Jenerally Speaking

Yesterday I mentioned that I wanted to find ways to be more interesting.  My hobbies and interests are rather limited, despite the fact that I am an enthusiastic and avid seeker of knowledge.  I tend to stay in my comfort zone and never quite venture beyond that.  I love to learn, but I am always focusing on increasing my knowledge of topics I already know.  This is natural I suppose.   We gravitate to the familiar.  I definitely do, at least.

I began by looking for places where I can teach myself a new language online.  That’s not so easy.  I almost think learning a new language needs to be done in an environment where I can get some feedback.  As I began my search I found this site:

Universities with the Best Free Online Courses

It lists quite a few universities – MIT, Stanford, etc. which offer free college level courses for people to download or view online.  They aren’t available for college credit, but there are some quality courses there.  The first two subjects I looked at were health/science and computers…my two favorite subjects.  I think, however, I am going to try something new.  I need to keep my brain “on its toes,” so to speak.

For the first time in 5 years, I am not actually enrolled in real college classes (due to a temporary lack of finances) so I just want to keep my brain in tip-top shape for my return to college in (hopefully) a few months.   The challenge is finding a course that actually works well as an independent study course.  I have been a distance and online college student for many years and I have found that there have been many courses that really would have worked better in a classroom.  History classes, for example, are enhanced by the ability to have class discussions and feedback from the teacher and other students.  In any case, I’m going to check out the different sites and select two classes to teach myself something new.  I think that might be fun. For me anyway.  I don’t think I’ll ever stop being a school nerd.