Are you looking for options to learn new skills for your professional or personal growth? Thanks to technology, access to knowledge has become easier and more affordable. In case you are looking for ideas for your continuous education, here are 5 suggestions to learn new skills for free.
Join an active online community managed by an expert you follow
There are tons of resources that you can read online but the best way to learn a new skill is to apply what you learn, get feedback and exchange ideas with other people who are either doing the same thing than you or who have more experience and can help answer your questions.
If you follow the blog of an expert who teaches a topic that you are interested in, see if she also manages an online community such as a forum or Facebook group that you can join to interact with like-minded people.
For example, if you want to improve your crafting skills, find a website that regularly posts articles to teach you about crafting and also look if it has an active community to help you make progress on your project.
Find a free online challenge
Online challenges with a specific timeline are great to keep you motivated and usually offer a way to share your accomplishments with other people enrolled in the challenge. It adds more fun to the learning process and the act of showing regularly your progress could really help you practice and take action.
An example of format for a challenge could be daily emails that you receive in your inbox every morning with a lesson and one action step to follow (such as blogging or list building tips). The rhythm could be difficult to follow, that is why it is a challenge, but you can always go back to your past emails and apply what you learned at your own rhythm.
This format works quite well for photography challenges with photo sharing on Facebook, Flickr or Instagram.
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Listen to Podcasts
You can search online for podcasts in your field of interest or subscribe to them via iTunes. This is practical when you have a long commute or can’t find time to read. You can find podcasts about marketing, entrepreneurship and many other categories related to personal or professional activities.
More and more bloggers are launching podcasts as a new channel of communication, in addition to the articles they write.
Join CreativeLive
CreativeLive provides free and paid courses for creative professionals.
They have a very interesting concept where:
- You can join the class in person to be part of the audience and receive hands-on courses
- You can watch free broadcasts: when you connect online, they offer a selection of programs that you can watch live for free
- You purchase the courses you want to watch on-demand and to have access to any associated materials provided by the teacher
Register to online courses from worldwide universities
You can attend more intense programs provided by some of the best universities in the world with topics geared toward working professionals. Some of the courses are self-paced whereas other ones are provided during specific periods where all the students have the same deadlines to provide their homework.
The students can purchase a verified certificate as a proof of the course completion.
For more information, you can find examples of courses that are provided by edX and Coursera.
What about you? Do you have any other tips for personal or professional education that you could share with us in the comment section below?
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