Confucius said that learning does not stop with aging. We ought to keep up with learning as if we were to lose the ample opportunity to learn.
I strongly believe that learning is the most crucial way to produce meaning in our life. I also believe that learning should be adapted to one’s preferences. Learning is a process of acquiring new knowledge, information, and skills. Learning itself is rewarding while learning does not necessarily have to be fun.
I once was challenged by an argument that “Power Point is just an easy tool for flashy presentations. It’s useless, otherwise.” I decided to put Power Point to use for a good purpose. I set a goal to identify at least two or three new things per day to learn. I would pay attention to any new stuff, from the news, conversations, book reading, or other sources. I would then do a search online and gather information for a quick and easy Power Point file. I kept collecting good information and this became one of the most important tasks in my daily routine. In this way, I learned at least 1000 new things a year, and I have been doing this for over a decade. The more I did it, the stronger desire I developed to learn more new stuff. It’s a never-ending process. I am pleased that I proved Power Point to be of greater value than simply flashy presentations.
With the fast development of the new technology, resources and information have been overflowing. Sometimes we are bombarded by a large amount of faulty information, twisted with evil intention. This could jeopardize our learning. Fortunately, there are many good places, (such as snopes.com) that we can turn to for clarifications.
Nowadays learning has been made ubiquitous by the Internet and YouTube. There are many great sites for education, lectures, discussion, TV programming, and online tutorial sites. These are great resources to support learning in this information age. You do not have to pay extra or register in any academic program to learn. Using your computer, you can become a master of information or an expert in a particular field. You can also grab needed information to solve imminent problems for life or seek best advice for difficult decisions. You can learn in your own fashion, at your home, and at your own time and pace. Have you tried some of the sites below to learn? Keep up with the new learning.
Khan Academy: www.khanacademy.org/
TED Talks: http://www.ted.com/talks
Videos for the following free Harvard course: http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative
