By Erica Webb
Being a college student, you would think the classes I take every semester would be plenty to fill my mind with. The only problem is that if a college student wants to stay on track and graduate on time, then the opportunities to take fun classes outside of your requirements are few.
So, here are a few things that I have found to be fun ways to save money and help to learn new skills at the same time! This way, I can keep my college spending money in my own pocket.
Language
One tool that I have been using is DuoLingo. The idea behind this site comes from the same guy who created the reCaptcha that helps digitize books (learn more about that here). What DuoLingo does is help you learn a language (Spanish, German, and French for now!), and at the same time you help them translate the internet. Pretty cool right? There is a Ted talk all about it, but the gist is that it would cost a lot of $$ to pay translators to work on translating the entire web. Instead, DuoLingo gives you a free service, and you help them out at the same time. I’m currently working on improving my Spanish (you would think I would be better after living in Spain for 5 months...) and keeping in competition with my friends. You read right; it’s social too!
Coding
While I’m aware that telling you I’m interested in this will show you all my geeky side, I’m still really excited about it. If you have any interest in Javascript, CSS, or HTML, then definitely check out Codecademy . I've been using it for a few months and have loved it! This site uses hands on teaching and you are creating your own code from the get-go! You earn badges as you go along, and there are even different sets of lessons for different things you want to accomplish. Are you an expert in one of these areas? Then help them out! Many of the lessons are crowdsourced- created by users who know their stuff.
Everything Else
Don’t forget that the Internet holds way more information than you and I could even begin to learn!
- You can access a lot of free online classes from colleges; even Yale has open online introductory courses.
- Got kids? This site has a lot of great interactive games for your kids to learn everything from music notes to basic math!
- Youtube has how-to videos on everything under the sun, and new sites are popping up every day just like the ones above.
- Many libraries offer free e-courses; check out your local library and see what they have to offer.
- I've recently come across an awesome new site called Skillcrush. It sends out a daily newsletter with different resources for learning tech. It looks great for kids (get your kids coding?? Sounds cool!) and parents alike (blogging laws and work app suggestions) . I haven't spent much time so that's about all I can say, we'll see how it goes!
How have you used the Internet to learn? Do you have any other suggestions for brain boosting websites?
