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Online Courses

Learn poetry anywhere in the world

Our online programme of poetry courses and workshops makes learning poetry accessible to everyone, all from the comfort of your kitchen table. We offer online courses three terms a year and free learning activities all year round, both via CAMPUS, our social network for poets, giving you access at any time, from any place.

Year on year, we offer one of the largest programmes of online poetry courses in the world, covering a huge array of subjects and techniques, and available to you with as little as an Internet connection. Much like our face-to-face teaching, each online course is facilitated by one of our experienced tutors, who will provide quality writing assignments, reading material and personalised feedback on your poems, but in this instance, all via a virtual classroom.

Up to a fifth of all our online course students are based outside of the UK, from America and Canada to India, Germany, Singapore, Mexico, Uzbekistan and Australia. And the majority of our online courses are suitable to all levels of poets, employing a peer-to-peer model of education that draws strength from the diversity of voices from our students across the globe.

All our Online Courses

‘Concept Books’ & Cumulative Writing (International)

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Tutor: Shazea Quraishi

‘Concept Books’ & Cumulative Writing (International)

Explore writing around a unifying idea to create a multi-faceted, cumulative 'concept book’.

Start Date: January 11, 2021
End Date: March 24, 2021 ( 73 Days )
Type: Online

Letting Your Avant-Garde Down (International)

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Tutor: Caleb Parkin

Letting Your Avant-Garde Down (International)

An invitation to innovate, explore, and take risks with your writing.

Start Date: January 11, 2021
End Date: March 22, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

Fortnightly Feedback with Carrie Etter (Prose Poems Edition)

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Tutor: Carrie Etter

Fortnightly Feedback with Carrie Etter (Prose Poems Edition)

Knock your loose prose poems into shape with some concentrated feedback from expert in the field, Carrie Etter.

Start Date: January 11, 2021
End Date: March 29, 2021 ( 78 Days )
Type: Online

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Tutor: Agnieszka Studzinska

‘Dialogues in Dwelling’ (Masterclass)

Navigate critical thinking around notions of place, space, and dwelling, as a springboard for writing innovative new poetry.

Start Date: January 11, 2021
End Date: April 12, 2021 ( 92 Days )
Type: Online

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Shazea Quraishi (Spring 2021)

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Tutor: Shazea Quraishi

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Shazea Quraishi (Spring 2021)

Develop your writing through discussion, feedback, and writing prompts in this advanced workshop with Shazea Quraishi.

Start Date: January 11, 2021 6.45pm
End Date: March 15, 2021 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Anthony Anaxagorou (Spring 2021)

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Tutor: Anthony Anaxagorou

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Anthony Anaxagorou (Spring 2021)

Develop your writing through discussion and feedback in one of our flagship advanced workshops, led by Anthony Anaxagorou.

Start Date: January 11, 2021 2.00pm
End Date: March 15, 2021 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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Tutor: Wayne Holloway-Smith

What Now? (Advanced, Spring 2021)

Take the next steps in your poetry career and explore contemporary poetry’s cutting-edge.

Start Date: January 11, 2021 6.45pm
End Date: March 15, 2021 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

Reverberations: The Poetry of Music (Masterclass)

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Tutor: Peter Hughes

Reverberations: The Poetry of Music (Masterclass)

Explore rhythm, form, and harmony in the wordless patterns of music as inspiration for new poems.

Start Date: January 12, 2021
End Date: April 13, 2021 ( 92 Days )
Type: Online

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Tutor: Wayne Holloway-Smith

What Now? (Intermediate, Spring 2021)

Explore contemporary poetry's cutting-edge to expand your own practice.

Start Date: January 12, 2021 6.45pm
End Date: March 16, 2021 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

Transreading Endangered Languages (Spring 2021)

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Tutor: Clare Pollard

Transreading Endangered Languages (Spring 2021)

Explore writing in endangered languages, consider the politics of translation, and push your own poetry in completely new directions.

Start Date: January 12, 2021
End Date: March 23, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

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Tutor: Tamar Yoseloff

Read & Respond (Spring 2021)

Join MA tutor Tamar Yoseloff for a close examination of many styles and approaches to hone your skills and bring your poetry to new and exciting places!

