What’s the best online course you’ve ever taken?

I’m not sure I can pick just one course, because the thing that made the biggest impression on me wasn’t necessarily a particular subject.

It was the opportunity to learn in the first place.

Back in 2013, I discovered edX, an online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT. The idea was simple but rather brilliant: give people around the world access to courses from some of the best universities, without the usual barriers to education.

And a lot of the learning was free.

Well, that was me hooked.

I enrolled in Ethical Reasoning and CS50, Harvard’s introduction to computer science.

Now, I’d love to tell you I sailed through both courses, displaying the sort of academic brilliance that would have had Harvard knocking on my door.

I didn’t.

I crashed out of CS50.

Computer science and I clearly needed a little more time to get acquainted!

But I passed Ethical Reasoning, which encouraged me to keep going. Next, I enrolled in Bioethics at Georgetown University, and I passed that one too.

Not bad for someone sitting at home, learning online from universities on the other side of the Atlantic.

What I loved most was the choice.

Different universities. Different subjects. Different ways of looking at the world.

And the opportunity to explore things I might never have studied otherwise.

Because here’s the thing.

Talent isn’t exclusive to people who can afford a university education.

There are people out there with brilliant minds, curious natures and an enormous appetite for knowledge who simply don’t have the money to follow the traditional educational route.

Platforms like edX opened up opportunities that might otherwise have been out of reach.

And I think that’s something worth celebrating.

I’ve always been keen to learn new things. Not necessarily because I want a certificate to hang on the wall, or another qualification to add to my CV.

Sometimes, I’m simply curious.

I want to understand something I didn’t understand yesterday. I want to challenge the way I think. I want to discover something that makes me stop for a moment and go, “Well, that’s bloody interesting!”

I think learning helps keep the mind hungry.

And I reckon that’s important, whatever your age, background or circumstances.

You don’t have to become an expert in everything. You don’t even have to finish every course you start. Believe me, I’m living proof of that!

Sometimes the value is in trying.

Sometimes it’s in discovering what you enjoy.

And sometimes it’s in realising that a subject isn’t for you, which is useful knowledge in itself.

So, what’s the best online course I’ve ever taken?

Perhaps it was Ethical Reasoning. Perhaps it was Bioethics.

But if I’m honest, I think the best thing I got from the experience was discovering that learning didn’t have to stop just because I wasn’t sitting in a classroom.

There’s a whole world of knowledge out there, and some of it is only a few clicks away.

You just have to be curious enough to look.

And if you happen to crash out of a computer science course along the way?

Well, at least you gave it a go.

Stay safe,

BC