Learning About Technology Online

If you're even vaguely acquainted with learning theory and cognitive psychology, you've heard that we all have different learning styles. You've also heard that knowledge stays with us longest when the learning experience is multi-sensory, appealing to our senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Unfortunately, we often get into a rut with learning, going to the same resources again and again, overloading one "learning pathway" and ignoring others.

Another benefit is that online learning can have a significant impact in favor of the environment by helping reduce your travel and paper usage. Instead of driving or flying to take a class, seminar, or attend a conference, consider attending online. In addition, the coursework is often available online so if you are careful to print only what you truly need, you will drastically reduce the amount of paper you are consuming. You can save not only the environment, but also a good amount of cash and time. In order to give your brain a jolt and make your study time more effective and efficient (for both your mind and your environment), look at some of the tools and techniques described in this article.

For those of you shaking your heads thinking you don't have time in your already-cramped schedules to develop new skills or satisfy your technical curiosity (but you still have day-to-day problems that have to be solved and decisions that need to be made) this article will help you with immediate concerns by pointing you to some quick ready reference tools as well.

The proliferation of free online learning resources over the past decade is incredible. You can now access information on almost any topic, in almost any format. In terms of time and complexity, you have access to one-paragraph blog posts, four-minute video tutorials, and other bite-sized pieces of information. You can also access 100-hour recorded courses on electrical engineering from MIT and college-level textbooks on computer science. The resources discussed in this article are creating testing environments, classroom-based trainings, conferences, technology books, and technology-related magazines.

Searching

Search works. That's why so many millions default to Google when they don't know where else to find an answer. However, if you've been online awhile, you know how rich and diverse the world of searching has become. Read on to discover some alternate search tools and techniques.

• Google. If your initial response to each new question is "Google it!" take some time to familiarize yourself with Google's advanced search operators. These little tricks can save you loads of time and help you narrow your search much faster.
• Alternate search engines. If you're ready to leave behind the Google security blanket, ReadWriteWeb has a long list of advanced search operators.
• Social search. Search engines have always relied on collective intelligence in one way or another. For example, Google's search algorithm (also known as PageRank) returns results based on how many other pages link to a particular site. Lately, search engines and social networking sites have become more and more inventive about the ways that users can contribute to search engine results and rankings.
  • Recently, Google started to allow users to change search results and add comments about particular sites on the results screen.
  • del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site that lets you collect and organize your favorite sites, but it also lets you search everyone else's bookmarks. For example, search for "RAID" or "Ubuntu basics" and look on the right side of the screen to see how many others have saved the site.
  • Google has a little-known, but very useful Custom Search Engine builder. On your own or in collaboration with peers, you can build a tool that searches a targeted subsection of the Web. Check out MANSEO (the Mother of All Nonprofit Search Engines Optimized).
• Blogs and RSS. We discuss the following tools in the section on news and current events, but most RSS readers let you search across all your feeds, including current and older items. In other words, you're searching only sites that you've deemed relevant and useful. Furthermore, blog search engines such as Technorati and IceRocket let you search across the entire blogosphere, while excluding non-blog sites.

Reference and General Information Sites

Since there are millions of sites that address technology, this section only provides a cursory overview and a quick description of categories. These sites are useful for finding targeted, specific searches as well as learning background information and basic concepts. In addition, almost every other tool in this article can be mined as a reference resource.

• General technology Web sites. If you're looking for product reviews or background information about a specific technology, some magazine sites (for example, Wired, InformationWeek, eWeek, CIO, Network World, Linux Magazine, PC World, PC Magazine, Computer World, and Linux World) can help. Also, check out CNet, Slashdot, and Ars Technica.
• Nonprofit technology Web sites. TechSoup.org, Idealware, and NTEN have hundreds of articles between them, all targeted at a nonprofit audience. Beth Kanter has created several annotated guides to online resources (look for the "Resource Sheets" in the left-hand column).
• Wikis. A lot of techies start out at Wikipedia when researching a topic that they know little or nothing about. It's especially good at showing how a particular technical topic relates to other subjects, and you can find a few useful links at the bottom of most articles. Also, there are thousands of subject-specific wikis out there. Beth Kanter has listed a few wikis with a nonprofit focus.

Conversation and Networking

Almost every Web site has networking features these days, but the resources in this section make interaction with friends and colleagues the primary focus.

• Social networking sites. When you have a technology question or concern, sending a message or status update on Twitter, Facebook, or the like is often the best way to get a fast response. Twitter isn't the best place to ask a long, complicated question, but your friends and colleagues often know the answer to a question that might take you hours to answer on your own.
• Mailing lists and discussion boards. Neither are cutting-edge technologies anymore, but they're consistently popular among techies.
  • The TechSoup forums have members numbering in the tens of thousands and hundreds of active conversations at any one time.
  • Progressive Exchange hosts a vibrant, active mailing list for nonprofit professionals interested in online advocacy and fundraising.
  • NTEN’s Affinity Groups have local tech clubs where you can subscribe and post questions, share resources, find consultants for those more in-depth queries, and get opinions for other nonprofit technologists.

