Parent Network Scotland (PNS) is a learndirect scotland branded learning centre in Edinburgh. It runs courses throughout Scotland on how to be a better parent and, as a charity with limited resources, it’s found the NLOD is a great way to advertise them.
Support worker Alison Thomson explains that the people who attend PNS courses are all parents - but that’s about all they have in common.
“They come from all different walks of life”, said Alison. “We try to reach people in rural areas, single parents, people with disabilities, new and young mothers – anyone looking for help in raising their children. Our main offices are in Edinburgh, but we have facilitators who train all over the country.
One of the benefits of using the NLOD is that we can advertise the courses we run all over Scotland.
“As a charity, we have limited funds and basically no budget for advertising. However, as a registered provider our course information appears on the NLOD and is therefore available to people who call the learndirect scotland helpline or visit the website. We also benefit from learndirect scotland’s campaigns if our courses meet the needs of learners who respond to the advertising.”
Alison uses PROMT to update the PNS course information.
“I like it a lot and find it easy to use. I particularly like how the courses are separate from the opportunities. With other systems I’ve used, you have to key in all the information every time you want to add a new course incidence, but with PROMT, you only need to enter a new date, for example.
“I also think it’s good to have access to a dedicated learning information specialist at learndirect scotland, because it is nice to get a personal response. The staff there know us and understand what we do and can offer dedicated help and support, which is invaluable.”