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If you want to continue your education after you have left school, then there are a lot of options available to you. Continuing to learn and expand your knowledge will help you to progress your career, better your self or perhaps pursue a hobby that you have always want to do. Here are some places where you can learn.
Online Resources
The internet is one massive resource and one that you should never discount. You can find information on the internet about so many different topics. This might how to code or use specific software, or it might be reading about the current political or economic landscape through news sites or academic articles. All of these can help you to learn about a specific topic. Wherever your interests lie, you can be sure to find a community of people who are also interested in that same thing where you can share information, hold a discussion and learn more about your chosen area. Most of these resources will be free as well, and the most you will likely need to do is sign up or make an account to access them. Certain academic resources might need to be paid for, but these are an anomaly, and there are often by trained experts so you can understand having to pay for their knowledge.
Online Courses
There are so many different kinds of online courses that you can access. Sites like Udemy have a lot of different courses in lots of different categories. There you can learn language skills, software skills or how to write a book. Each course is tailored and specific to a certain topic. Some are broader than others, but generally, they are very specific. The problem with Udemy is that the quality of the courses can be radically different because they are all made by different people with different standards. This is where the user reviews can be especially helpful. However, once you complete a Udemy course, you are presented with a certificate that confirms your completion. There are other online courses that you can access such as ones from companies that offer specific e-learning. The RPA Academy, for example, offers a range of courses to teach you about RPA and how to automate tasks within your business. They aren’t alone is providing online courses on this subject, so you might want to shop around for the best deals and most highly rated courses.
It isn’t just companies and individuals that are offering courses online these days, universities and colleges are as well. Many universities such as Spring Arbor University offer a lot of their courses online. If you want to get a position in a specific area such as MSN education jobs, then online courses provided by a university often have the level of detail and quality that you are looking for. The added benefit of learning online with a university is that you gain their renowned and have a qualification from their establishment once you graduate. This can go a long way even if you have completed an online course.
Smartphone
These days most people have a smartphone. The myriad of apps that you can access through your phone isn’t limited to Angry Birds and Evernote since you can now start learning on your smartphone. Apps like Duolingo provide an easy way to learn a language directly from your smartphone. They have a massive catalogue of languages to choose from including Japanese, German, Spanish and English. This means that if you have always wanted to learn a language, but never found time for an evening class, then you can download Duolingo to your smartphone and start learning. Duolingo provides a number of ways to learn and gradually teaches you a full vocabulary for your chosen language. You will type words, speak words and match pairs as you gradually start to understand how this language works.
Duolingo isn’t alone when it comes to learning from your smartphone; there are a lot of other apps that use similar techniques to help you learn a specific topic. You can learn to code with Tynker or learn how to play the piano with Synthesia. If you want to learn something, then you should have a search on your smartphone’s app store to see if there is an app that can help you. The chances are that there is. Most apps are either free or cost very little when compared to taking an online course or university course, so they can be a great introduction to the subject matter.
College and University
You might think that once you have left college or university, that your time with them is over. This doesn’t need to be the case. Even if you don’t end up going back to study for a Masters or PhD, you can still go to the university so learn in different ways. A lot of universities offer short courses and evening classes on a range of subjects. The exact subjects offered will vary between universities, but there will still be some options available to you. If it is a university or college that previously studied at, then you can perhaps get a discount on the cost of the course as well. This is probably the most expensive option on the list, but it can often be worth it due to the high standards of the teaching and the experience of learning together with other people. As well as learning about a topic, you will also have the opportunity to network with like-minded people, and the connections you make with them could help you in the future. Depending on the course it could also be accredited by governing bodies or national organizations which will give it extra merritt and give the qualification more weight.
For some people, they learn best in this kind of environment. Learning from a computer or smartphone in almost complete isolation won’t be for everything. You might learn better in a classroom setting where you can ask questions and gain face to face feedback. You might also learn better through doing, and that might not be as readily available through an online course (depending on the course), so attending a college or university might be the best option. You might also decide to go back and get your Masters or PhD, as you don’t need to decide straight away after graduating. You might have tried the job market and found that the role that you want in for your career is only available to people with these specific qualifications. Then again, you might never have gone to college or university, and you might want to start learning as a mature student to better yourself, further your career or change to a different one.
At Work
You will always be learning at work. You will learn your job and then learn how you can do it even better. There will always be a situation that you could have handled better, and you can learn how to do better in the future. A lot of this requires reflection how you can do this. However, your work might also send you on courses that are specific to your role. They might do this to help improve your skills and make you better at your job. You might have taken some additional responsibilities such as being first aid trained and need to go on a course to be retrained or learn about something specific to your workplace. If your work offers to pay for you to learn, then they are taking an interest in your future, and if you have any other learning plans, you could approach your boss to see if the company will pay for you to gain a specific qualification.
Daily Life
Your daily life will often mean that you learn something. That might in a passing conversation with a friend or by watching a documentary. While it might seem strange, but even watching TV and playing video games have something that they can teach you. When you are watching TV, you can dissect the meanings behind scenes, characters and stories. Each of these will show you the hidden depth (or lack of) in a particular film or TV show. A lot of these kind of media is designed to make you think while others are more there for raw entertainment. Think about the difference between watching something like Donnie Darko and Mission Impossible. They both have very different stories and messages they are trying to communicate. The same is true for video games. They have matured over the years to something far more than Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Games like Telltale’s The Walking Dead can tell a touching, heartfelt tale which makes the player analyse their own morality. Similarly, games like Nier Automata tell a nihilistic epic tale of war and the meaning of humanity. Each of these has a tale to tell and something to teach the player beyond how to improve their gameplay skills. Your daily life can teach you more than you think, you just need to let it.
