FAQs

Answers to your Frequently Asked Questions

Find out what it’s like to study with VerdantLearn

Studying with us

What are VerdantLearn events/courses like?

VerdantLearn courses focus on:
1. Studying together with other conservationists, so you never feel alone if you get stuck or have questions
2. Flexible online study which you can fit in around your other responsibilities
3. Structure and support provided by your tutor and classmates
4. Hands-on practice, using either your own datasets or relevant data provided by us
5. Targeted knowledge tests, to give you confidence you’re on the right track
6. Feedback from your fellow learners and tutor
7. Demonstrating your skills by submitting a range of assignments

There are several ways to find out what our learning opportunities are like:
2. Visit our online community to see discussions and assignments from previous participants
3. Try one of our self-study courses

What if I’m offline?

Sometimes your fieldwork may take you to places where you don’t have adequate (or any) access to the internet or mobile data

If you’re going to be offline for part of a course, we recommend that you download the pdf version of the course materials before you go offline. You’ll can find a link to download a pdf copy on each page of a course, under the table of contents (top-right of the page).

What does peer-mentoring involve?

If you sign up for a peer-mentoring add-on, you will be guided to assist each other with clarifying and solving your current challenges. You will also identify questions shared by your peers, and your tutor will focus on answering the most popular shared queries

Fees and payments

Do you offer free courses?

Our on-demand courses are completely free to study

Do you offer discounts?

Our tutored learning opportunities are priced to be affordable to most people

We offer discounts for students, and for those living in low- and middle-income countries. These discounts can be substantial depending on the course and your situation. Complete our Discount enquiry form to find out if you qualify for a discount, and receive your promotion code

How do I use my discount code?

If you have received a discount or promotion code by email, you can enter it at the payment stage:

Select the course you want to register for on our subscriptions page by clicking ‘Pay’
On the Stripe payments page, enter your code in the Add promotion code box
Click Apply to apply the promotion code and reduce the fee you need to pay

Screenshot of Stripe payment page

Certificates and badges

How do I earn a certificate?

You can earn a certificate by successfully completing all the assignments on your course

VerdantLearn certificates and digital badges are issued using Badgr OpenBadges (also known as Canvas Badges). You can view your awarded course badges and certificates in your Badgr Backpack

How do I download my certificate?

Download your certificate

Go Badgr Backpack
Click on the at the top right of the badge
Select Print
On the Print Certificate page, click the Print button at the top-right
Save your certificate as a pdf, or send it direct to your printer

Warning

⚠️ Note that selecting Download will only download the digital badge image, not the full certificate!

For illustrated step-by-step instructions on printing your certificate, please see this Canvas help page

Tutoring

Can I get personal tuition?

We don’t currently offer personal tuition, either free or paid. This is because we are focussing our efforts on maximising the number of people we help to learn fundamental skills, rather than devoting a lot of time and energy to a few individuals. See VerdantLearn’s values to understand more

Do you teach one-to-one?

Please see Can I get personal tuition

Can you mentor me?

At present, we are focussing our efforts on supporting as many people as possible to learn fundamental technical skills for nature conservation, as explained in our values. This means that we are unable to offer individual mentoring, tutoring or supervision

However, most courses include an optional peer-mentoring phase - see peer-mentoring for more information

Can you supervise me?

Please see Can you mentor me?

Our community

Has anyone from my organisation studied with VerdantLearn?

We’ve had learners from many organisations across the world, and it’s possible that someone in your organisation, and even someone you know, has studied with us. However, we cannot share the information of current or past learners - we suggest you search on VerdantLearn’s online community for mention of the organisation and/or particular conservation themes you’re interested in

Collaborating

Can I work with you?

VerdantLearn isn’t currently seeking employees, but we are always happy to hear from potential collaborators about creating online courses and novel learning experiences together

If you have learned a skill during your job or research that is in-demand in wildlife conservation, we could create a course together! You would bring your specialist expertise, and we would contribute our knowledge of creating inclusive, hands-on learning. Why not get in touch?