Start Date: January 12, 2021 6.45pm
End Date: March 16, 2021 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

Intermediate Poetry Workshop (Spring 2021)

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Tutor: Tim Dooley

Intermediate Poetry Workshop (Spring 2021)

Tim Dooley’s weekly workshop for poets looking to develop their individual voice and technique.

Start Date: January 13, 2021 2.00pm
End Date: March 17, 2021 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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Writing (& Writing Through) the Animal Other in the Age of the Anthropocene (Masterclass)

Consider how we might write about our ‘animals others’ in an age of mass extinction.

Start Date: January 13, 2021
End Date: April 14, 2021 ( 92 Days )
Type: Online

Surviving the Future: Poetry for Pre-Apocalyptic Times Suzannah Evans

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Tutor: Suzannah Evans

Surviving the Future: Poetry for Pre-Apocalyptic Times Suzannah Evans

When the apocalypse draws near, can poetry point to a brighter future?

Start Date: January 13, 2021
End Date: March 24, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

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Tutor: Jacqueline Saphra

Creative Constraint (Spring 2021)

Mix up your writing and learn new skills and techniques with Jacqueline Saphra.

Start Date: January 13, 2021 6.45pm
End Date: March 24, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Mark Waldron (Spring 2021)

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Tutor: Mark Waldron

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Mark Waldron (Spring 2021)

Develop your writing through discussion and feedback in this advanced course with Mark Waldron.

Start Date: January 13, 2021 6.45pm
End Date: March 17, 2021 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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Tutor: Meryl Pugh

First Encounters (Spring 2021)

Take your first steps into the world of poetry!

Start Date: January 14, 2021 6.45pm
End Date: March 18, 2021 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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Tutor: Zakia Carpenter-Hall

Myth, Body, Belief

Start to depict your own multitudes and forge pathways of poetic connection.

Start Date: January 14, 2021
End Date: March 25, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Richard Price (Spring 2021)

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Tutor: Richard Price

Advanced Poetry Workshop with Richard Price (Spring 2021)

Develop your writing through discussion and feedback in this advanced workshop with prize-winning poet, Richard Price.

Start Date: January 15, 2021 11.00am
End Date: March 19, 2021 ( 64 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

Poetry Between Body, Self & World: Transreading Nan Shepherd

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Tutor: Samantha Walton

Poetry Between Body, Self & World: Transreading Nan Shepherd

Take inspiration from Nan Shepherd to explore how language can live between the body, self, and natural world.

Start Date: January 15, 2021
End Date: March 26, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

Persian Poetry Through the Ages: From Rumi & Hafez to Forough Farrokhzad & Kaveh Akbar

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Tutor: Natasha Hakimi Zapata

Persian Poetry Through the Ages: From Rumi & Hafez to Forough Farrokhzad & Kaveh Akbar

Take inspiration from a poetic tradition filled with imaginative verse and spanning more than eight centuries.

Start Date: January 15, 2021
End Date: March 26, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

Saturday Sessions with Ros Barber (Spring 2021)

£177.00 *

Tutor: Ros Barber

Saturday Sessions with Ros Barber (Spring 2021)

Monthly all-day Saturday workshops with Ros Barber.

Start Date: January 16, 2021 10.30am
End Date: March 13, 2021 ( 57 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

'The Doors of Perception': Pop Culture & Poetry (International)

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Tutor: Leah Umansky

'The Doors of Perception': Pop Culture & Poetry (International)

Explore new approaches in your writing through the lens of pop culture!

Start Date: January 18, 2021
End Date: March 29, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

Poetry Beyond Semantics: Broken & Unbroken Code – Studio+

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Tutor: VVBT

Poetry Beyond Semantics: Broken & Unbroken Code – Studio+

Explore the intimacy of poetry on the boundaries of the readerly and discover new possibilities for what poems can be.

