Online Short Courses FAQs

Lots of our most popular short courses are now available to study online from the comfort of your own home. There are online courses covering acting & performance, design & production and writing, with new course titles being added regularly. If there’s something you’d like to see that we’re not currently offering, let us know at short.courses@cssd.ac.uk 

We currently deliver all of our online classes via Zoom for Education. It is a licensed online video platform and encompasses web conferencing, mobile collaboration, instant messaging, and additional features relevant to your course.

For more information on how to use Zoom, please visit their website here.

All of our courses are interactive and participatory. Similarly to our degree and graduate courses, the online courses are all about learning by experience. Expect lots of practical exercises, working in groups, pairs and sometimes on your own to practise and implement the new skills you’ll be learning in a welcoming, respectful environment.

Please be aware that by its nature, acting and voice training may be physically and mentally demanding (but also highly rewarding!).

Anyone aged 18 or over (unless specified) can attend. 

There is no upper age limit and more mature students are positively encouraged to attend.

Most courses welcome complete beginners, although some require experience within the specific subject.

It will state on the individual course pages if additional experience is needed, and you are welcome to enquire if you are unsure.

Most courses allow a maximum of 12 students. This information can be found on individual course pages.

Online courses vary in length from 2 hours to 16 hours over a period of 4 - 8 weeks. 

Each course will have its duration listed on the individual course page.

As of February 2021, we no longer record our online short courses.

The only exception to this is for Acting for Camera classes, as watching material back forms an important part of the learning process.

Please note this course is priced higher than other online courses to recognise the additional time needed to send out recordings and edit footage. 

Students are very welcome to attend our online classes from anywhere around the world. Please note, all classes will be conducted in English so we require your English language skills to meet our minimum requirements if English is not your first language (see next question).

All courses are taught in English, and you must have a minimum IELTS score of 7. We do not require your official test results, but it is your responsibility to ensure you have the appropriate level of English to attend and participate in a course. Please note that you may be required to read texts with advanced vocabulary on our courses.

The times listed for each course are UK time (either GMT or GMT +1 during British Summer Time). You can use a website such as Time and Date to check the time difference from your location if necessary.  Please be sure to check this before booking. 

There is no strict deadline, but we take bookings on a first-come first-served basis.

Our online courses often sell out within a few days of going on sale, so we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment.

Your place on a course is only guaranteed once payment has been made. 

You will receive a confirmation email immediately after booking. A few days before your course starts you will receive full joining instructions. 

• An up-to-date web browser (we recommend Firefox or Chrome)
• A device (laptop, desktop, phone, tablet etc) that has speakers
• A webcam
• A good broadband connection - this is essential, so please ensure you are using a strong WiFi connection or an Ethernet cable internet connection and are not using mobile data

You can access online sessions using mobile devices like Apple or Android supported tablets and smartphones via the Zoom app.

However, some of the features of Zoom will be limited. Whatever device you are using you must have a good internet connection via WiFi or Ethernet connection - we do not recommend 2G, 3G or 4G.

Most courses will give you assignments to complete outside of class (line learning, character analysis, writing tasks etc). These should take a couple of hours a week at most and will enhance your in-class learning. 

Our short courses are non-accredited, however you can receive a digital ‘Certificate of Attendance’ at the end of the course (free of charge and upon request) provided you meet the required levels of participation (85% attendance of live sessions).

All of our courses are run by professional actors, acting coaches, directors, voice coaches, writers and academics and as such it may not be possible to confirm the name of your tutor until just before the course begins. Rest assured that we only work with the best of the best – all of our tutors have a background in the industry as well as being fantastic, highly experienced, much sought after teachers! 

We run most of our online courses at least once per month, sometimes more. Please keep an eye on our website for new dates being added or sign up to our mailing list to get details of new dates and courses direct to your inbox.

Unfortunately not. We need to receive payment in full to confirm your place on the course.

We can offer you a full refund if you decide to withdraw from a Short Course up to 7 days before the course start date. After this point all fees paid are fully non-refundable.

To request a refund, please email short.courses@cssd.ac.uk stating which course and date you have booked on to. Your refund will be processed within 10 working days.

We are unable to defer places to future courses. 

Please email us at short.courses@cssd.ac.uk and one of the team will get back to you.