No one can learn everything there is to know, but you can try. Decide what skills or specific knowledge would most improve your life and start there. Learn all you can. Learn a lot about a few things or a little about a lot of things. “Learning to learn” could have the biggest impact and potential change in your life! So what are some practical, and affordable means to being a lifelong learner?
Free AudioBooks and Ebooks
If you’re looking for free books to listen to on your commute to work or while you’re out for a run, then you’re in luck, because the Web is the best place to find them. Lifewire.com points out that there are plenty of sites that offer free audiobooks that are in the public domain, read by very talented narrators. Hundreds of thousands of high quality books are freely available to download, giving you the opportunity to accumulate an entire audio library for very little monetary outlay, with more being added on a regular basis. This is a win, win situation!
Free University Courses
College is expensive, let’s face it. Fortune 500 explains that in recent years several universities and colleges around the world have started offering some of their courses for free. Over the past six years over 8,000 different courses have been made available for free to anyone who wants to take them. So what is the incentive for the colleges? Prestige now, and possibly profit later. Schools say they’re willing to give their product away for free so they don’t miss the chance to be among the first to develop new forms of education. “The potential upside for this experiment is so big that it’s hard for me to imagine any large research university that wouldn’t want to be involved,” said Richard DeMillo, director of the Center for 21st Century Universities at Georgia Tech. One day the schools will likely try to make some money, too, possibly by charging students for credits or allowing companies to sponsor courses, so get started today.
Ted Talks
Ted Talks is the most popular lecture series online. What is it? TED Talks are relatively short videos (around 18 minutes) from some of the most engaging speakers around the world. Some famous TED speakers include Bono, J. J. Abrams, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, and Stephen Hawking. These videos cover an endless range of topics, initially about Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED), but now incorporating any number of subjects.
Lynda.Com
Lynda.com is an online education company that offers video courses taught by industry experts in software, creative and business skills. They also broadcast their courses on the Apple TV app, making it even easier to access these educational videos. In May 2015, LinkedIn purchased lynda.com for $1.5 billion. Free access to the premium features of Lynda.com is frequently offered to university students and libraries.
Entrepeneur.com explains that the pursuit of knowledge is easier than it has ever been before, as technological advances can relay information instantaneously to our fingertips. It’s a modern day privilege to take this convenience and utilize it in productive ways. So download that free book, enroll in an online course, cue up a Ted Talk or go to Lynda.com and immerse yourself in anything from the principles of obesity economics to functional programming principles in Scala.