It has been said that knowledge is the key to success. But there are some things you won’t learn in school that you’ll need to know as you become older. Fortunately, with online courses, videos, articles, podcasts, and applications, the internet has made it simpler to exchange knowledge for free.
One thing all successful people have in common is life-long learning. If you want to broaden your mind, self-study apps and websites contain a wealth of information. The websites listed in this article will lead you to resources that will help increase your knowledge or skills.
1. Learn Awesome: A Knowledge Base for Online Learning Resources of All Kinds
Learn Awesome provides suggestions for learning any subject using internet resources. This includes things like podcasts, forums, books, flashcards, courses, videos, summaries, and films.
Learn Awesome is attempting to become for online learning what Wikipedia is for online knowledge. It bills itself as a “learning map,” helping individuals access various resources and recommendations to discover a topic.
The emphasis isn’t solely on identifying the top online courses. Learn Awesome recognizes that people learn in different ways and that knowledge is available in a variety of formats. This website compiles them all into one convenient location so you can choose how you wish to learn.
For example, if you select history as your subject, Learn Awesome will recommend the best history teachers. You’ll receive options from podcasts, forums, books, MOOCs, chat groups, Q&A boards, flashcards, videos, summaries and notes, and films. The tile cards give brief descriptions, then you’ll need to visit the creator’s page to find out more.
Learn Awesome can be searched by expert, topic, user, or format. If you filter by learning style, you’ll find several types of information in that format. Not yet as comprehensive as Wikipedia, Learn Awesome has all the ingredients to become a knowledge repository for online self-learning.
2. CosmoLearning: The World’s Oldest Self-Learning Video and Course Curator
Since 2007, CosmoLearning has been compiling the best online resources for gaining knowledge about anything. It has curated the best free instructional videos from around the web and arranged them into unique learning paths. CosmoLearning is one of the first curators of online education and has built a credible and informative knowledge base.
Look through the site by subject until you find anything you’re interested in. You can then read a synopsis and look for related materials like films, courses, photographs, or documentaries. All of these are derived from reputable sources, such as universities and experts.
CosmoLearning contributors often add other useful information to a topic, such as books and articles. If you can’t decide, the home page offers the most popular documentaries, videos, courses, and books. Once you register, you will be able to submit content and communicate with other self-study buffs.
3. Trickle: Learn Difficult Topics in Small Daily Lessons
Trickle is a daily brief lesson service allowing you to learn complex subjects in microbursts. It simplifies difficult subjects by breaking them down into short chunks that are sent to you on a daily basis. Discovering new things in small bits—known as drip learning—makes it a habit rather than a separate effort.
Sign up for Trickle and select a topic or “stream” that interests you. You’ll find a number of streams that have already been chosen by experts and users. Each stream consists of numerous lessons, each of which takes about 5-10 minutes to read.
You’ll receive a new lesson daily to learn and digest, or opt to read more than one at a time. There are tags within each lesson you may tap to find out more about an idea or person. You’ll also be able to see other lessons with the same tags.
The end of each lesson contains highlights, and if you’d like, you can add a private remark or public comment. You also have the option to build or curate subjects by adding drips to your stream.
4. Open Masters and Informal PhD: Self-Study Guides and Communities
Informal PhD and Open Masters are two movements that educate you on how to achieve success through self-study.
Open Masters provides you with the resources and assistance you need to create your self-educational learning path. You are not required to follow the university’s academic curriculum for higher education. Instead, you can create your own path to learn in a way that is best for you.
A group of life-long learners, Open Masters rejects traditional education in favor of self-directed learning. You’ll discover useful resources, like Wayfinder’s Mandala, that help you figure out what to learn. In addition, they offer step-by-step instructions on how to do it.
Alex Bretas, author and TEDx speaker, has written a free booklet about his informal schooling path titled Informal PhD. You can get a taste of it in his Medium post. If you want a more thorough understanding of how to create your own learning path, you’ll want to read the entire book.
5. Learning Sabbatical: How To Plan and Complete a Learning Journey
Learning Sabbatical explains how to take time off from work to plan and complete an education. Continuing your education can help you advance your career and acquire new abilities. However, juggling learning with full-time work and other personal obligations can be difficult.
Taking a “Learning Sabbatical” to grow as a person is a new trend among working professionals. While missing work to take some courses may seem overwhelming, it’s preferable to burning the candle at both ends. If you actually want to improve your talents, give yourself the time and space to absorb what you learn.
The Learning Sabbatical website takes you through a process that specifies your goal shows you how to achieve it. In doing this, you will discover how to organize your sabbatical. The website also promotes meta-learning resources, including things like how to study more effectively.
Image Credit: Kaushal Moradiya; Pexels; Thank you!
