By Kuvanya Pillay*
I recently discovered that I’m not the only person aiding my learning of French through the application Duolingo. A brilliant learning aid that now allows you to compete against other users under time pressure (competitive learning at it’s finest).
With over 16.3 million members learning Spanish and 10.1 million learning French, it just goes to show how connectivity and learning merge: To give users an accelerated learning experience.
With the wealth of knowledge the internet provides and the declining digital divide, expensive tertiary educations and prestigious qualifications no longer guarantee holders a competitive edge in the workplace. There is of course a place for tertiary learning, but the internet is enlarging and diversifying the traditional face of primary and further education.
Take for example the online course, edX, a selection of online courses hosted jointly by MIT and Harvard. At June 2013, edX had over 2.5 million users!
Or, Khan Academy, a free e-learning website that has been translated into 23 languages and provides over 6000 youtube tutorials on subjects ranging from Mathematics to History. In 2014 approximately 10 million students per month used the site! The beauty of such a course, enables learners who may have difficulty grasping concepts for the first time in classrooms to learn and practice questions in their spare time. It also gives top learners who want to learn extra material an opportunity to do so. As a traditional classroom lesson targets the average learner, resources such as the above allow student “outliers” to grasp a better understanding of topics in their own time.
If you have internet access, there’s no one stopping you from learning, but you. With the vast array of quality MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) out there, you have the opportunity; to enrol in to Ivy league courses, learn a new language or learn how to programme. The opportunities are literally endless.
The crux, of course, is who will use the plethora of knowledge available to them to broaden their knowledge base?
With all the mind-numbing distractions that come along with 21st century lifestyles (Facebook, instagram, candycrush etc.) the ability to motivate yourself to expand your mind online is no easy feat.
That’s why, a hunger for knowledge that’s driven by the individual is more important now than ever before. The pool of those of us with access to education has exponentially expanded. And as the pool expands, the competition gets stiffer.
All I can say is, use the opportunities available to you! These are exciting times we’re living in, revel in the beauty of connectivity! Bonne Chance!
* Kuvanya Pillay is studying to be a chartered accountant. You can follow her on twitter at @KuvanyaP and read more of her writing on her blog, The Ethical Accountant.Â
