Coursera

This is not an advertising feature, but I highly recommend bored office workers, bums and semi-bums (like myself) to keep your brain cells active by going over to the site linked at the bottom of this page. At Coursera, I feel like a student again; most especially with the business course I took recently from Darden's (UVA) online school. I will admit that it's tough if you're juggling an unfamiliar course with a full-time job. In my case I had a flexible 9-hour online job, but had another part-time in addition to that, and was taking courses in between. As a result my concentration was divided and I spent my weekends studying instead of relaxing...nevertheless I always believe the benefits outweigh the costs.

WHY ENROLL?? 

1. Less burden on your wallet (or card). College may be affordable, depending on where you live in the world. But not everyone has access to it. And since education is a human right, Coursera staff unsolicitedly demonstrates their unwavering support through this site. That's right folks! It's totally fuh-REE! 

2. Reputable Institutions. Apart from the Ivy League institutions in the States, I'm not familiar with other high ranking state universities. I'm not even familiar with the cream of crop in the Asian region. Their school directory includes Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Tokyo University as well as other more acclaimed schools like UC Berkley, Standford University, MIT and the like.

3. Portable classroom. Like any other open university, the lectures are downloadable; therefore you can watch it anywhere, at your convenient time. So if you're in the middle of a long vacation, or are on a long-haul flight, you can watch the videos on your smartphone, tablet or notebook and answer the quizzes right after. Like interaction? No problemo! Virtual interaction is made possible through the forums section of each course. In fact, if there's a large number of people taking the same course in a certain city, some students are serious enough to meet up and have a real face-to-face discussion about the course/ homework.

4. Personal calendar-friendly. Since most of the schools I've been enrolling in are located in America, I have more than half a day to submit requirements (papers/quizzes) before the deadlines. Thankfully, America's time is well-behind most countries, which entails convenience for us non-Americans to meet the usual midnight cut-off of the schools- because that would mean 8AM or later on a Monday (in my area, at least). The best thing is that I don't have to follow a strict regimen when i should start/finish a certain video. IF it's a familiar topic, I can watch all videos, answer the quiz and complete everything else in just 2 hours for an entire week. If not, it'll take at most 3 hours a day.

5. Up-to-date, competitive and relevant information. I regret to say that my undergrad was old-fashioned and conservative to some extent. Some of the tables we had to memorize for BMI (body-mass index) interpretation were no longer used in the West. Global trends on nutrition labeling, thought-provoking discoveries on diabetes, business strategies of incumbent valuable companies were yet another indispensible bit of information I learnt from this platform. Might be even more practical (let alone reasonable) than taking a full second degree, like I had originally planned after my undergrad.

6. Rehearsals for studying abroad. So you've gotten admission to your dream school, and you're just passing the time doing nothing but waiting for reality to sink in. Well, this is nothing short of the perfect way for to practice while on an English speaking/listening hiatus after the nerve-wracking TOEFL/IELTS and/or GMAT exams. Most lectures are administered in English, and is therefore fitting for you MBA/Graduate School hopefuls to brush up before the actual thing.  

If these six reasons aren't persuasive enough, check out https://www.coursera.org/