posted: Saturday, 12 September 2020
The best thing to come out of 2020 is the rise of online events for those who can access them.
They have shrunk our world so we can take part in beading classes with teachers & other students around the World, we can study with institutions all over and can now watch live interviews with people no matter where they or we are.
The rise of the virtual means that I now get to teach classes for people who weren't to access them before for many reasons and that is never not a great thing. Access to learning visually has been opened up to people who are house or bed-bound. Anyone who had physical access issues with the teaching venues can now stay home and learn. People who struggle to leave the house now don't need to if they want to do a beading class or socialise with other beaders. I have so many students who weren't able to do classes as they have people to care for, or jobs which clash with class days & times, not being tied to hiring a physical venue or travelling to a shop has done away with that. If physically travelling to a venue, or being able to afford to travel there, was an issue all of that has gone.
Virtual learning is wonderful.
Of course there are downsides and I appreciate not everyone has the internet strength or access, or the technology, to be able to do classes but in a year where so much else had closed down (figuratively and literally) the rise of learning is wonderful and I hope it continues long after the end of the pandemic.
I'm doing a virtual beading class as a student tomorrow but this evening it's wonderful to be able to sit in my kitchen and bead whilst watching Malcolm Gladwell be interviewed about his new book.
Then I'm watching a lecture about accidental discoveries in the world of alcohol.
Access to these type of interviews and talks is wonderful and I'm planning on taking as much advantage of them as I can.
If you want to find talks and interviews like these then here are some resources (some need to be paid for but some are free):
