A new session of each course opens each month, allowing you to enroll whenever your busy schedule permits!
How does it work? Once a session starts, two lessons will be released each week, for the six-week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends.
Keep in mind that the interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes 2 weeks after each lesson is released, so you’re encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
The Final Exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the Final Exam has been released, you will have 2 weeks plus 10 days to complete the Final and finish any remaining lessons in your course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.
Week One
Lesson 01 - Change Management and Teams
Wednesday
This lesson will discuss why change is so important, review why people are reluctant to change, and explore strategies that can help you overcome resistance to change. It'll help you establish a winning team and lead you through the stages of recruiting, evaluating, and selecting team members. You'll explore the concepts of a core team, extended team, and the overly important team. The lesson will finish up by discussing the complete performance planning process, including how to address performance problems and how to make reviews more meaningful.
Lesson 02 - Accounting Basics I
Friday
In this lesson and the one that follows, you'll learn accounting and financial concepts and fundamentals to help you increase your readiness to use financial information. You'll gain a strong foundation by learning about the general ledger, by seeing the difference between accounting and bookkeeping, and by investigating the different types of accounting. The lesson will demystify debits and credits and present the accounting equation as a cornerstone of all modern accounting systems.
Week Two
Lesson 03 - Accounting Basics II
Wednesday
Now that you've absorbed the basics of accounting, it's time to learn how to apply financial information. You'll start off by reviewing two vital financial statements that you will find at nearly every organization—the balance sheet and the income statement. Next, you'll find out how to account for inventories and then discover the significance of cash flow. By the end of the lesson, you'll clearly understand how sound cash management helps companies stay on the right path.
Lesson 04 - Business Law I
Friday
Administrative assistants need to know the basics of business law. You'll need to have a good grasp of key legal concepts, such as the principal-agency relationship and the basics of contracts. The lesson will start things off by looking at the idea of law, going through an overview of the legal system, and discussing the essence of commercial law. It'll tackle the essentials of contracts, such as the elements and the various types, and finish up by discussing Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Week Three
Lesson 05 - Business Law II
Wednesday
In this lesson, you'll examine the four most popular organizational forms: sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, and corporation. You'll learn all about organizational politics, and see that wherever people work together, you'll find politics. The lesson will also touch on business ethics, a critical concept that has received much attention in recent years.
Lesson 06 - Human Resources Management
Friday
In this lesson you'll take a look at human resources management. It's possible that your job responsibilities as an administrative assistant will encompass many or all of the aspects of human resources. Even if you don't have this as a direct responsibility, you may have to interface with or be indirectly involved in aspects of human resources management, working with your company's HR manager. You'll explore employee relations, guidelines for documentation in human resources, and the staffing process. You'll also review conflict resolution, how to hire the right person, and much, much more.
Week Four
Lesson 07 - Planning and Control
Wednesday
Life is filled with opportunities, problems, and choices. When you effectively plan and control your activities, and also make timely decisions and solve problems, you become a valued asset. You'll look at the ins and outs of planning because just about everything you do begins with a plan. The lesson will help you learn about the counterpart of planning: control. By the time you finish it, you'll know all about problem solving and be able to apply a model of decision making.
Lesson 08 - Organizing
Friday
Organizing is a critical topic that many companies struggle with. In this lesson, you'll discover how resources are organized so employees can productively perform job duties and complete tasks. You'll begin by studying the purpose of organization and examining several coordinating principles, including authority, power, and span of control. You'll learn the purpose of the staffing function and how to evaluate such key elements as recruitment, selection, appraisal, and development. The lesson will conclude by looking at six different forms of organizational charts.
Week Five
Lesson 09 - Leading and Motivating
Wednesday
It's often said that motivation and leadership are two sides of the same coin. It's difficult to have one and not the other. This lesson will begin by defining motivation and exploring four theories of motivation, and then move into leadership. You'll learn about the different types of leadership and discover the difference between delegation and empowerment. You'll also examine creativity and see how you can increase your creativity levels.
Lesson 10 - Marketing
Friday
Most people believe that marketing is either advertising or selling. The primary objective of this lesson is to make sure that you clearly understand the distinction between marketing, advertising, and sales. You'll discover what it means to be consumer oriented and learn how to apply the four Ps (product, place, price, promotion) and see how these variables work together to form marketing strategies.
Week Six
Lesson 11 - Operations Management
Wednesday
Operations management is one of the unheralded activities at a company. The folks that work in this area don't receive much credit and don't lead a glamorous life. They're the behind-the-scenes people that keep the ball rolling so that customers are happy and the company makes profits. In this lesson, you'll explore the diverse nature of operations management and see how selecting, designing, operating, controlling, and updating play an important role in all operating systems. Along the way, you'll learn about the importance of key concepts like forecasting, capacity, and make-or-buy analysis.
Lesson 12 - Time Management
Friday
You've probably heard the saying "time is money." How you manage your time is the key to your success. Time management is one of the most important skills you as an administrative assistant can develop. If you don't learn how to manage your time, you will not be as effective and efficient and you run the risk of letting down those people who rely on you. In this lesson, you'll learn about the importance of time management and how it can benefit you in your role as an administrative assistant. The lesson will examine the benefits of time management and identify tools and techniques to help you free up more time for work and outside interests.