5 things you can do with 1hr free ZOLspot wifi
ZOL has granted access every day, to an average of 15 000 users at over 300 ZOLspots nationwide by providing one hour of free wifi. For some, the hour of free wifi presents a chance to connect with family and friends via Whatsapp, surf the net, update their apps and livestream music or download TV shows or other entertainment content.
For others, that one hour of free ZOLspot access is a window of opportunity that they capitalise on. Here is a list of at least 5 life-transforming things one could do with an hour of free ZOLspot wifi.
Take a free online course With an hour of free wifi at a ZOLspot you can take a free course online. Such courses are internet-based, free of charge and have incredibly large numbers of students. They’re offered by universities (including Ivy League institutions), taught by esteemed faculty staff and freely available to anyone who’s interested. Known as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) these courses are offered online throughout the year and many have fixed starting dates and last for at least 6-10 weeks. You can devote 3-6 hours of your free ZOLspot access per week to complete a course. Just download your video lectures for the week then learn at your own pace without stressing about how much data you are chowing watching videos online.
So if you find yourself at a ZOLspot visit MOOC-providing sites Coursera, edX, Udacity, FutureLearn, NovoEd and Open2Study to see what they are offering.
2.Be self-taught through video tutorials
If structured and semi-formal modes of learning are not your thing, then you can spend that one hour of free wifi watching “How To” videos on YouTube. Acquiring self-taught skills is a matter of identifying what you are passionate or curious about and then going online to find a video tutorial that can walk you through the steps of learning how to do the thing you want to do.For instance, you can learn how to build a website from scratch using Wordpress. No one is going to evaluate you the way you’d get assessed on an online course and you’d have to learn by trial and error to master the skill. So, depending on how fast a learner you are and on how long the Youtube video tutorials are – you could spend your one hour of free ZOLspot wifi learning a useful skill.
Although you won’t get any certification, you will certainly get a chance to prove your skills by creating your own portfolio of work online, in other words – you can showcase your talent through whatever technology you have mastered. Your skill doesn’t have to be a digital one, you could just as easily want to learn how to make a dress or how to change a tyre on a car – there’s probably a video tutorial or two for whatever you want to learn.
Showcase your talent online
One of the most exciting things about the Internet is that it will let your showcase your talent to the world. Someone you have never met and will never cross paths with can become a huge fan of your work by simply finding the tech platform on which you showcase your talent. So, get to a ZOLspot and use the free hour of wifi to upload your work online or update your platform (blog, vlog, podcast, whatever it may be) - showcase your talent. For example, if you are as madly talented as these Zimbabweans like Madam Boss (who has entertaining comedic skits), Steven Chikosi (who recently had his photo in New York Times) or Rumbi Shoko (of the Zimbo Kitchen fame, and Runner Up of 2013 ZOL Start-up Challenge) - get online and showcase your talent.
Expand your library and audio e-books
Having access to books doesn’t have to be a hassle. You can read, learn and expand your knowledge of any field and any interest of yours - by accessing audio books or e-books online. Platforms like Open Culture give access to a huge variety of cultural and educational media (audio, video, ebooks, etc) covering textbooks, poetry, movies, writing and documentaries. You can download audio books for your kids such as The Adventures of Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland, Gulliver’s Travels, whilst literature students can even listen to audio books of classics such as Romeo and Juliet. You can download ebook and audio books with your one free hour of ZOLspot wifi.
Whatever genre you are seeking, you can find it and start digitally creating your own personal library - for free!
Find work or study opportunities
You can find opportunities online and an hour of free ZOLspot wifi is more than enough time to identify something you could apply for or immediately start acquiring a skill in. For example, a recent report found that CyberSecurity is a fast-growing job with a huge skills gap globally. Now imagine if you could start on an online CyberSecurity course today - and you very well could. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step so maybe - the journey of a CyberSecurity degree begins with a single online course from complimentary ZOLspot wifi. Take the initiative - what have you got to lose? Find funding opportunities to advance your education with institutions like the Canon Collins Trust, or sign up for the Kubatana newsletter (join@kubatana.net) to get listings on great opportunities or create a profile on Freelancer to bid for part-time work that you can execute offline and then deliver (upload or transmit) online with your one hour of free ZOLspot access.
Not to be cheeky, but if anyone doubts the potential of working remotely or being paid to deliver work via the Internet – you may want to ask some of our local journalists what “moonlighting” is.
An hour of free ZOLspot wifi could be all you need to land the opportunity of a lifetime.
Download the myZOL app on Google Playstore and App Store today, to get a list of ZOLspots wherever you are. ZOL on over to a ZOLspot near you - where 60 minutes of access is freely granted!