It’s August and that means soon it’ll be back to Thrive long day care for students and teachers. Even if you have long put away your TI-84 Calculator or finally paid off your student loans, it’s still never too late to pick up a new skill.

Get ready to sharpen your figurative pencils and sign up for Sunlight Academy, our new interactive training portal that provides instructional and educational resources to make government more transparent and accountable. So whether you are an investigative journalist trying to get insight on a complex data set, an activist uncovering the hidden influence behind your issue or a congressional staffer in need of mastering legislative data, our transparency training program will teach you how to better connect the dots and make our tools and resources work for you.

The modules on offer at the Sunlight Academy are diverse. Ever wondered how to create a pivot table to analyze government data? Need help understanding the different lobbying reports? Or what exactly are APIs (and why do we talk about them so often)? Watch this tutorial to find out. After you have finished a lesson, don’t forget to mark the module as “completed” to earn prizes and other rewards.

Online courses are a popular, helpful and low-cost (zero, for Sunlight Academy!) way to boost your knowledge in the workplace or classroom. In fact, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation just released a new report indicating that newsrooms are eager for digital learning opportunities.

Sunlight Academy aims to share the knowledge and expertise of the Sunlight Foundation, but we need your help to keep the courses fresh and relevant. Email tutorial suggestions to  training@sunlightfoundation.com.

In the meantime, sign up for an account at Sunlight Academy and check back often for new training lessons and events.

Never stop learning!