Start Date: January 18, 2021
End Date: February 22, 2021 ( 36 Days )
Type: Online

Between Translation & Creation: Transreading Chinese Art & Films

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Tutor: Jennifer Wong

Between Translation & Creation: Transreading Chinese Art & Films

Flex your Transreading skills and write new poetry inspired by Chinese art & films.

Start Date: January 19, 2021
End Date: March 30, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

The Perpetual Latin of Love (Spring 2021)

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Tutor: Daisy Lafarge

The Perpetual Latin of Love (Spring 2021)

Find inspiration in the language of science and organisational systems to create innovative new poetry.

Start Date: January 20, 2021
End Date: March 31, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

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Tutor: Christina Thatcher

Taboo: Saying the Unsaid (Spring 2021)

Confront forbidden topics through a literary lens.

Start Date: January 21, 2021
End Date: April 1, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

Different Voices: Poetry as Dialogue & Assembly (International)

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Tutor: Kate Potts

Different Voices: Poetry as Dialogue & Assembly (International)

Discover the possibilities of multi-vocal poetry on the page.

Start Date: January 21, 2021
End Date: April 1, 2021 ( 71 Days )
Type: Online

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Tutor: Jeremy Noel-Tod

T.S. Eliot Prize Preview 2021

Explore the T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist with The Sunday Times poetry critic Jeremy Noel-Tod.

Start Date: January 24, 2021 2pm
End Date: January 24, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Events, Online

The Art of Desire Studio, or “I want I want I want!”

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Tutor: Rachel Long

The Art of Desire Studio, or “I want I want I want!”

‘I want it all. I want it all. And I want it now’. Delve into desire with Rachel Long.

Start Date: January 24, 2021
End Date: February 21, 2021 ( 29 Days )
Type: Online

Body & Illness: The Language of Empathy Studio

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Tutor: Romalyn Ante

Body & Illness: The Language of Empathy Studio

Consider poetic and empathetic responses to human fragility, illness, and mortality.

Start Date: February 1, 2021
End Date: March 1, 2021 ( 29 Days )
Type: Online • Location:

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Tutor: Khairani Barokka

Archives Studio

Rummage through the archives with Khairani Barokka to inspire new historically-minded poems.

Start Date: February 3, 2021
End Date: March 3, 2021 ( 29 Days )
Type: Online

Poetry Surgery with Will Harris (Spring 2021)

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Tutor: Will Harris

Poetry Surgery with Will Harris (Spring 2021)

In-depth 1-2-1 discussion on your poetry with Will Harris.

Start Date: February 5, 2021 10.30am
End Date: February 5, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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Tutor: Katrina Naomi

Joyful Noise: Poetry & Happiness

2020’s been rough; so, let’s look to the bright side and explore happy poems with Katrina Naomi!

Start Date: February 6, 2021 10.30am
End Date: February 13, 2021 ( 8 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

Whale Song, Bloop, Bubble: Deep Sea Listening as Poetic Practice

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Tutor: Nisha Ramayya

Whale Song, Bloop, Bubble: Deep Sea Listening as Poetic Practice

Bring your ears to the water and take inspiration from the natural, and manmade, sounds of the deep.

Start Date: February 20, 2021 10.30am
End Date: March 6, 2021 ( 15 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

“There are still secrets to exhume”: Contemporary Gothic Poetry

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Tutor: Nisha Bhakoo

“There are still secrets to exhume”: Contemporary Gothic Poetry

Unearth the uncanny, as we exhume the secrets of contemporary Gothic writing.

Start Date: February 20, 2021 2pm
End Date: February 27, 2021 ( 8 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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Tutor: Eleanor Penny

Dadaism: Monsters, Machines, & Madness

Trace the long cultural trail of Dada before turning its tools onto contemporary problems.

Start Date: February 20, 2021 2pm
End Date: March 6, 2021 ( 15 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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Tutor: Hannah Lowe

"Happy Those Early Days!': Writing the Child Self

Move beyond simple nostalgia to explore childhood, and writing the ‘child self’, on its own terms.

Start Date: February 27, 2021 10:30am
End Date: March 14, 2021 ( 16 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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Tutor: James Davies

Super Sestina Studio

Learn the skills, tricks, and turns needed to truly master the sestina!

