Online training courses for everyone

Our tablets, smartphones and computers allow us to do all sorts of things, to communicate and be entertained, of course, but also, to learn. But an Internet connection is all you need to learn from the world’s top experts in just about any field.

I’ve always been interested in photography but never took any formal training in it. But then, I found Creative Live, which offers top notch and very in depth video seminars on all aspects of photography, software, web design and lots of other topics. The instructors are the best in the business. You can watch courses on your computer live for free, or pay a fee for on-demand access.

A similar service called Lynda.com also offers great live and on demand learning with more than 2,000 courses, offering lots of technology and graphic design tutorials and classes. To get these you need to purchase a membership, which starts at $25 a month.

Apple, of course, has its famed iTunes U. This is a free app for the iPhone or iPad and it offers complete courses from leading universities and other schools and what Apples boasts is the world’s largest digital catalog of free educational content. There are more than 500,000 free lectures, videos, books, and other resources on thousands of subjects.

One more online training company to consider: Coursera. They have hundreds of free courses ranging from computer science to economics. You can watch by computer or an Apple or Android app.