Learning something new is always an achievement, but for older people it can sometimes take a little more effort to get started. Finding a suitable course, travelling to a local college and fitting classes around everyday life can all be barriers, particularly when traditional evening classes are becoming less common in many towns.
Thankfully, learning no longer requires a classroom, a timetable or even leaving the house. The explosion in online courses and educational videos has opened up an enormous world of opportunities for anyone who is curious enough to explore it.
And perhaps that is one of the nicest things about getting older: there is absolutely no reason to stop learning.
Learning Without Leaving Home
There was a time when learning a new skill meant finding out what was available at the local college, filling in a form and turning up at a particular time each week. Today, you can learn almost anything from the comfort of your own home.
There are countless online courses covering everything from practical crafts and technology to history, languages, cooking and hobbies. Many social and community groups have also embraced online learning, organising courses and training sessions to keep their members engaged and up to date.
One particularly good example is the Women’s Institute, which offers a wide range of free courses to paid-up members. These include everyday subjects as well as more intensive training designed to help members develop the skills they need to run their local groups.
The Excel course is a particularly useful example. Called Making Excel Simple, it is spread across ten sessions, making what can initially seem like an intimidating subject much more manageable. The sessions are offered at different times and on different days, making it easier for people to find a slot that fits around their lives.
And once you discover that you can learn something you once thought was beyond you, it can become surprisingly addictive.
The Pleasure of Learning Just Because You Can
Not every online course needs to have a practical purpose, either. Sometimes learning is simply about enjoying something new.
There are some wonderfully engaging travel and walking videos available online, including programmes where a college lecturer takes viewers on a stroll through some of the most interesting areas of Britain’s towns and cities.
This is my kind of education.
There is something rather lovely about sitting comfortably at home while someone else does all the walking. You get to see the architecture, hear the history and discover places you might otherwise completely miss — without having to worry about parking, finding your way or ending up hopelessly lost.
I am particularly drawn to videos featuring London. The capital is full of extraordinary buildings that are easy to overlook when you are simply trying to navigate your way around as a tourist. The Inns of Court, for example, are spectacular, with fascinating histories and beautiful architecture that deserve to be explored.
Online learning can therefore be as useful or as leisurely as you want it to be. You can learn Excel because you need it, take a course because you want to develop a new skill, or spend an afternoon virtually wandering around London simply because you find it interesting.
Perhaps that is the real joy of developing a learning habit. There is no exam at the end, no qualification you necessarily need to achieve and no pressure to become an expert. You can simply follow your curiosity.
And once that curiosity takes hold, you may find yourself signing up for the next course before you have even finished the first one.
Photo by Wes Hicks.