The next run of the Open Online Courses starts on Monday 10 February, and don’t worry – there’s still time to sign up!
The three courses: Global Citizenship, Innovation and Enterprise, and Sustainable Futures are hosted on the online platform FutureLearn and are a fantastic way to expand your learning, develop your skills and share your knowledge with learners across the world.
To help you make the most of the courses, the University of Bristol employs students to work as online mentors. Lots of these mentors have been with us since the courses launched, so we’ve asked a couple of them about what is that they enjoy about the Bristol Futures Open Online Courses.
Issy – Global Citizenship course mentor
What has been the most enjoyable element of working as a Bristol Futures Open Online Course Mentor? 
I have worked as a Bristol Futures online mentor for three runs now on the ‘Global Citizenship’ course. I really enjoy the flexibility of this course, you can join in whenever you like during the week, talk to other learners or just read and soak it all in. The course is free so is very little pressure and you work at your own pace. The course content is also really interesting, presented in a user-friendly way with short informative videos, interactive quizzes and a comments section where you can input answers to some open questions that each module provides.
What has been your favourite thing that you have learned from a student taking a Bristol Futures Open Online Course?
I have learnt so much as a mentor as the students on each cohort are so varied, hailing from Argentina to Australia, Texas to Thailand or even Bristol to Brussels, everyone has a unique perspective and knowledge to add to the overall content of the course. Given that they are a variety of ages, speak different languages and have lived in a huge variety of places I’m always blown away by how open, respectful and thoughtful their dialogues are.
What would you say to a student who is unsure of whether to take part in a Bristol Futures Open Online Course?
I think this course attracts really friendly people eager to share ideas as it focuses on flexibility, inclusivity and personal development. If you have 3 hours to spare a week, I’d definitely recommend giving it a go as you have nothing to lose and potentially quite a lot to gain!
Peter – Sustainable Futures course mentor
What has been the most enjoyable element of working as a Bristol Futures Open Online Course Mentor?
It’s very easy to become siloed as an academic researcher and I really enjoyed taking a step back from my own research to be part of the mentoring team on the course. I really enjoyed exploring different sustainability topics each week and learnt a great deal interacting with the course participants.
What has been your favourite thing that you have learned from a student taking a Bristol Futures Open Online Course?
There were so many great things that I learnt from students while moderating it’s difficult to choose just one. I really enjoyed finding out about all the different sustainability projects happening in the participants local communities. Many of the participants were getting involved with these projects after taking part in the course which was really great to hear about.
What would you say to a student who is unsure of whether to take part in a Bristol Futures Open Online Course?
The course is a great way to start exploring sustainability issues in a flexible and engaging way. Interacting with people of different ages and backgrounds will help develop your understanding and give you new perspectives you might not have considered before.
Thinking about the Bristol PLUS Award?
The Open Online Courses are one of the core elements of the Bristol PLUS Award so if you’re signed up this year or are thinking about taking part next year, don’t miss out! Sign up to a course today.
Interested in signing up for a course?
To get free unlimited access as a Bristol student you must sign up via the Blackboard tab. Signing up this way also means that once you complete the course you will eligible for a certificate.