The will to learn outside the Classroom: Where and How

In college, students have the right to choose the subject they would like to major in. Students can also easily find themselves taking mandatory classes that they find no value in. Another common scenario could be that the student may enjoy the lessons learned in a certain class but would only be allowed to take that subject for a semester or two.

Should a student’s learning be limited to what is being offered in school? A more important question is, how should they be learning outside of school?

It honestly depends on the student’s commitment. A student can learn just as much outside of the classroom as they do in a classroom.

Once they are dismissed from their classrooms, they have the opportunity to personalize their learning experience in order to gain the skill sets they may not be able to obtain in a traditional classroom setting.

Here are a few ways that a learner can pursue their interests and desired skill sets outside of the classroom:

Technology

The most accessible route for a student to pursue their own interests is through the web. Now more than ever, the internet has many resources that would allow a student to gain the knowledge and skills needed to become more qualified for their desired profession.

There tons of websites that offer free online courses in a variety of topics. These below are the best, but you can search this article to find more.

• Coursera.org is a website that partners with universities and organizations worldwide to bring a wide range of in-depth courses. This website can help a student master subjects that they are interested in.
• Khan Academy offers free short lessons in the form of YouTube videos, supplementary practice exercises, and materials for educators. It was created in 2015 as a non-profit educational organization with the goal of creating a set of online tools to help educate students.
• Lynda.com — partnering with LinkedIn to provide technical certifications for the working professional on the go.
• edX.org offers online courses with teachers, discussion boards, and quizzes. Courses are from many different schools and tend to focus on math, science, and engineering.
• Open Culture online courses offer about 1000 lectures, videos, and podcasts from universities around the world. The site features a lot of material found only on universities private sites, all in easy to browse categories.
• MIT OpenCourseWare offers course material from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The website provides lectures, lecture notes, homework assignments, sample tests and many other materials from the actual courses at MIT. MIT OpenCourseWare provides courses that focus on science, computer, and engineering.

Mentorship

Mentorship is defined as a relationship in which an experienced and more knowledgeable person guides a less experienced or less knowledgeable person to a similar level or direction. A student can simply see it as learning from someone who has achieved the type of success they want themselves to achieve.

Once a student is out of the classroom, a mentor can provide information about his or her own career path, as well as guidance, motivation, and emotional support. This can benefit a student since they would be learning from people who are doing what the student is most interested in. Mentors can also offer valuable resources that a school may not be able to offer such as connections and work opportunities.

Learning on their own terms

Its unarguable that a student will gain knowledge inside the classroom, but its not always tailored to their learning style. They can gain much more knowledge when they learn at their own terms and pace. By using online resources, they can choose the pace of their learning process and choose what subjects to focus on. By learning from those who have real world experience, they create connections as well as learn what it really takes to survive in the real world. Lastly, these are not the only ways a student can learn, just taking the time to read some of a book every day is instrumental to building a massive wealth of knowledge over time. A student just needs to have the commitment and motivation to seek out knowledge on their own time.

Nxed is an ed-tech firm of talented creatives whom are deeply passionate about bringing universities into the 21st century by the intersection of technology and education. Stay connected with our story and leave a comment, check us out at Nxed.io.

Until then, “Keep Thinking” — Nxed team.