Accepted wisdom: curiosity is the key to success and happiness. Learning new things is good for you, and doing it online is super convenient.
Whether you want to immerse yourself in a six week course, or let your mind snack on short instructional videos on unfamiliar subjects, the online destinations below have you covered.
The great bit? It won't cost you a thing and anyone can engage – it's a delightfully egalitarian way to educate yourself. All you need is interest, internet access, and a willingness to have a go.
The greater bit? The self-directed nature of the courses means you can fit them around your lifestyle and learn at a pace that suits you.
What are you waiting for?
Nobody wants to be monolingual. Everything sounds better in French and being able to whisper saucy (and grammatically correct) things in Spanish while you salsa should be on everyone’s bucket list. This site, accessible on mobile, tablet and desktop offers language lessons via responsive exercises: typed translations, listen-and-repeats (with voice recognition) and fill-in-the-blanks-tasks. As your skills improve you will be offered the option to translate real-world texts for practice. To wit, Duolingo students end up translating the web as their vocab improves and big media outlets actually pay for this service.
This site’s course portfolio is broad and inspiring: explore the world of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, get an introduction to screenwriting, or learn about ultrasound imaging, food fraud, and military ethics. What’s special? The cultural offering – Futurelearn is partnered with the British Council, the British Library, the British Museum, and the National Film and Television School. Plus, it’s as sociable as online learning gets. Experts are enlisted and on hand to respond to student questions and the learning forums are always lively with student discussion. The courses require 2-5 hours of your time per week and generally last between 4 and 10 weeks.
Another education platform (this time US-based) that partners with top universities and organizations worldwide to bring you course that span everything from data science to Shakespeare. The search ability function is awesome. Type in anything you are interested in and see what comes back. Try ‘birds’ and you’ll have 10 matches in moments, including a five-week course on chicken behavior and welfare, provided by The University of Edinburgh. So much to learn, so little time.
Let the BBC feed your curiosity in bite-size chunks. Who better to answer all your questions than an internationally celebrated media institution famed for its factual/educational output? The iWonder platform collates informative, well researched stories that will fill you with knowledge and awe. Questions like ‘how does a breeze become a terrifying tornado?’, ‘Is it illegal to attack a seagull?’ and ‘Why should I have to pay 5p for a plastic bag?’ are answered with expert rigour. Disclaimer: surprising thoughts will be provoked.
From the masterminds behind the internet-storming TED talks (which, for the uninitiated push new ideas and modes of thinking) comes a series of ‘lessons worth sharing’ that answer questions, bust myths, unpack problems and introduce complex ideas in a straightforward way. The clips, which are engagingly animated are often around the 5 minute mark so you can learn loads in an hour. Ready. Set. Go!
