My Knowledge bank that reaped interests in 2018

We all need to learn, at any stage in life and anything in life that keeps you growing, motivated and forward looking.

At the same time we need to look at the stock of knowledge we possess and start enriching it with the knowledge thats most relevant to the time and the need of our life. Why I said "most relevant" because today is the time of challenges and one needs to "unlearn and learn" .This essentially means need remains the same but the content and application may change.We need to tweak our choices and seek the right matter.

In today's demanding world, if you wish to keep up-to-date , you need to keep your education on. Choosing the topics depends on your technical expertise, liking and planned growth direction.

In the past few years, I realized that having only technical knowledge does not help . In order to make right decisions and to absorb the ones posed by others, we need to be "Emotionally Intelligent" . I was looking at such a place where I would get to learn Technology and Humanities. I started reading more and during this path, came across some useful avenues which support "Composite learning" and wish to share one such with you.

#NPTEL is one such useful initiative which could be leveraged. This is a joint initiative by India #MHRD, #IITs and #IISc. It provides 250+ courses in various faculties and they are designed by experienced and well known educationists from these reputed institutes. Content-wise, many courses supersede and they may need improvement from delivery perspective. The best attributes of these courses that appealed:

1. They are absolutely free and do not charge you for learning.
2. If you wish to get a IIT stamped certificate , they charge exam fee that is minimal as compared to its worth
3. Applicability of a course and Industry support is mentioned on the courses - which helps you to choose
4. Once you enroll , you would get to interact in a Forum where your queries are actively answered and you keep headed in right direction
5. Evaluation is based on Weekly assignment + Exam which gives you good room to score.
6. Pacing of the course is pretty good and you build up weekly ( A woman like me could pass 3 exams with ELITE grade and while keeping my hands on home and work ...just as an example :) , if it motivates you.)
7. You get a chance to top the streams you educate in and get featured in the ELITE lists and that carries weight and respect
8. As an individual learner - they motivate , as a leader - they will help you bring up someone , as a teacher - they will be great aids to compliment ,as a manager - enable team to plan learnings ( Many organizations and institutes in India are official partners in this initiative )

The only constraint for certificate seekers is ,you can attempt only 2 exams in a day ! :( , but learners can go on ..Any number of learnings one wishes to topup. Hope NPTEL would come up with innovative certification ideas to challenge learners attempt more examinations.

First few weekends of the new year are certainly good to plan and since the first month is still not over, I thought this is the right time to share this article and encourage the community to learn using this medium. #NPTEL have posted more than 290 courses this year and the list comprises interesting topics like Machine Learning , Emotional Intelligence, Microeconomics,Statistics, Data Science, Design thinking and a lot many courses as well to revise your long completed engineering knowledge . The enrollments have begun !

Some tips that helped me keep these knowledge accounts alive

1. Make use of your gadgets to alternate your source of continuation of the courses
2. Take a day's leave before the exam and recap
3. Download transcripts and keep handy ( soft and hard )
4. Find pockets of time when you need to be idle [ Waiting for kids outside the class Or for a turn at Doctors ] , may be sometime you could slide onto this learning.
5. Keep a stack of hyperlinks in your favorites
6. Do take a break to listen to music OR cook your favorite recipe to keep your heart tuned

and in my sometimes convenient and leisurely stroll on the internet I found this beautiful quote by Benjamin Franklin

An investment in knowledge pays best interest

To compound my knowledge bank balance , I visited NPTEL site and thinking to choose my picks this year. Tell me ,what are you waiting for?