New Online Training Opportunities Abound for Employees

Duquesne University staff members can now grow and enhance their professional skills via two new online training options.

The Office of Human Resources’ Training and Development initiative now offers a live, interactive online training platform and the online video training site Lynda.com.

Lynda.com is an online-learning module that offers video tutorials on subjects ranging from business to creative skills topics. Because Lynda.com is available 24/7, employees can view the videos as often as they like.

“No more waiting for the right workshop to be scheduled,” said Human Resources Training and Development Manager Joyce Valent. “Lynda.com offers users training at their pace, at their personal level of knowledge and skill, and on their schedule.”

When users complete a course, the Certificate of Completion can be added to their MyLEAD transcripts and LinkedIn profile.

The new live, interactive online option is being offered in conjunction with University- sponsored professional development and training sessions. It allows off-site employees to actively participate and engage with instructors and other students using real-time, audio-video communication technology. Sessions are also recorded so participants can review them at a later date.

Valent believes this new approach will make training opportunities more accessible to employees—whether the employee works on the Pittsburgh campus or at the Rome campus.

Valent, along with Dr. Erroline Williams, training and project specialist, identified a need for new learning platforms among staff and worked with the Office of Classroom Technology and Educational Technology to identify the equipment needed to present live and recorded webinars.

Valent and Williams understand how hectic schedules can be and wanted to make training more attainable.

“So if employees are too busy to come to us, we would take training to them,” said Valent. “Already a staff member working from the Rome campus has successfully participated via live stream.”

At present, online interactive learning is available in the current Leadership program, and Valent and Williams are working to identify other sessions where this could be applied.

Employees can review and register for upcoming live webinars and Lynda.com training sessions via MyLEAD. For more information, including upcoming training session dates, visit or contact Williams or Valent.