How to Learn New Skills Online
Learning how to learn new things online is an acquired skill. Anyone can learn something online the determining Factor in whether it is a successful learning venture is the time that it takes to acquire the new skill. Anyone can go out and learn something new. There is so much information available on the internet for free that everyone has access to. The valuable information is information that is organized in such a way has to deliver value in a concise organized manner.
Now I enjoy learning new skills
I never used to enjoy learning new things. Now I go out and seek new opportunities to learn new skills because I now understand that learning new skills makes me more valuable and resourceful. Which means that I can add more value to people around me. That is why I started this Blog Personal Digital Development to share the power of digital learning with the world.
If you are interested in getting started learning online one of the best places to start is understanding how we learn. There is a course from Coursera called learning how to learn and the best part about it is that it’s free click the link to have a look at it.
How to learn new skills online and why is it important?
It is really easy to get started learning online. A person’s first point of call is normally Google or YouTube. This is where the search for new skills normally starts.
Let’s take Google because it’s the most popular. When we need to learn something new we don’t ask our parents anymore, we don’t ask our grandparents anymore we ask Google.
Google & YouTube
Google returns what it deems to be the best answers for us. These answers and solutions are provided by website owners, companies and Bloggers. The second most popular search engine is YouTube. The search for solutions on YouTube has been trending up recently as people begin to prefer consuming content quicker and faster in video format.
The problem with the solutions that Google and YouTube provide are there these Solutions are provided by anyone and everyone.
This is a good and bad thing. The good is that everyone can share their knowledge and learning from their experiences with everyone else. The bad thing is no one is vetting and curating this content. To check if it is in fact true and unbiased. How do you then know that we can trust the information provided to us.
Trusted Information & the power of peer Reviews
The power of peer reviews. Peer reviews are more powerful than you think. They provide validation and a form of trustworthiness that we need. In order to decide whether we can believe certain information provided from certain individuals and companies. If you break it down that’s all the internet really is is information organized in different shapes and forms.
Validation
By being able to validate how trustworthy a solution is allows us to decide whether we believe the information provided on said website or video is in fact trustworthy and believable.
Learning through Online Courses
As this information is organised and presented in an improved timeworthy manor the cost to access information increases. This is where the industry of online courses has exploded in the last decade. People are taking information organising it packaging it and presenting it in a formalized easy to follow manor and then charging a fee for this.
Time is Money
What you are really paying for is the time that it will save you to do the research. Find the information and organise it in your mind. You are paying to access information faster.
A lot of people have issues with the online course community because they are generally speaking charging money for information that is freely available on the internet.
What they don’t understand is the value that these courses deliver. If you have ever enrolled in an online paid course that was valuable to you. That you learnt a valuable skill from it is worth every cent that you spend on it. Depending on your marginal utility that you gain from it. It all comes down to personal preference.
For me I love paid online courses and I’ve learnt so much since I started studying online.
Here are a few courses that I have enrolled in:
The best investment you could make
What do you think the best investment you could make is? The best investment you could ever make is investing in yourself. This will yield a higher return then any other investment you could find.
I remember my boss telling me this after my first month of working back when I had a job. Back then I didn’t quite understand what he meant but now I do. Now that I’ve learnt new skills. I understand how these new skills have helped me deliver more value as an individual. Become more valuable to society and with this deliverability of more value comes better remuneration. Which is very rewarding.
Where do I start learning new skills online
So how do you know where to start. I always start with my desire and I ask myself what is it that I truly desire. then I’ll reverse engineer the process from where I want to be to where I am today. then ask myself what skills do I need to learn in order to achieve what I desire. in other words what do I need to do in order to achieve the output that I want. when you break it down like this it helps you get clarity and makes it look nice and simple.
Let’s looking in at an example. Let’s say that I wanted to take photographs on the weekends and in my spare time to make some extra money on the side. what do I desire, I want to start a side hustle that will make me some extra money on the side doing what I enjoy taking photographs. now I start reverse engineering it what skills do I need to learn in order to achieve this.
Firstly I’ll need to understand how my camera works and how to use all of the settings on it to take professional looking for the photographs. Secondly I will need to learn how to promote myself as a photographer. Thirdly how to sell my services. Now I have 3 things that I need to learn photography camera settings, marketing, and sales.
Taking the 3 skills that I need to learn. I need to find a way of learning these skills. The first option is by reading blog posts that I found on Google and watching videos that I find on YouTube.
The advantage of doing this is that it is free the disadvantages are the fact that the information will not be organized in the correct order for me to learn I will need to find everything in the correct order and try and learn it by reading or watching the information in the correct order without getting distracted and ending up reading or watching different topics. this can be very challenging with all the temptation and clickbait that is out there.
The second option will be to find and established online course reputable teacher that other students have enjoyed and recommend for example this course on Udemy bye Phil Ebiner and other instructor on photography these instructors have had insert number of students and insert number of reviews with this information at hand I was more than happy to spend 120 to access this course and have my learning path presented to me in an organized and concise manner knowing that I would learn everything that I need to know and if I had any questions I could ask my instructors.
Now which method do you prefer leave us a comment Below and let us know.