Start Date: March 1, 2021
End Date: March 29, 2021 ( 29 Days )
Type: Online

Poetry Surgery with Timothy Donnelly (Spring 2021)

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Tutor: Timothy Donnelly

Poetry Surgery with Timothy Donnelly (Spring 2021)

In-depth 1-2-1 discussion on your poetry with Timothy Donnelly.

Start Date: March 12, 2021 2.30pm
End Date: March 12, 2021 ( 1 Day )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

Poetry & Syntax: An Emergency Toothpick in an Imaginary Landscape

£75.00 *

Tutor: Astrid Alben

Poetry & Syntax: An Emergency Toothpick in an Imaginary Landscape

Learn to outwit, cajole, and break free from syntax to transcend poetic writing and produce true works of art.

Start Date: March 13, 2021 10:30am
End Date: March 27, 2021 ( 15 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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Tutor: Ed Luker & Holly Pester

Dreaming Non Sensing

A collaborative dreaming and writing un-workshop.

Start Date: March 20, 2021 10.30am
End Date: March 27, 2021 ( 8 Days )
Type: Face-to-Face, Online

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How Online Works

Online courses take place in CAMPUS, our digital platform for poets. CAMPUS is a Social Learning Network (SLN) that lives as part of The Poetry School website, so if you already have an account with us, you can access it straight away.

If you don’t currently have an account with The Poetry School, then you can register for free here.

Our online courses are structured according to regular fortnightly sessions (on average this amounts to 5 assignments over 10 weeks). Some also contain scheduled live chats, a ‘real time’, live-typed chatroom discussion between the tutor and students. Each term we offer a mixture of generative classes (writing new poems), feedback classes (honing old ones) and reading classes (learning more about poetry).

Each online course has its own dedicated private group in CAMPUS. Once you book a course you will automatically be enrolled and be able to access your course group. You will use your course group to post messages, interact with other poets, participate in live chats, submit poems and download assignments and reading lists. Everything is transcribed and kept for you in your group and you will be able to access everything – poems, messages, assignments, live chat transcripts – for as long as you need to.

We have worked hard to make CAMPUS as fuss-free and as close to face-to-face teaching as possible, with the additional benefits of convenience and access that online allows. If you are new to online learning, and unsure about whether it is suitable, please go to our IS ONLINE RIGHT FOR ME? section below.

ARE YOU AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT?

As well as normal online programme, we also run a small selection of International Courses, which are exactly the same as our other online courses, but don’t contain any live chats or other synchronous learning elements, and are fully accessible regardless of what time zone you live in. Just look out for the ‘International Courses’ label in the course title. (Please also note that our Fortnightly Feedback, Studios and Masterclasses are also fully accessible to international poets).

What will I learn?

Each online course consists of a mixture of reading, discussion and writing exercises to stimulate thoughts, creative expression and technical craft, alongside encouragement and constructive feedback from your tutor and peers on your finished work.

Content will vary course to course, but on all our online courses you can expect the following:

reading, writing and thinking about poetry in different ways
exposure to new writers, voices, forms and styles
the confidence to write more and devote more time to writing
generating new work (on average 4-5 finished poems per course)
discovery of new areas and subjects for research
better understanding of how to make choices (length, theme, tone, etc)
enhanced critical skills
practical advice on further development

We pride ourselves on the standard of our teaching and the poetry produced on every one of our courses. Many of our online students have gone on to successfully submit their course work for publication in magazines and journals, and had success in competitions. But don’t take it from us: read some of our many student testimonials.

Course formats

The Poetry School offers a wide variety of online courses, and subject matter and structure varies from term to term, so please always check the course information carefully.

We have five main types of online course:

Interactive Courses consist of one assignment posted per ‘session’ every fortnight. (Most courses last for 5 fortnightly sessions over 10 weeks). You will be expected to post poems in response to an assignment, and then feedback on each other’s work in your CAMPUS online group forum. Each session culminates in a 2 hour live chatroom exchange with your course tutor and fellow students, where all the latest poems are examined in a free-flowing, live-typed discussion. All live chats are then transcribed and archived for students to re-read whenever they want. New assignments are posted after each live chat. Class size = 12 maximum.

