The semester might be over, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop learning. Summer is a great time to brush up on the professional skills you may not have had the bandwidth to perfect during the school year. That’s where LinkedIn Learning comes in.
🎓 What Is LinkedIn Learning?
With your Pitt credentials, all students, faculty, and staff have free access to LinkedIn Learning, an online learning platform offering thousands of expert-led courses taught by industry practitioners. Courses range from quick 30-minute skill builders to comprehensive multi-hour learning paths.
No matter what course you choose, LinkedIn Learning breaks material into short video segments so you can fit learning into your schedule. If you’re a student looking to build your resume, a faculty member exploring a new research tool, or a staff member working toward a professional goal, there’s something in the library for you.
To get started, log into myPitt (my.pitt.edu) and search for “LinkedIn Learning,” or visit the Accessing and Getting Started with LinkedIn Learning for step-by-step access instructions.
🔍 Features You Might Not Know About
- Learning Paths. Instead of picking individual courses at random, Learning Paths are curated sequences of courses designed around specific roles or skills, like Getting Started as a Project Manager or Master In-Demand Professional Soft Skills. If you have a clear goal in mind, starting with a Learning Path gives your time on the platform more structure and direction than browsing alone.
- Transcripts and in-video notes. Every LinkedIn Learning video includes a scrolling transcript that highlights in real time as the video plays. Each line is clickable so you can jump directly to any part of the content. There’s also a Notebook tab where you can jot down your own timestamped notes as you watch, making it much easier to review the material most relevant to you.
- Collections. You can save individual courses or videos into custom Collections, which are playlists you name and organize yourself. It’s a useful way to build a queue of content you want to get to, group courses by topic or project, or save a video you want to revisit later without losing it in your watch history.
- Offline viewing on mobile. If you’re traveling or in a spot without reliable Wi-Fi, LinkedIn Learning on the mobile app lets you download courses for offline viewing. This is helpful if you’re in the mood to learn on the go without worrying about connection issues.
🏅 Earn a Professional Certificate (and Show It Off)
Beyond individual courses, LinkedIn Learning offers a library of Professional Certificates from trusted providers. These are structured programs containing validated LinkedIn Learning content culminating in a test of your knowledge and ultimately, a professional certificate to share on your LinkedIn profile.
The range of options is wide — from the Microsoft-co-branded Career Essentials in Generative AI and Career Essentials in Project Management certificates, to customer service credentials like the Zendesk Customer Service Professional Certificate for those in client-facing or administrative roles.
Once earned, your certificate appears directly in the Licenses & Certifications section of your LinkedIn profile — a visible, verifiable credential that hiring managers and colleagues can see at a glance. For recent graduates heading into a job search, a Professional Certificate is a concrete way to stand out. With your free Pitt access already in place, it costs you nothing but time.
🔗 Share Your Progress by Linking Your Profile
By default, your LinkedIn Learning account through Pitt is separate from your personal LinkedIn profile. Take the time to link your personal account with your Pitt LinkedIn Learning profile so that your learning history only travels with you. If there’s ever a time that your Pitt access ends (like post-graduation), your history and progress will stay with your linked account.
Linking also personalizes your experience: LinkedIn Learning will recommend courses based on your work history, skills, and professional goals, which makes finding relevant content much easier than browsing from scratch.
To link your accounts, log into LinkedIn Learning, click your profile photo in the top right corner, select Settings, and follow the prompts under Connect your LinkedIn account. Full instructions are available in the LinkedIn Learning support article.
⏱️ Tips for Making the Most of LinkedIn Learning
The most challenging part of LinkedIn Learning is finding a place to start. There’s so much to learn, but only so much time to in the day. Here are a few ways you can make learning a priority:
- Set a weekly learning goal. LinkedIn Learning prompts you to do this during onboarding. Even 30 minutes a week adds up quickly over a summer, and you can adjust your goal at any time.
- Search for what you want to do, not just what you want to learn. LinkedIn Learning organizes content around skills and outcomes, so the best searches are action orientated. Try searching for specific tools you’d like to master or career paths you’d like to progress in.
- Start with a Learning Path if you’re not sure where to begin. Learning Paths make it simple to learn a whole lot without the effort of searching. These are organized around a goal, like becoming a Six Sigma Green Belt, and contain video courses relevant to the topic.
Summer doesn’t have to mean pressing pause on building your knowledge. With LinkedIn Learning, it can be exactly the opposite — and everything you complete this summer will still be on your profile long after the semester picks back up in the fall.
— Pitt Digital
