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As a self-proclaimed lifelong learner, Tammy has always welcomed new learning opportunities to stay relevant and current in today’s world of work. Although she was juggling a full-time job, while raising two young women and actively volunteering in her community, she embraced the new time commitments she would be taking on as a student in the Certificate in Adult Education (now the Certificate in Adult Learning Fundamentals) at Dalhousie University. In her words, “it [the certificate in Adult Education] was a specific certification that, in the end, would reinforce my credibility and bandwidth as a professional in designing, delivering, implementing and coaching other professionals in my field.”

Described as a ‘career turning point’, Tammy combined her learning from the five-course, professional development certificate with her career in financial services to eventually develop a comprehensive, three-year sales training program for credit unions across Atlantic Canada. Teaching and coaching adults is part of her day-to-day work as she tries to instill internal sales cultures across diverse teams of all staffing levels in credit unions. The stand-out courses from the non-credit certificate that left a lasting impact on Tammy were Diversity and Inclusion and Design and Adult Engagement. Managing limited time and competing priorities while taking the courses, she appreciated that the course materials, taught by expert instructors, were practical, relevant, engaging, “and not to mention provided value.”

“After working 40+ hours on a Monday to Friday, I would then have to go to school from Friday at 4:30 to 9:00pm then Saturday from 8:30am to 5pm and then homework on Sunday all while raising my two daughters as a single mother was extremely challenging.”

Since then, the Faculty has moved most of its courses, like those offered as part of the Certificate in Adult Learning Fundamentals, to an online format making it that much easier to be a lifelong learner balancing work, life and learning commitments.

In sharing her story, Tammy hopes to inspire others to take a chance on themselves and jump out of their comfort zones because it could lead to amazing and unexpected discoveries. “I have achieved something I could have only dreamed of, and more importantly, I now inspire and teach other professionals that has an ever-increasing impact and far-reaching influence in our communities in Atlantic Canada. Give it a shot!”

To learn more about the Certificate in Adult Learning Fundamentals, click here, or explore the first course, Theories of Adult Learning, beginning March 3^rd.