Embracing Lifelong eLearning Solutions
Staying sharp as one ages is a very important choice to commit to daily when it comes to aging gracefully. While the age-old adage, “you can't teach an old dog new tricks'' has been a standardized cultural opinion for generations, research suggests that it's not true. Our brains and bodies have the ability to learn new skills no matter our age. The only major difference between one age or another and being able to learn a new skill has to do with how fast people can learn things, and how well information can be recalled.
Retirement years are ideal for setting aside old, dreary habits and routines established by the professional responsibilities that so many people are chained to. While there is still a trick to getting oneself to be motivated or confident enough to step out and learn or do something new, once they act upon it, many people may be surprised by how easily they learn new skills.
Combining that renewed vigor for adventure and information on all the things that had been set aside while supporting a family or career is much more accessible than some may believe. Cost-effective eLearning solutions and continuing education courses for seniors are easy to locate. Aside from phishing scams that should be avoided, there really are few excuses good enough to keep someone from pursuing a new skill.
Benefits Associated With Learning New Skills
There has been a general opinion that most adults begin to show decline in thinking and reasoning abilities between the ages of 30-40. Poorer performance on tests like logic, reasoning abilities, and processing tasks is known to have sharp declines after age 60, but what if those declines have less to do with age and more to do with the daily habits and routines in which people involve themselves?
It is being proposed that these signs, that were once thought of as normal aging, are similar to what is in school children when they take time off during the summer. Children have often been observed as seeming to backslide in what was learned the previous term after a long break, and similar results were documented during the COVID-19 pandemic where some students missed seven to ten weeks of schooling because of the necessity for social distancing.
That interruption of learning is not novel to children, however. According to a 2017 study done by AARP, nearly 50% of adults reported that they were not learning new information each week. This makes sense when one considers the drastic shift in lifestyle and scheduling that typically accompanies an individual graduating from college, getting a job, and settling into a professional and family lifestyle. Once formal training ends, people can go decades without needing to learn new skills. It is this significant gap in learning desire or availability that may contribute more to cognitive decline than actual age markers.
Engagement in lifelong learning has been shown to improve neural regeneration rates and thus connectivity in the brain, benefiting cognitive health by slowing decline. It also helps with memory because of the need to force the brain into learning new things, while being active socially during the process boosts emotional states, helping with self-esteem and creating a sense of purpose. With all that in mind, here are some cost-effective eLearning solutions for seniors wanting to learn new skills.
eLearning Solutions
There are a variety of eLearning platforms that can be utilized as cost-effective solutions for seniors who are interested in learning new skills. No matter which are employed there are benefits which will be enjoyed.
Video-Based Learning
The ease and commonality of video streaming services in today's society means that video-based learning services are a typical representation of eLearning technology. Any type or form of curriculum, even design thinking, can be recorded and put into video formats so that they can be multiplied and shared as many times as may be needed.
Additionally, the fact that most people have the capacity to access and stream those services from personal computers or smart phones means that there are few people who would not be able to participate in such an educational service. One of the other great benefits of video-based learning platforms is that the movement-based media actually serves as a deeper form of personal engagement. As a result, students have the added benefits of greater memory retention. The replicability of this format can also cut traditional costs associated with educational services and platforms.
Mobile Or Social Learning Services
Since the inception of social media, the level of personal and community engagement has drastically risen. The number of hours that people spend each day interacting with these services is not only impressive, but it can also be an effective tool to encourage engagement.
Given that social media platforms have such a popular hold on customer bases today, many different companies have begun to utilize and adapt their learning coursework to be integrated into these websites and apps. The popularity of these services has also encouraged the dissemination of knowledge from a plethora of sources. Major collegiate institutions, community groups and even private teachers are now enabled to post and share content that can be adapted to different demographic needs and standards. This adaptability and ease of sharing also makes this feature much more affordable than traditional educational means.
