This course presents the MS Outlook application interface, tools, and features. You will learn about the fundamentals of an e-mail application, scheduling, calendars, contact lists, creating, forwarding and managing messages. This course relies heavily upon hands-on practical activities that allow you to learn concepts by practicing them on a regular basis.

This course introduces the students to word processing with Microsoft Word. Relying heavily on a hands-on practical training approach, students learn by doing skills based simulations, training and assessments. Learners will focus on the core features of Microsoft Word such as proper document formatting, organization and editing using the tools and features of the ribbon. The course will then continue with more advanced topics such as working with tables, lists, objects, templates footnotes and endnotes and mail merges. Students will explore the collaboration features that allow users to share and collaborate on documents through the use of track changes, sharing and reviewing.

The workplace of the twenty-first century demands excellent communication skills. The focus of this course is on learning writing techniques that ensure effective business communication. Following the completion of this course, students will be able to achieve effective writing styles, apply skillful writing techniques used in business communications in today’s workplace. This includes communicating in teams using listening, nonverbal and meeting skills; planning, writing and reviewing various types of business messages; communicating effectively using memos, email, letters and instant messages; creating business reports and proposals; plan, writing and delivering oral presentations.

This course provides the student with an overview of social media its evolution and how it has come to occupy such an important role in how companies do business and connect with their customers. The course will explore how social media can be integrated into a company’s traditional and online marketing initiatives. Students will learn how to leverage social media and its tools to implement reputation management, customer service, marketing, contests and other strategies. The importance of defining and setting goals as well as identifying the appropriate key performance indicators will be covered. The course will provide an overview of the various social media platforms, examine their similarities and differences and these can be leveraged for different marketing initiatives. Students will learn how to plan a social media persona and explore the fundamental features and functionality of the different platforms such as hashtags, sharing, and tagging. Finally, the course will explore the concept of online privacy and how social media addresses the issue of privacy. Students will learn about the ways, both negative and positive, that social media can impact one’s personal and professional life by exploring cases of use and misuse of the various social media platforms.

Content posted to social media platforms is potentially viewed by millions of viewers. It is imperative that the content is appropriate and meets the goals of the brand, campaign or initiative. This course will explore the different types of content that is posted to social media. Students will learn to write as their online persona and explore the different writing styles. The do’s and don’ts of writing are examined to ensure content has the desired effect. Students will learn to write with the purpose of responding to criticism and manage reputation. Students will learn how to write for marketing purposes including sales and lead generation. This course is rooted in the exploration of the use of Google AdWords to create keywords and ad copy configurations resulting in winning ad copy and pay-per-click campaign optimization. 

The goal of creating content and posting it to Social Media platforms is to create quality content in any platform with calls to action to generate interaction and sharing. This course focuses on the techniques methods and strategies used to create content that will be shareable with the intent of having it reach the largest possible audience. Students will learn sharing and collaborative strategies, hashtags and the creation of contests specifically to achieve the intended goals. 

Knowing what people and competitors are saying about you and your business is crucial information that allows a business to react and respond to trends, public image and ultimately make important decisions that impact the business as a whole.  In this course students will discover how to capture what others are saying about you and your business. The course will explore the different social media tools and software available to aggregate and find what others are saying. Students will 
learn how to capture KPI’s, sentiment, followers, negative content and complaints. Students will learn how to implement the use of Google AdWords and Google Analytics, to analyze and track the performance of their postings. 

Facebook is without question one of the most recognized and used social media platform. It goes without saying that it is an extremely important if not crucial platform when it comes to social media marketing initiatives. This course will provide a more in depth look at Facebook the platform, its role, its use, tools and its features in particular how these lend themselves well to social media marketing initiatives. Students will discover Facebook blueprint curriculum and certification paths. The course will explore the concept of organic posts versus promoted posts and advertising in relation to Facebook.

This course will provide a more in depth look at the Twitter platform, its role, its use, tools and its features in particular how these can be used for social media marketing initiatives. The course will explore the concept of organic posts versus promoted posts and advertising in relation to Twitter. Students will learn how to implement marketing strategies and initiatives using Twitter as the deployment vehicle, use twitter to reach and maintain a community and reach influencers and other members to grow a community. The course also explores how to create and manage Twitter Ads and build a content creation strategy. 

This course provides an overview of the Instagram Platform and its primary function as a mobile photo and video sharing service. Students will learn how marketing initiatives work in the Instagram platform. The course will explore and compare organic posts, promoted posts and advertising in the Instagram platform. This course will explore how to use Instagram to build your brand with the power of pictures.

The purpose of this course is to provide the students with an overview of additional Social Media platforms. Students will be provided with an overview of the function role and tools associated with a variety of newer or more specialized social media platforms including SnapChat, Reddit, LinkedIn and others. By gaining an understanding of the target audiences for these platforms, students will learn when to use these platforms and what types of marketing initiatives can be supported by them. Students will discover and explore the advertising opportunities within each platform.

YouTube is the most popular video sharing platform. This offers a multitude of possibilities for businesses to efficiently expose and display their products directly to potential customers globally. This course will explore in greater depth the marketing potential attached to YouTube. Students will start by exploring the features and use of industry standard video editing software allowing them to gain skill in the production and editing of video sequences that can be used within the YouTube platform. Students will explore the platform, its function, role, its features and tools and in particular how these can be leveraged for marketing strategies. Students will discover Google YouTube curriculum for YouTube ads and how it is used. Finally, the course will explore organic videos versus promoted videos versus advertising in relation to YouTube. 

This course builds on the skills learned in the Student Success Strategies course or its equivalent. It provides information on how to use the communication skills learned in order to make a successful presentation to a prospective employer. Students also learn how to uncover the hidden job market and identify employment opportunities. Self-assessment during this course allows students to identify their personal skills that are transferable to the workplace and to describe these skills to a prospective employer. Students may be videotaped during a mock interview and will participate in the analysis of their performance in the “interview”.