Formal education can be such a slog sometimes that we can be forgiven for treating knowledge like a hurdle. Once we get that diploma, we essentially cross the act of learning off our list. And that’s a shame, because that really puts a cap on our potential — both professionally and personally.
We tend to think of high-level entrepreneurs and executives as having a “hunger” for success, and that’s a habit that anyone can pick up. In a very real sense, our brains are always hungry for data, new information that opens up fresh modes of thinking. That’s true even for those of us that never enjoyed school, and it’s true long after we’ve graduated. We can either sate that hunger with the empty calories of digital distraction … or the healthy diet of a new skill that might even be marketable.
For the latter option, there’s Brilliant. Think of this learning system as a gymnasium for creative and hungry minds, giving lifelong students a whole new way to pick up skills in math, science and computer technology. Membership to the site gets users access to a huge library of over 60 courses, but “library” implies plain text. Brilliant’s classes involve a lot more than text, and they are anything but plain.
Online learning is nothing new, but most classes might involve nothing more than some video lectures and some multiple-choice quizzes. In other words, they replicate the experience you might already get in a real-world classroom — minus the personal attention that makes it effective in the first place. Brilliant’s classes take full advantage of the interactivity of the web, engaging your brain in unexpected ways.
If you’re learning geometry, for instance, you might manipulate a 3D object so that you can visualize the math. Instead of reading pages of code in a course on neural networks, you can actually build one yourself and see what the program “sees” as it learns to recognize numbers and letters. Instead of memorizing endless statistics formulae, you can see them in action by playing on a virtual blackjack table.
You get the idea. These courses are perfect for students of any age or level of experience, and Brilliant makes it easy to build on your knowledge with “learning paths” in areas like Probability, Statistics and Finance, Applied Computer Science and more.
Feel that brain getting hungry for more? Try it out for yourself: Right now, the first 200 to sign up for a Brilliant membership will get a 20% discount.