Most of us spend a fair bit of time online. In fact, a recent report by Ofcom found that the average person spends more than 24 hours per week browsing the web. Among those aged 16 to 24, that number jumps to 34.3 hours per week.
It’s safe to say that for most people, a large portion of that time is spent on entertainment. This can include watching videos, scrolling through social media, playing online games and reading blog content. These time-killers are fairly harmless, at least in moderation. But perhaps there’s a better way to spend your time. It’s often said that the difference between the top five percent of people and the rest is what they do in their free time.
The bottom 95 percent of people take the moments they’re spared to indulge in entertainment, while those on top spend it on enriching their minds, furthering their education and learning more about the world around them. You can do it to reach new heights in your career, master a hobby, achieve a personal goal or because it’s your idea of fun.
The internet has made learning about anything such an easy task that there’s really no excuse not to try. To help you broaden your horizons and kick off 2020 on a high note, here are the best websites to expand your knowledge in the year ahead.
Coursera
Alongside Udemy and Open Culture, Coursera is one of the top websites for taking courses online. Within their extensive database is a wide variety of topics, including business, computer science, health, languages, physics, maths and more. There are even certificates that you can obtain and add to your CV to improve your career prospects.
Khan Academy
This non-profit, educational organization was created by Salman Khan to provide a set of tools for anyone to learn a range of topics with ease. In addition to short, video lessons, Khan Academy also offers supplementary practise exercises and achievements to help you keep going.
There are countless different subjects to explore, including a wide variety of mathematics courses as well as physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, computer programming, art, history and much more. The website is user friendly and great for learning at your own pace.
edX
Another great option in the realm of online courses is edX. This website is backed by esteemed universities, including the University of Oxford. There are a variety of courses on offer in categories such as music, medicine, philanthropy, nutrition, architecture, design and just about anything else that you’d want to know more about.
Codecademy
If your sights are set closer to programming, Codecademy is the place to be. It’s one of the most well-designed websites for learning how to code. Included in their catalogue are starter courses that can help you learn the foundations of coding, making it suitable for beginners.
From there, you can choose to pursue specific programming languages, including Python, SQL, HTML, CSS, Javascript and React, among others. While there is a Pro version on offer with more courses, there is more than enough free material available to help you get started. Their extremely user-friendly interface and interactive learning system is a great way to get into the world of programming.
BBC Podcasts
BBC Podcasts is better suited to those times when you feel like doing some more casual learning. Here you can find a variety of informative podcasts on different topics and weekly updates that focus on everything from finance to history. It’s a simple and easy way to give your brain a quick boost of educational enrichment.
Duolingo
Learning a new language isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but Duolingo aims to change that and make it a fun and rewarding process. Whether you want to familiarise yourself with some French before heading off for a weekend in Paris or become fluent in Chinese to get that overseas promotion, Duolingo is the place to do it.
Their language-learning website and mobile app are popular because of the way they make you learn. Training is simple and personalised with immediate grading and fun rewards that help you stay motivated. What’s more is that you can learn any of their languages, including Japanese, German, Spanish, Italian and more, without paying a penny.
Aston University
If you’re looking for a more in-depth solution that offers a full-fledged qualification at the end of your learning, Aston University Online is an excellent option. Here you can take online MSC courses on a number of business-focused areas. The university is fully accredited and will serve as a valuable stepping stone in your pursuit of a dream career in business.
YouTube
While the world’s greatest content sharing platform is chock-full of mindless entertainment, there’s also a great deal of educational material to be discovered. Finding what you’re looking for is as simple as typing it into the search bar.
For just about every topic, there are a number of insightful and informative channels dedicated to educating you in detail. YouTube is also a great platform for expanding your general knowledge and learning about topics that you have never given much thought to. Some popular channels include Vsauce, Kurzgesagt, AsapScience and TedEd.
Lynda
Founded way back in 1995, Lynda is one of the oldest and most popular resources for taking courses on thousands of different topics related to business, design, technology, science and more. Most of their content is built on video tutorials put together by industry experts. There are a few free courses, but most of the content here is paid.
Expand your knowledge!
While the sheer amount of content available through the above resources is enough to keep you busy for a lifetime, it makes up only a small portion of what the internet has to offer. That’s quite astounding, especially considering the amount of time most people spend on less-enriching forms of digital content.
Perhaps you can become someone who makes a change to how we spend most of our time online. All you need to do is get out there and start learning. What you gain in the process makes it a most worthwhile endeavour.
