classes

10 Classes That Can Pay for Themselves

Jennifer Holder — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:24:15 +0000

Classes already help you grow as a person, but a lot of classes offer more than knowledge — they offer a way to make money in the long run, whether it be through resume-building skills or honing a particular crafty talent. Below is a list of 10 classes that can pay for themselves. But remember — you only get out of a class what you put into it, so expect to do a little grunt work. (See also: 10 Awesome Money-Making Hobbies)

1. Business Class

Small business incubators are popping up in cities across the country. Most are non-profits, there to help wannabe entrepreneurs figure out what they need to make their business idea work. Others are offered by a city or town, there to help the community grow. I’m currently taking a collaborative business class from Launch Chattanooga. Learning how to market my ideas and budget my money and time, as well as meeting my fellow community members, has already made the class well worth it.

2. Language Class

The ultimate benefit? Understanding half the people around you. Living in New York, I heard languages from all around the world, but I could never understand a word they said. While learning a language isn’t easy, it’s rewarding, and learning in a class environment gives you a chance to practice. Try to pick a language that could help you professionally. Do your research — if there is an international company in town, there are likely bilingual jobs available.

3. Cooking Class

If you’re in a relationship, this is a great date option. Not only do you get to hone your cooking skills, but you also get a chance to eat a meal prepared together. And of course, eating in is usually cheaper than dining out.

4. Exercise Class

The obvious advantages of an exercise class are a slimmer tummy, tighter muscles, etc., but an exercise class can also give you confidence in yourself. And classes are far better than DVDs, especially when it comes to complicated yoga moves. Additionally, doing a class with others gives you an opportunity to network and create lasting friendships. I have a ton of friends who have done CrossFit, and they hang out with their fellow class members on a regular basis.

5. Certification Class

From CPR to computer skills, a certification can go a long way on a resume. If anything, it shows that you’re a fast learner (especially since a lot of those classes move quickly), have the wherewithal to accomplish personal goals and tasks, and, especially in the case of computer certifications, can use a variety of programs. And who knows, maybe one day certificate programs will replace college degrees.

6. Writing Class

When I was considering a major for college, all advisors told me the same thing — my major didn’t matter as long as I learned how to communicate. They were right. The more I move through society and consider a “career,” the only thing that matters is the fact that I can communicate well. Since college, I’ve taken a writing class, and it not only gave me a renewed sense of purpose for my writing career, but also helped me develop my communication skills just a little more. These classes help you express yourself, and when it comes down to it, expressing yourself is one of the most important things to know how to do.

7. Photography Class

While you might think that stunning picture that you took of a mountain proves you have skills, unfortunately, it’s probably just your camera and its nifty automatic settings. Why not take a class and learn how to use that camera at night (something I struggle with — everything always comes out so blurry) and what terms like aperture mean? You’ll walk away with an appreciation of all things beautiful and probably some original pictures of family and friends.

8. Improv Class

Improv classes are the perfect way to open up and become more personable in everyday situations. I’ve seen it with my own eyes — people who are naturally shy slowly come alive through improvisation. Improv also generally has a fantastic, supportive community. While some might be doing it to get ahead, most are just having fun. By the end of a few classes, you’ll be more able to talk to strangers, network at work functions and, most importantly, laugh.

9. Craft Class

What you get out of this is a craft (duh). And crafting skills. And craftiness. Okay, maybe not the last one, but you will walk away from this class with a tangible product, whether it be pottery or painting or sewing. There are a lot of painting and drinking classes nowadays too, which is perfect for a grown-up birthday party.

10. Resume Writing Class

Writing a resume is, in my opinion, one of the most important skills a person can possess. You may have worked your butt off at a job and know everything there is to know, but if you don’t know how to express it on a resume, you’ll never get called for an interview. I used to suffer from this problem, unfortunately. I ended up using my friend’s knowledge of “good” resumes, and once she fixed mine up, I got calls non-stop. If you know you can do the job, you should get the job — don’t sell yourself short on your resume.

What are some classes you’ve reaped more than just knowledge from?

Written by Jennifer Holder and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Sit in on a Class at MIT for Free!

Linsey Knerl — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:37:46 +0000

What do John Hopkins, the University of Notre Dame, and Osaka University of Japan have in common? They all offer free access to their online instruction, along with course outlines, notes, and video classes. Assuming that you just want the knowledge and could care less about the official college credit, you might enjoy this resource to get some of the best online instruction for absolutely no money.

I’m a lifelong learner by definition. As a matter of fact, there is a long list of college courses I would love to take “when I find the time.” I’m also a little reluctant to put out more money for college courses without a definite career path in mind. What if I just wanted to take a class in First Year Chinese or Human-Animal Relationships without all the hassle of actually going to college? It can be done.

