Finishing your journey through the education system doesn’t mean that you have to stop learning. Sure there will be pressures on you to get yourself a job but there is no law that says you cannot work and learn at the same time, or that once you have left school you can no longer learn.
There is no way that learning can ever be confined within the walls of a classroom. It is a continuous process that takes place throughout everybodies life course. If anything, learning new things becomes easier once you have left the education system as you have free rein over what you want to learn about. This idea of continuing to learn and expand your knowledge is commonly known as Lifelong learning.
Lifelong learning refers to independent, voluntary and self motivated learning. The main reasons that people decide to pursue it is for personal and professional reasons. For example someone may choose to expand their knowledge and skill set in order to make themselves more employable, which is a good reason for doing so especially in this economic climate. Showing that you are always eager to learn new things can really help set you apart from the crowd.
A few decades ago lifelong learning would have been difficult. But lucky for you nowadays it is much easier to do. This is because there are a wide range of online learning programs that are easy for you to access. But the great thing is you don’t have to sign up to any courses if you don’t want. You can continue to learn on your own merit by reading books and researching on the internet.
So How Do I Get Started?
Starting the lifelong learning process isn’t difficult at all. Like was mentioned earlier you have complete freedom over what you want to learn. For example if you want to learn how to code there are lots of websites you can use such as code academy. If you want to learn about history there are millions of sites that you can turn to.
The best way to start is to sit down and really think about what sort of things interest you. You should also think ahead to what you wish to do in the future, such as a specific career, then have a look at the things that will help to achieve this goal. You should never put a limit on what you want to learn as this is a big part of the fun. Once you have decided on what you want to learn, it is time to embark on your journey into lifelong learning.
What Tools Will Help Me Out?
If you don’t like the idea of being left to your own devices to study there are plenty of free courses that you can enroll yourself on. Open Culture contains 540 free online schooling courses from some of the world’s top universities. The website contains hundreds of audio and video courses that are available to download instantly on a wide range of subject areas. There are also lots of other sites like this that you can find by doing a quick Google search.
Google Drive is another handy tool that can really help you to learn online. This is because it is integrated with its very own office software, meaning that you don’t have to pay for any office software. This makes the learning process much cheaper. The other great thing is that Google Drive allows you to share your work with others and collaborate in real time. This means that you can connect with people anywhere in the world and learn from them much easier.
Quora is another great tool for lifelong learning as it is packed with questions and answers from real experts. You may already find the answers you are looking for from a quick search and if not you can ask them yourself and people will be willing to help you out. It is a brilliant place to get pointed in the right direction and you will be amazed by what you can find.
These are just a small suggestion of the the tools that you can use. As you research and explore the internet more you will find more and more useful tools. It is also worth mentioning that you don’t always have to use the internet, books are just as good to learn from.
So there you have the evidence that learning doesn’t have to end when you leave school. By following these basic tips and getting started you really can improve yourself both personally and professionally. Why not give it a try and see where it takes you?