You can learn almost anything from the comfort of your own home. YouTube, Google and Wikipedia can offer up some quick solutions to most of life’s questions. For a something a little deeper check out these cool online educational programmes – Khan Academy, altMBA and Coursera.
Khan Academy
The Khan Academy is a mega resource. The site is a non-profit educational organisation created by Salman Khan in 2008. The goal was simple; to create a set of online tools that help educate students. Well played!
In their own words:
Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps. We’ve also partnered with institutions like NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to offer specialized content.
What started as one man tutoring his cousin has grown into a more than 150-person organisation. We’re a diverse team that has come together to work on an audacious mission: to provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere. We are developers, teachers, designers, strategists, scientists, and content specialists who passionately believe in inspiring the world to learn.
The content supports work in the school classroom or university lecture halls. The content is clear, well presented and best of all free. You can donate to support the programme; it is always a good idea to give back!
Find out more: https://www.khanacademy.org/
altMBA
The altMBA is an online leadership and management workshop founded in 2015 by bestselling author Seth Godin.
The altMBA uses digital tools like Slack, Discourse and Zoom to engage more than 100 students in an intense four-week process. In 2018, students from 45+ countries worldwide participated, with more students being added each session.
Each session of the workshop is led by coaches who engage with students in individual and group work. During the workshop, each student publishes the results of the 13 assigned projects on the public altMBA site. Over one session of the workshop, more than 50,000 messages were exchanged between students and coaches in Slack. The program is synchronous, with regular deadlines, group discussions, and face-to-face video calls. It is entirely based online, with students participating from their home or workplace.
Find out more at: https://altmba.com/
Learning from the best
Coursera is a venture-backed, education-focused technology company founded by professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, which offers online courses from top schools such as Stanford and Yale.
Every course on Coursera is taught by top teachers from the world’s best universities and educational institutions. Courses include recorded video lectures, auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments, and community discussion forums. When you complete a course, you’ll receive a sharable electronic Course Certificate.
Find out more at: https://www.coursera.org
What not to do
What you probably don’t want to learn online:
- diagnosis – researching health symptoms online tends to result in you thinking that you have every contagious disease under the sun.
- litigation – getting your legal advice online, possibly it is best to go see the professionals.
- electrician work – learn at home electrical work is a no, no.
We suggest using Google to find an electrician, doctor, and lawyer!
Good luck learning!