People before the internet era were having very limited options/sources of learning something. Universities and books were primarily the main sources of gaining knowledge. People who were financially weak were not able to afford going to universities. Books were the only source left for them. But then came the internet era which changed everything.
There are millions of sources on the internet, various blogs about different topics and what not. Almost everything from A to Z is available on the internet and that too for free. People can now learn almost anything from the internet. They have access to abundant information in just a few clicks. Thanks to the internet, it has revolutionized the way we learn things.
Now you don’t need to enroll yourself in a university to learn a skill, you can do it for free using the internet. Millions of articles, blogs, and videos are available on the internet on different platforms. For example YouTube, it’s a platform where people make and upload videos on any topic.
Right from learning how to code to learning how to cook, there’s almost everything available on YouTube. Amazing isn’t it? You still have your books, articles and newspapers which keeps you updated with things. But the internet gives you many options to learn things, share your learnings and your experiences with other people as well.
You have access to earning biology, politics, psychology and many others things on the internet. But here’s the thing, a lot of information is available, the key here is to rely and trust on sources of legitimate learning.
Guidance From Teachers And Elders
The best way of learning is when someone teaches us personally. Some people come into our lives to teach us something and we need to learn everything that people will try to teach us because that knowledge will be handy at some point in our life.
Our teachers help us in understanding things in our books and elders around us helps us understand things that are very important in our life. When a teacher teaches us something verbally then those learning are with us forever in our mind. All you need to do is listen to them carefully what factors are they teaching us from our successful life.
YouTube is good source of getting knowledge
YouTube is a blessing, to be honest. You will find almost everything you are looking for on YouTube. From technology to politics to news to cooking, almost everything is available on YouTube.
Let’s say you are looking to buy a new smartphone and you are not sure about its features, specifications etc. You simply have to search it on youtube and boom!! There you go, you will see many reviews of the smartphone which you are going to buy. This is one example of how powerful and amazing getting knowledge on anything is.
Students can learn their subjects on YouTube. Many YouTube channels are having amazing lectures on various subjects. For example, there’s a YouTube channel called Unacademy. It’s an educational channel uploading video lectures on various subjects such as JEE, NEET and many other topics. Students preparing for competitive exams can refer to these as they are trusted sources and thus prepare for their exams.
Television Based Knowledge
Everyone loves television, we are watching T.V since we were kids. And still, we watch T.V but intentionally or unintentionally we all learn from our T.V. When we watch cartoons we used to learn courage and goodwill from them. Cartoons are in such a way that they provide kids with all good things because a kid tends to have manners they see.
Teenagers also tend to adopt the personality of their favorite characters because they would love to see themselves as those characters. Apart from personality, we gain lots of knowledge from informative channels like Discovery, History etc. These informative channels give us knowledge about the current affair, Scientific Knowledge, History and Geographical Knowledge and many more.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is one of the most reliable sources out there. It doesn’t function like regular google does which has articles on everything. Google scholar is a bit different as it contains journals, articles and research papers on various disciplines. Google Scholar includes only scholarly materials. They don’t publish general news, blogs, articles or newspapers published.
It is a very credible source of learning and finding new information. Researchers who have published articles are usually professionals and you can rely on there work. It is very useful especially for students who have to submit a research paper on a topic, they can rely on it as it is credible. They can refer to these research paper and it may help them in their assignment.
Online Courses
Online courses companies like Academy, Coursera etc. provide online courses on various topics right from having professionals degrees like Graphic designing, Masters In Business administration, Painting, Soft Skills, to Coding languages like Python, Java, C++ and many others.
Especially during this pandemic where students aren’t allowed to go outside, they can enroll in these very flexible courses, i.e. you can learn something at your own pace. You also get access to assignments, projects when you enroll in these courses. Also, they are reliable as these courses are offered by credible universities. Universities like Harvard and IBM have their courses on different topics.
The benefit of enrolling in online courses is that you can access them from your home or anywhere else in the world if you have an internet connection. Further, you can learn whenever you want to, there are no specific timings when you have to learn. You can ask doubts to the professor in their weekly doubt sessions as well. Especially today, online courses are very popular as everyone is at home.
Books
Books are existing for ages. People have relied on books since very long as it is a very credible source of learning. People rely on books as they are written by authors who are specialized in their respective fields.
There are different genres available in books such as self-help, thriller, technology, coding, science, sports, psychology etc. People can choose books according to their interest.
You can complete your degrees by purchasing books of your field. Books are such an amazing source to learn things as it is written by authors who are professionals, also the information in the book is not rubbish, it is published with researching a lot on the topic and only then it is published.
Let’s say I am curious about how our mind works and I want to learn via sources which are credible, I can thus purchase books like Thinking fast and slow, The Brain changes itself etc. and gain knowledge about it. Books are credible sources of information which people can trust.
Social Media Platforms
People mostly use social media to interact with their friends and family, knowing about what other people are up to. But you can learn on social media platforms as well if you follow the right people. Twitter is the best example. There are various twitter accounts on twitter writing on various topics such as marketing, building startups, communication skills etc.
Key here is to find people who are credible. For example Gary Vaynerchuk, he is an entrepreneur and a content creator giving advice on how to build your personal brand on social media platforms, how to increase sales online. You can follow people according to your interest and chances are you will find someone who you can trust.
Websites
There are many websites available where you can learn stuff. For example there are few websites which provides free coding materials without charging a single penny. You can learn and then practice on their website for free. I myself have learnt typing online. Many websites are available which teach you how to type.
Documentaries
Documentaries are one amazing source of learning. It is a very fun way to learn new things as people can watch documentaries to gain knowledge, expose themselves to topics they don’t know about. There are amazing documentaries on the internet as well as on TV channels like Discovery, National Geographic etc. It includes topics about the history of different countries, wildlife, nature and many other interesting things.
Scientific Research On Factors Of Learning
There are many peppers and thesis about how people can learn from different sources of knowledge the above-mentioned sources of knowledge will help students and other people to gain knowledge very well and apart from books the things they want to learn will be stored in their mind because they are not learning it but visualizing the knowledge in their mind for a long period.
Psychologists have researched that the human brain never stops learning thereby it is important to learn good things first or else your brain can get easily influenced by unwanted knowledge and you will adapt thus knowledge without knowing of your presence.
Knowledge is Power
As we know knowledge is power, knowledge can anything possible. Gone are those days where people were having limited sources of learning and gaining knowledge. Since the launch of the internet, it has helped millions of people learn things of their interest. Plus it is free of cost so people who can’t afford to learn in universities are now having a choice on learning through the internet.
With just a few clicks people can find and learn about subjects, concepts etc. In today’s world, we are blessed with having various sources of learning and we should use them to learn something every day, as Leonardo da Vinci one said “Learning never exhausts the mind”.