Terrific Tuesday – it is terrific to raise the bar with continuing education.
Each Terrific Tuesday throughout the month of October, this blog will explore the idea of raising the bar, of getting better at something. Last week we looked at raising the bar as an entrepreneur. In upcoming articles we will look at raising the bar:
in relationships – personal and private
discipline at home and work
performance on the job
This week we will look at raising the bar with continuing education.This article is not meant for people working in professions that have formal continuing education requirements.
photo credit: Al_HikesAZ via photopin cc
There are several types of people when it comes to education. There is one group who can’t wait for high school to be over so that they never have to learn anything again. Another group of people understand the importance of education so they set out to get the education required to achieve their professional goals. Then, there is another group of individuals who seek out every opportunity to learn as much as possible about as many things as possible. Rest assured and know that no matter which of the camps you fall into, you can raise the bar with continued education.
There are several reasons why an entrepreneur should continually educate herself, here are a few:
1. every area of business and enterprise develops improved operational systems
2. new ways to do things are created over time
3. laws governing how a business operates change over time
4. new players enter the business world and should be watched
There are a great number of ways to continue one’s education. The typical method of attending university classes is well known to most people. Today many universities offer degree programs via internet and distance learning rather than just through attendance in brick and mortar classrooms.
In these modern times, there are a myriad of ways to continue one’s education:
1. newspaper articles
2. blog articles
3. documentaries
4. webinars
5. seminars
6. industry conferences
Another popular method of continuing education today is to take college courses on line from some of the top universities. The following is a list of some of the best universities in the country that offer courses on line. These courses are not for university credit, but they are from some of the best universities in the country:
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (mit.edu)
2. Open University (open.ac.uk)
3. Carnegie Mellon University (cmu.edu)
4. Tufts University (tufts.edu)
5. Stanford (stanford.edu)
6. University of California, Berkeley (berkeley.edu)
7. Utah State University (usu.edu)
8. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (kutztownsbdc.org)
9. University of Southern Queensland (usq.edu.au)
10. University of California, Irvine (uci.edu)
If you are the kind of person who can get a textbook and learn a subject on your own, without guidance from a teacher or professor, check out the website sponsored by Open Culture http://www.openculture.com/free_textbooks which provides more than 160 textbooks you can use to learn about quite a variety of subjects including foreign languages, economics, law and engineering.
This article has provided you with a tremendous number of resources and sources the entrepreneur can use for continuous education. So the question for you this Terrific Tuesday is what do you do to continue your education?
i had no idea that so many universities offer courses on line for free I will be checking these out tonight THANKS!
For languages to be learned I have been known to pick up a beginners CD and play it in the car on auto repeat. I am not sure how effective that is though :/
Great information! I keep up with my education by reading articles online, the newspaper, and by check out books at my local library! I never stop yearning to learn more and I know it will prove beneficial in the future. Thanks for sharing!
I am glad the information here was useful to you. I love learning. My family laughs at me because I do calculus at home for fun.
What a shame you hit publish by accident befroe adding my school Temple University, to the list. I'm sure you'll fix that when you do your edits.
LOL
This is a very resourceful post. My preferred methd of continuing educationis documentaries, listening to NPR on the radio, articles, and seminars. When I was in school I did not mind going to classes. But at this point in my life I have no desire for test and homework that comes with going back to school.
Ms. Joy Chaser, I am sorry I did not include your alma mater, the fine Temple University. Thank you for adding to my post's accuracy by sharing that information. You are doing a lot of continued education without the exams. I guess there is proof I am crazy because I miss the homework and exams!