Learn Something New

Home again. Home again. Jiggity jig. The trip to Maker Faire was wonderful, and I’ll be sharing a lot of it in the next week or two once we wrap our heads around the plethora of content we came home with.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share some cool resources that I’ve found online lately that have me pretty excited. Every once in a while, I feel like my brain gets a little stale. Does that ever happen to you? You finish a big project, you are running from appointment to appointment trying to check things off your ToDo list… oh, that ToDo list… So rather than complacently ignore the feeling, I thought, “I need a challenge!”

So I thought back to the times when I have felt most creative. One of those, not surprisingly, was during school. When you’re in school, there’s a goal. There’s a definite end to projects. Best of all, you are surrounded by people with a passion for the same sorts of things that interest you. As a result, there’s an excitement about learning something new, and excitement always makes it easier to get out of your box.

Home Ec students

But when you get older, finding a learning community can be a little more difficult. Needless to say, I was super stoked to find several online resources where you can take classes that are free (or close to it) to challenge yourself and learn something new. Here are a few that have caught my eye that may interest you too…

SKILLSHARE
Illustration & Lettering: A Hands-on Approach to Label Design
taught by Jon Contino

STANFORD ONLINE
Online courses that free, taught by Stanford’s own faculty and taken by people all over the world.

CREATIVEBUG
I heard about this site on Jordan Ferney’s blog. These classes are more craft/skill-geared, and teach skills that can really help you create your own world.

So now I’m curious…
Have you ever taken an online course just for fun?