We all know that there is a ton of information on the web. A lot of it is also free. Within seconds you can find what you want through Google, Wikipedia and Learnist. If you want to become better at something, you learn as much as you can about it. You interact with people who are considered experts, you test out what you’ve learned and you become better the more you dive into whatever field this is. Learning is technically free. You can do your own research, apply for school and get scholarships or grants, or you can sign up for free classes online. Online learning? For free? On topics that I’m actually interested in? Sign. Me. Up.
I recently enrolled in two courses through Coursera. Social Psychology and Learn to Program: The Fundamentals [nerd alert!]. Each of these courses is about 6 weeks long, and requires 6-8 hours/week worth of studying and attention and are taught by some great professors. Lots of reading material, interesting discussions, a couple quizzes here and there...overall mind-blowing stimulation and I couldn't be happier.
In order for me to be unique in my field and just be an overall badass, I need (and want) to learn as much as I possibly can on subjects just like these. Social psychology is the scientific study of understanding how people think about, influence and relate to one another. Umm, hell. Yes. It hasn’t even been a week into the course and I’m already blown away by what is being discussed.
The Learn to Program course hasn’t started yet, but I signed up for this because I want to be able to at least know the basics on how to make this site a bit better, without outsourcing/paying for someone else to do it (at least not initially). I’m also reminded what it would be like if I stuck with comp sci in college, but I digress.
Here are a couple other free online education sites that are worth checking out: Open Culture Academic Earth
General Assembly is another resource for continuing education. It’s not free nor have I tried it yet, but it’s definitely on my radar.
The point of all of this is that learning never stops. No matter what you’re interested in, there will always be new studies and information at your disposal. The key to being great at what you do is using resources like these to help you excel and show the world what you’re made of.