News and Current Events

For staying on top of current events in technology, check out these resources:

• Blogs. As mentioned previously, Beth Kanter's wiki lists nonprofit technology blogs and other blogs about fundraising, philanthropy, and NPO management. Alltop lists the most recent posts from a wide range of popular NPO blogs. The Technorati top 100 will introduce you to the wider blogosphere. ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, Engadget, and Boing Boing are popular blogs that focus on Web 2.0 and emerging technology.
• Social news. Digg, Reddit, and Techmeme are social news sites that let users determine the most important tech stories in the world on any given day. All of them have technology-specific sections and Reddit recently launched Idealist News, a social news channel specifically for nonprofit issues.
• RSS readers. An RSS reader is a great tool for managing the flood of information generated by the Web sites and blogs mentioned previously. You can glance at the titles of a hundred blog posts for five minutes per day and get a good sense of what’s going on in the tech and nonprofit worlds.
  • If you've never used RSS and have no idea what it is, we recommend RSS in Plain English from the folks at Common Craft or TechSoup's What Is RSS? page.
  • Google Reader and Bloglines are the most popular RSS readers. But if those two don't appeal to you, there are lots of alternatives to choose from.
  • If you're looking for nonprofit-related RSS feeds, Beth Kanter has a great list on her wiki. If you’re looking for general technology blogs, the Top 100 list at Technorati is a good resource. They're not all about technology, but most are.
  • RSS readers are also great for targeted searching. Most of them let you search for a keyword across all of the feeds that you subscribe to or within a particular subset of your feeds (for example, all your feeds about Web 2.0 or all your feeds about management). In effect, you're searching 20, 50, or a 100 of your favorite sites and filtering out the billions of sites you haven't yet vetted.
• Podcasts and vodcasts. Podcasts and vodcasts focus on discussions of current events in audio and video format, respectively. If you want software designed specifically for listening to podcasts and audio, check out ITunes or Juice. Podcast Alley has a good directory of tech-related podcasts, as does PodNova.

Videos, Screencasts and Online Tutorials

If you're more of a visual- or audio-based learner, thousands of multimedia resources and tutorials are available for free on the Web. These learning resources go by a confusing array of names, depending on the format and technology (for example, vodcast, podcast, video tutorial, screencast, video-on-demand, streaming audio, and others) however, they're all fairly easy to use. You can watch most of them in your Web browser (though some require free plug-ins, such as Flash or QuickTime). Others play in media software such as Windows Media Player or ITunes. They're usually noninteractive (meaning that you don't interact directly with an instructor or fellow students but just watch and listen), and they're usually relatively short (anywhere from five minutes to an hour).

• Video tutorials. A Big List of Sites That Teach You How to Do Stuff describes several sites that host free video tutorials. WonderHowTo, Pixel2Life, and Common Craft can also guide you to free software tutorials.
• For software that helps you find and organize video clips, look at ITunes, Joost, or Miro.
• If you want to search for a video on a particular topic, try video search engines such as Blinkx, Truveo, or Google Video.

Webinars

Webinars are real-time, interactive online presentations that combine lecture, demonstration, Q&A, and student participation. As often as not, you'll learn about a webinar after it takes place, in which case, you can often find a recording with all of the original content (including audio, slides, chat) but none of the live interaction.

• Nonprofit technology webinars: TechSoup, NTEN, Idealware, and NPower all offer technology webinars for nonprofits. TechSoup's webinars are free. The other providers address topics that are more advanced and offer a smaller teacher-student ratio, so they often charge a modest fee in order to recoup their costs.
• Vendor webinars. Keep an eye out for vendor-sponsored webinars. Microsoft, Symantec, Cisco, and others host thousands each year. These webinars usually begin with a broad discussion of a particular type of technology or a particular problem that IT folks frequently face. This is the most informative piece. Once the presenters begin selling their own solution, you can always drop off the call.

E-Learning

E-learning Web sites and software packages differ from webinars and video tutorials in that they're more structured and goal-oriented. They usually take days or weeks to complete; they might incorporate exercises, quizzes, and tests; they often provide you with certification or classroom credit; finally, they usually cost money.

• Self-directed. These are often provided by commercial e-learning vendors. If you don't mind paying ($25 per month and up), Lynda.com is a popular site for online software training. Skillsoft also provides on-demand training solutions. Through TechSoup Stock, eligible and qualified nonprofits can request discounted access to over 500 online job skills training courses from the International Commission on Workforce Development (ICFWD). We also offer discounted access to management and strategy courses developed by The Society for Nonprofit Organizations.
• Instructor-led. Thousands of colleges, universities, and technical schools offer mediated online courses, which might last weeks or months. Again, they aren't free, and some classes are only available as part of a degree program. Technology Schools.com can help you start searching.

Aspirational Learning

If you're looking for inspiration, and technology is a passion of yours and not just a job requirement, several great online resources provide a deeper, broader perspective. All of these sites will challenge you, and they might get you revved up and enthused about IT, but they won't have as much impact on your day-to-day management of technology.

• The annual TED (Technology, Education, Design) Conference gives scientists, entrepreneurs and big thinkers the chance to imagine the future of science and technology, and discuss long-term trends in culture, business, and the environment. The presentations are available online, and they're consistently fascinating.
• Fora.tv and BigThink also have lots of high-quality science and technology videos.
• Technology Review is a magazine put out by MIT, and it provides high-level insight into emerging technologies, along with a description of the science that underpins these developments. Wired and Fast Company also include regular articles about big-picture trends in the tech world.
• MIT, Stanford, Yale, UC Berkeley, and dozens other schools have made their course materials available online, including lecture videos, audio recordings, assignments, syllabi, and lecture notes. The classes cover a wide spectrum, but science and technology feature prominently in the free offerings. Open Culture, LectureFox, Academic Earth, and the OpenCourseWare Consortium are a few of many portal sites that will help guide you towards the classes you're most interested in.

This list is a great starting point to help you broaden your technology horizons. Remember that there’s often more than one right answer to a technology question, more than one way to find those answers and more than one way to learn new skills. With all learning and research challenges, be flexible, patient, playful, and creative.

Furthermore, with budgets tightening and environmental issues topping everyone's list of concerns, online learning offers a low-cost, green alternative to traditional classes and conferences. You can dramatically reduce your carbon emissions and paper consumption, when you use online learning resources judiciously.