As part of the Open Courseware Consortium (OCW) project, schools such as Tufts University, ParisTech, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have partnered with dozens of other colleges to provide the world with free information. Sure it’s not actual college attendance, but you will have access to the lectures and notes of some of the world’s best professors and experts, and it won’t cost you a dime!

The OCW states its purpose as, “a free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses. The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 100 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model. The mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is to advance education and empower people worldwide through opencourseware.”

Sounds a little empowering, doesn’t it? Imagine millions of regular people, with no particular interest in obtaining a traditional degree, using this knowledge to simply enrich their lives. What could we do with even more free information?

I was first introduced to the OCW as an option for supplementing my homeschool curriculum. Preparing children for college couldn’t be easier than if their extra-curricular learning came directly from the best colleges. This was only the beginning, however. As I flipped through course directories, I found amazing lectures on all kind of subjects, dating back to 2000. Webcasts and podcasts on journalism, gender studies, health, and foreign language were abundant and available for direct RSS feeds!

I don’t know about you, but this is the beginning of what could be an amazing achievement in sharing information with the world. Knowledge junkies, we have a new cure for our disease. Let the learning begin.

Written by Linsey Knerl and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

How to Become an Expert

Philip Brewer — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 11:04:20 +0000

This article is not about how to fake being an expert, so it's not some quick, easy thing you can do and then be way better at something tomorrow. It's about actually becoming an expert, which will take time and effort. You can spend the time and effort, though, and fail to become an expert. Here's how to spend it and succeed.

Just to be clear, this is about becoming an expert at doing something. People use the same word to describe being an expert about something, but this is about doing.

At any skill that's difficult, becoming an expert will take a long time. The thing is, not becoming an expert takes just as long.

Old joke:

Q: Do you know how old I'd be, if I spent the next twenty years learning how to play the piano?

A: The same age you'd be if you spent the next twenty years not learning how to play the piano.

Developing expertise

So, how do you become an expert at doing something? The answer, of course, is "practice," but there are two complications.

The first is that you can't really practice until you can do your activity, at least at some minimal level. That's one place where all the other activities besides practice come in: taking a class, reading a book, watching someone else do it. (There are also activities that are too dangerous to just jump in and start practicing on your own — clearing unexploded munitions, for example.)

The second is that there's useful practice (deliberate practice) and then there's all the other things you might do that are easier than deliberate practice, but that don't help you develop expertise.

Deliberate practice

Deliberate practice is just this:

performing your skill (or, more typically, a piece of it)
monitoring your performance
evaluating your success
figuring out how to do it better

and then repeating that sequence again and again.

That's it. That's how to become an expert. Most experts have done just that, for hours a day, for years.

Most of the information here is based on K. Anders Ericsson's paper The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance. That paper has data for violin players, piano players, chess players, gymnasts, runners, tennis players, and swimmers. The domain doesn't seem to matter — deliberate practice is the key developing expert performance.

Not deliberate practice

Deliberate practice isn't a lot of fun. What's fun is actually doing whatever it is you've learned how to do. You will even get better at your activity through just doing it (because to some extent you will be monitoring, evaluating, and figuring). But just doing your activity won't make you an expert, even if you do it a lot.

Becoming an expert takes deliberate practice, and deliberate practice is what's described above.

Everything else is not deliberate practice:

Taking a class (although some classes might include some deliberate practice in them)
Attending a lecture
Reading an article or a book
Watching an expert perform
Teaching
Most especially, actually performing your skill isn't deliberate practice

Now, any of those activities may be useful, but their use is largely in improving your monitoring and evaluating skills. When you're still trying to learn how to tell if you're doing well or poorly, a teacher can be a big help. If you're starting to feel like you're really getting quite good, watching a real expert can help you re-calibrate your self-evaluation.

Spotting deliberate practice

Once you've been made aware of the difference between "practice" (i.e. just doing your activity) and "deliberate practice," you'll begin to spot deliberate practice all over the place:

A musician playing scales
A kid playing the same level of a video game over and over again
A child learning to walk

Actually, small children do this all the time. If you want to understand the acquisition of expert performance, just watch a child learning to walk, learning to talk, learning to make something work. You'll see deliberate practice in its purest form.

Becoming an expert writer

Happily for me, writing for Wise Bread is giving me a chance to develop some expertise as a writer. There's an internal cycle where I write something, read it, evaluate whether it clearly says exactly what I want to say, and then try to make it better. That is, my ordinary write-edit-rewrite cycle amounts to deliberate practice.

There's also an external cycle where I post it to the web and see if the comments show that people understood it and found it useful. That external cycle isn't deliberate practice, but it helps me get better at the monitoring and evaluating steps — it makes my future deliberate practice more effective.

That's it in a nutshell: Develop expertise through deliberate practice.

Written by Philip Brewer and published on Wise Bread. Read more Personal Development articles from Wise Bread.