Become a lifelong student: how to learn online

These sites are excellent resources for learning the basics of specific, goal-oriented tasks such as learning to change the oil in your car.

eHow – It’s actually more than just a “how-to” site: eHow provides general tips and tricks, top 10 lists and coaching for various topics, including style, health, money, and food.

WikiHow – What’s a wiki, you ask? “A Web site developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content.” In other words, each article has many writers and editors sharing their knowledge on a subject. WikiHow is a collection of over 212,000 “how-to” articles contributed by thousands of individuals from all over the world. If you want to know how to do something, chances are that you’ll find out how at WikiHow!

These conversation-based avenues are perfect for those looking to learn more about a particular subject they are already interested in. These vast databases are composed of audio and video content on essentially anything and everything. If you enjoy listening and absorbing new facts or ideas through lectures similar to a university or college-based environment, these websites are for you.

TED Talks – If you’re looking to learn, to be inspired, or to be persuaded, TED is the place to visit. The acronym stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design”, but you’d be surprised by how many subjects fit into these three broad categories. Not sure where to start? TED Talks has 11 suggestions, and this shared Google Doc ranks the best “rated” Talks of all-time.

These popular sites are the most effective at expanding your knowledge as they offer excellent visuals, audio and often the teaching is coming from professionals.

Udacity– Video courses that follow a syllabus professionally done by experts in the field depicting well-rounded how-to methods first hand and via presentation platforms. The online learning centre covers a wide range of topics like physics, robotics, accounting, machine learning music, and mathematics. Many of the courses mentioned are free to use. The knowledge you gain from udemy could help you professionally or boost your productivity.

Youtube– Endless content on youtube is available for almost any topic. Piano tutorials, DIY projects, dance lessons, yoga and workout tutorials are all available in high-quality video formatting by everyday people with at least some knowledge in the field.

Codecademy– Has dedicated lesson plans and actual on-site exercises, where you pick a “learning track”, monitor your progress throughout the course, and then graduate as a bonafide coder!

Try searching for something that interests you and you’ll be amazed at what kind of help is available online. If there is one thing that is certain about life, it’s that nothing is more important than personal experience. Enrich your life and never stop learning.