Kids, Healthy Kids: The Revolutionary Program for Increasing Your Child’s Fitness in 30 Minutes a Week (Frederick Hahn, 2009, 177 pages)

How faculty and staff may use Skillport

Skillport promises to change the way professional development takes place at Notre Dame. Skillport supplements the University’s existing professional development offerings by enabling users to engage in the development activities that meet their unique needs – and schedules – anytime, day or night.

• Development goals. Users who have identified professional development goals – such as staff who have set development goals at the beginning of a performance management cycle – may search for training content related to those goals. Staff may even list titles from the Skillsoft library within their development goals for the performance year.

• Personal development interests. Users may browse for and participate in any title of interest anytime, whether on the job with manager’s approval, or on their own time to satisfy a personal development interest.

How managers may use Skillport

In addition to utilizing the Skillsoft library for their own development goals or interests as described above, leaders and managers may also find the Skillport library an invaluable tool in the management of their direct reports.

• Leadership tools. Managers may open meetings with short videos, or incorporate videos or short portions of courses into workshops or other team-building events.
• Assigned training. Managers will soon be able to assemble a series of one or more Skillsoft titles and assign those titles to staff.

Managers and supervisors should always work with their employees to discuss and create professional development goals, especially at the start of each performance year. Please utilize the Notre Dame Skillport library to assist these efforts by:

• Engaging with your direct reports to select Skillport titles that fit their development plans
• Allowing staff regular, uninterrupted learning appointments

Start using Skillport now

To begin, visit skillport.nd.edu. Once you’ve logged in with your ND NetID, you may:

• click Browse the Library (at top)
• use the Search box (at top right).
• explore the featured categories on the home page.

Watch this page for more information about how Skillport might benefit you.

More about Skillport