Note: most our interactive courses are fully adaptable to international students and others who might have difficulty making all the live chats. To find out more information, please email [email protected]

International Courses are exactly the same as Interactive courses, but there are no live chats, making them accessible to students and tutors who live in all international time zones. All feedback and discussion on these courses is written/typed via the private group message board. Class size = 12 maximum.

Transreading courses – co-curated with Elżbieta Wójcik-Leese – invite us to write poems and translations in response to wide readings. Like translators, we read ‘the originals’ closely and intimately in order to transcend cultures, languages, and genres. We read voraciously: poems brought to English by translation, multilingual texts, fiction, nonfiction, drama, archives, ephemera, visual arts. Through trans-reading and trans-writing, we open our poetries to the multi-literate world. Transreading courses, without live chats, are suitable for UK and international students. Class size = 12 maximum.

Fortnightly Feedback courses are a good way to polish up poems-in-progress, and early draft work you are preparing for submission or preparation. Students share and leave written feedback within their CAMPUS online group forum only. There is no live chat component. These courses are suitable for UK & international students. Class size = 16 maximum.

Poetry Studios are short, intensive poetry writing courses that last 3-4 weeks. Unlike our standard 10 week courses, the emphasis on ‘Studios’ is more heavily skewed towards writing and getting words on the page, with a softer focus on group feedback and editing. Class size = 16 maximum.

Masterclasses are 12 week courses with a much deeper consideration of technical craft and critical theory. For advanced students only: fluency with poetic language and ideas will be assumed. There are no live chats and they are suitable for UK and International students. Class size = 10 maximum.

Subject matter and level of ability for each course vary hugely from term to term.

Is Online right for me?

Online courses are open to all students but a basic level of digital literacy is essential. The Poetry School can help you with CAMPUS technical issues, but you need to be a confident user of digital platforms to take part in these classes. To find out whether an online course is right for you, please take our self-assessment quiz.

No specialist software is required – you just need a computer, tablet or mobile device and a wifi connection. All the live chats are typed/written and done in a multi-user chat room on CAMPUS, and due to the fast pace of these sessions, it is recommended you use a laptop or PC, or a tablet/smartphone with a keyboard attachment.

FAQ

Help! I’m having technical problems

Please email [email protected] if you’re having issues with CAMPUS or the Poetry School website. If it’s a local technical issue (i.e., with your computer, not our website) then please seek advice or help from a friend.

What happens if everyone on my course is much better than I am?

‘Better’ is very subjective. Our online courses are designed to be non-partisan, as we believe the best kind of educational experience we can offer is one where all types of student can meet and collaborate meaningfully with one another regardless of how they each self-identify (beginner, amateur, pro). There will be some poets in every group that, even though they have publishing credits, still feel very much like starters. Once you’ve got through the first session, you’ll see how useful, supportive and generous being in a large group of poets of varying levels can be. Many advanced poets also like having new writers in the group, as they tend to have very fresh and original approaches to reading work. All contributions will be extremely welcome.

Will I receive a certificate at the end?

Unfortunately we don’t do those. If you’re interested in something fully accredited, and you’re based in the UK, we do offer a Writing Poetry MA.

I desperately want to do a particular course, but I can’t make the live chats. Can I still do the course?

We’re happy to be flexible with individual course arrangements. Just let us know before or after you’ve enrolled and we will try accommodate you onto your course the best way possible. It’s not always feasible, but we do what we can. If you’re based abroad, then we offer a range of International Courses each term that have no live chats, as well as Feedback, Studio and Online Reading courses.

All our Online Courses

How Online Works

What will I learn?

Course formats

Is Online right for me?

FAQ

Help! I’m having technical problems

What happens if everyone on my course is much better than I am?

Will I receive a certificate at the end?

I desperately want to do a particular course, but I can’t make the live chats. Can I still do the course?

The activity I want is fully booked – what can I do?

Find a Course