Home office like a mothaf*cka - the survival kit edition
Working remotely or being stuck inside your house could be a real drag. Some nail it, but some of us are starting to feel claustrophobic. Did you realize how much positive energy and micro-bits of knowledge you pick up daily from your coworkers? Mhmmm, we are all starting to appreciate some things now we didn't realize were worth of appreciation before.
But fear not! With a bit of extra self-organization and a proper mindset, you will be surprised how productive you can actually be. And how much interesting and inspiring stuff you can do, which you usually wouldn't have the time to do anyway. You can start learning, get to know new things or discover new fields. In other words, now it is a good time to grow.
So, we took it upon ourselves to carefully curate a bunch of nice stuff you can do online or virtually. And something, something for the younglings too, if you are a papa or a mama.
Level up that knowledge
Ivy League Coruses on programming and more
Common - 450 free online courses from the US’s top universities, how do you say no to that? There are some pretty neat coding courses there too. That's serious knowledge artillery right there (gun humor was not intended).
What's on the table? Computer Science, Data Science, Programming, Social Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics, Education & Teaching, Personal Development among others. Yummy!
As a best-proven platform for online education, Coursera is always a good option if you wanna get your skills upgraded. Just click on the link and browse through all the completely FREE courses they currently offer!
SoftUni does not need an introduction. And now they’re being super cool and have put out a lot of their trainings and seminars online with free access. Go get’em!
Wanna have an online course, but you’d be happy if that effort could be certified? Check what Alison’s collection has to offer and have yourself another plaque on your office wall.
Pushups for your brain
You remember that nicely weird series on Discovery Channel “How It’s Made”? Basically, this site is the same, and not only for objects but… stuff in general. Great way to kill time and get some questions answered.
Let this site do the talking because it will Blow. Your. Mind. In a nutshell - it’s actionable lessons from the world's greatest thinkers, doers and game changers. Be prepared, cause it's addictive!
TED-Ed is TED’s youth and education initiative. TED-Ed’s mission is to spark and celebrate the ideas of teachers and students around the world.
With this astonishing collection of historical data from the US Library of Congress, you may learn what happened today in history around the world including major events on crime, entertainment, and more.
For the kids
Are your kiddos around while you’re working? Wanna get them do something cool and educational until your next little break when you can have fun together? If so, better check the following:
DIY
To put it roughly - DIY is basically Pinterest for kids. With hundreds of project ideas that help your kids learn new skills, complete challenges and build a portfolio of fun projects. Disclaimer - a lot of parents are now hooked as well.
Brainly is the knowledge-sharing community where 150 million students and experts put their heads together to crack their toughest homework questions. It’s a great P2P learning platform from a Kraków-based team (shout out to CEE startups!) that will not only get the kiddos engaged but the grownups too.
Now they offer 1 month free for all subscriptions.
This Hungarian startup developed a super sweet edutainment platform and app that combines learning with your classical childhood tales, animated in an enchanting style. They offer part of their library in English, and the courses are specially designed for the learning and reading pace of kids.
It's a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program. It’s essentially a vocab challenge that donates rice to the needy with every question you get right. Talking about responsibility here!
BeanBeanBean is fun because you get to see the beans fall to the ground after answering correctly a question. You also get to see your donated beans fall into a box and get sent to hungry people before an entertaining moving picture comes up and you carry on producing beans.
Kodable teaches children aged five to six years old how to write computer code. Kids learn through a self-guided game, while having tons of entertainment.
At the end, have a little fun
Grab your morning cuppa coffee and have a walk, while still in your pajamas, in MoMA or Tate. Or how about The Met? Browse through the online exhibitions of 500 museums and galleries around the world, while sitting comfortably (and safe) in home!
In the run-up to the launch of Art Basel's Online Viewing Rooms, galleries have been sharing sneak peeks of the artists they'll be exhibiting on Instagram. Follow the link and you’ll find a selection of highlights, from wall works by Haegue Yang (at Barbara Wien) to installations by Tetsuro Kano (Yuka Tsuruno Gallery). To see the full line-up, follow the hashtag #artbaselOVR on Instagram and Twitter. The Online Viewing Room is open until 25th of March.
A carefully curated virtual-museum of the best art humans ever made. You can actually zoom in to paintings, find detailed art history explanations on some details. We recommend it with a glass of wine and some good jazz for a whole night’s program.
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam offers an independent and inspiring meeting place for audiences and professionals to see a diverse and high-quality program. They took most of their documentaries online and made it FREE for anyone to watch, so go ahead, expand your horizons.
Let’s be honest here - how many times you’ve been to an opera lately? Yup, we thought so. Now as ever it is a good time though to try that. Put on your favorite dress or your top-notch tuxedo… or just your coziest dinosaur onesie and enjoy high-class performances from the world’s most renowned opera house - The Metropolitan Opera. They’re streaming some of their most notable operas, so sit back and enjoy their magnificence.
Already missing the fun you have with your team? You’re getting frustrated by only chatting, exchanging emails and having poor quality video calls? We feel you. And we know that now’s a good time to try some unusual ideas for online team buildings that can up the team’s morale, boost productivity and reduce the negative effects of being far from each other (*sad, romantic music playing*).
With all that said, we’d like to remind that staying home and staying sane are now two equally important responsibilities that we all have. So keep yourself occupied and use the time to grow or at least to have fun, instead of scrolling your newsfeed endlessly, which is surely not the best way to spend your days now, eh?
If you have a fav online tool or pass time that you would love to share with the community, don't be shy, drop us a line at coworking@puzl.com and we’ll include it in this list
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