Are you a CEO who is always eager to learn new craft? Or, are you someone who’s eager to change direction in your career? You’re in luck, because the Internet makes learning easy and affordable. Read on to explore the world of education in the Digital Age.
We like to think we can do just about anything online these days, and basically can. We can pay bills, play games, stay in touch with old friends, conduct business, share our personal lives, do research, and take on just about any other activity you can imagine, all without leaving our desks. One area of online utility that a lot of us probably don’t take full advantage of, however, is education. Human beings have a wonderful capacity to never stop learning, and it is now inarguably easier than ever to teach ourselves about new topics.
For a lot of people, the first thing that will come to mind is actual classes like the ones you might have taken in school. And you can absolutely engage in this kind of learning on the Internet. In some cases, you can actually formally take courses through universities that offer online classes. But even if you don’t want to make it official, you can find college-level courses – sometimes for free. There are apps that offer online courses drawn straight from universities, and in some cases you can even find podcasts that imitate popular lectures on a range of subjects. If you want to, you can essentially design a college curriculum for yourself!
Moving past traditional subjects of school-style education, one of the most important topics for people to be able to study up on is health. That doesn’t mean just finding a diet or exercise program (of which you can there are limitless options). Rather, it means really educating yourself on what’s good for your body, and why. You can learn about entire lifestyles that are designed to optimize health through nutritional decisions, rather than just following a set of guidelines that are supposed to work. Learning about the underlying reasons that some decisions are healthier than others will almost undoubtedly make you a healthier individual in the long run.
Outside of typical subjects and health, we start getting into more specialized areas of education, based on specific needs or interests. But all that means is that there are more options than anyone could count. You could teach yourself about something as serious as how best to set aside money for your children’s college funds, or something as trivial as how to excel in your fantasy sports league. There’s a full spectrum available to you. Just to get into it a little more, let’s look at a few broad topics that might be popular with a lot of individuals, including professionals like CEOs.
Web Design/Coding
These are skills that a lot of people find to be practically useful these days, given how important it is in many pursuits to have a strong web presence. You may never need your own website, but the day may come when you’ll be glad to have the ability to make one – whether for a personal hobby, a side business venture, a portfolio, or whatever else it may be. Fortunately, there are countless tools from which you can learn about basic coding and web design.
Legal Training
This is something you hope you’ll never need. But a lot of people – even those with skilled lawyers on hand – occasionally wish they understood the legal system a little better. These days, you can take law-related courses, train to become a paralegal, or simply read about relevant legal principles if you so wish. There are plenty of ways to expand your knowledge of the legal system, and who knows? That extra knowledge could come in handy one day.
Business & Economics
These are not the same subjects, but in a broad sense a lot of people wish, at one point or another, that they had gotten more education relating to how to survive in the workplace and how to thrive in the economy. Indeed, a few years ago The Atlantic wrote up a study in which college graduates stated in large numbers that they wish they’d gotten more work experience. That doesn’t exactly equate to more business and econ education, but the two ideas aren’t unrelated. Fortunately, you can find a lot of ways to learn about these subjects now, from programs that imitate business school to apps (and, again, podcasts) that train you in basic economics principles.
Analytics
We’ll end with analytics, because this might just be the trendiest educational topic in modern society. Simply put, we’re finding better ways to analyze our behavior, work performance, and just about everything else. Look through some of the most commonly used business products today, and you’ll likely see Google Analytics listed alongside the most popular communication and file sharing apps. Talk to mathematics and statistics students, and they’ll likely tell you they’re interested in careers in analytics. But this is something you can learn whether or not you’re in school. You can always find detailed writing about analytics practices, and in fact you can even become certified in Google Analytics (which can even open up some employment opportunities!).
Conclusion
These are still just a few of the areas in which you can now educate yourself with a few creative online searches. In our current digital age, we really should all be getting used to the idea that education is a benefit that’s never-ending and always available. No wonder what your needs or interests might be, you can teach yourself all about them.
