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# Structure of the course

This course consists of three blocks, with each block focusing on a particular aspect of planning a better future:

1. How did I get here?, which helps you to take stock of where you are by exploring the roles you play in life, reflecting on your experiences – both positive and negative – recognising your achievements and identifying your strengths, weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats you face.
2. Where do I want to go?, which helps you to move forward by exploring the changes you want to make, enabling you to gather information, helping you to consider what options are available, make good decisions and to define and refine your goals.
3. How do I get there?, which helps you to make sound decisions, set realistic goals and create feasible action plans. You will also receive useful advice on the recruitment process, and on how to complete job applications, write CVs and covering letters, and prepare for interviews and their aftermath.

You’ll note from Figure 1 that the blocks can be thought of as a continuous process involving taking stock, exploring opportunities, setting goals and taking action.

Figure 1 The process of planning for a better future

Together they amount to approximately 15 hours of study time. Each block has a mixture of reading, video clips, activities and quizzes that will help you to engage with the course content.

A further section, Taking my learning further, will enable you to reflect upon what you have learned within this course. It also directs you to relevant websites and resources, which further relate to the development of your learning and career prospects.

Once you have studied a block, you will be asked to complete a short online quiz of no more than five questions per block. This helps to test and embed your learning.

Planning a better future is designed to allow you to dip in and out of the resources, so that you can study in small chunks to fit around your work and life commitments. If you choose to complete all blocks of Planning a better future and collect the badge, you can download a statement of participation that recognises your achievement. You may find this useful to show to your employer as evidence of your learning. For more information on how to obtain your badge, read What is a badge?

## Navigating the website

To find your way around this course, you simply click on the links. The home page has links to all the blocks, quizzes and relevant resources. When you are in a block, the left-hand menu has links to that block’s topics and its associated quiz. The menu also has links to the other sections of Planning a better future and to the resources section.

If you feel unsure, practise hovering your mouse over a link in the menu and clicking on it. This is the easiest way to move from page to page. You can also click on the ‘Next’ link at the end of each page of text. Don’t worry about breaking a link or damaging the web page – you won’t. Have a go as soon as you can before you begin your study.

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OpenLearn - Planning a better future
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